Now You See Me Star Puts More Distance Between Himself And James Franco With Blunt New Remarks

Dave Franco isn’t riding James’s coattails. The 21 Jump Street standout tells Bustle his rise is powered by hustle, not family ties — even if big-brother buzz opened a few doors.

Dave Franco is politely done with the idea that he coasted on his brother James's fame. He knows where he started, he knows who helped, and he also knows he kept working because he was good at it. His words, not mine.

'If I sucked...' and why Dave says the work stands on its own

Fresh off a recent body-horror outing called 'Together' where he co-stars with his real-life wife Alison Brie (yep, they play a married couple on screen too), Dave talked to Bustle about how the perception of him has shifted over the years.

"If I sucked, I would've disappeared very quickly."

He says those early days of 'Oh look, James Franco's little brother is acting too!' are over. And while James opened a few doors early on — he helped Dave get agents — Dave is blunt about the ceiling on nepotism: nobody was hiring him just because of the last name.

The early grind, in plain terms

Dave jumped into Hollywood in 2007 with 'After Sex' and a bit in the Jonah Hill/Michael Cera comedy that year. For context, James had already been in the game for about eight years by then, so Dave arrived well after his brother's head start.

When the Franco brothers teamed up

They've shared the screen a handful of times — 'The Disaster Artist', 'Milk', 'The Broken Tower' — and a few more projects together. For the record, here are the ones that actually happened and who directed them:

• Zeroville — September 20, 2019 — directed by James Franco
• The Disaster Artist — December 8, 2017 — directed by James Franco
• The Sound and the Fury — October 23, 2015 — directed by James Franco
• The Broken Tower — April 27, 2012 — directed by James Franco
• Milk — November 26, 2008 — directed by Gus Van Sant

Quick detour: the Seth Rogen factor

James and Seth Rogen made a run of comedies together — 'The Interview', 'The Night Before', 'This Is The End', 'Pineapple Express', the usual suspects — but according to PEOPLE, they are not speaking these days. Odd twist: Dave is still cool with Rogen and keeps working with him. They teamed on 'Bad Neighbors' (2014), its sequel, and also popped up together in 'Zeroville'.

What Dave is up to now

This year alone, Dave has four movies in the can or out. One of them is the drama 'Bubble & Squeak', which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, per Bustle. He also stars in 'Regretting You', works again with Alison Brie, and is back in the franchise lane with a third 'Now You See Me'.

That sequel is titled 'Now You See Me, Now You Don't' — yes, that is the actual title — and it brings Dave back alongside Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson, with Isla Fisher returning from the first film. Morgan Freeman and Rosamund Pike are on the roster too. It hits theaters November 14, 2025.

On TV, he shows up in the comedy series 'The Studio' with Rogen, Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Hahn, and more. You can watch it on AppleTV+.