“The Franchise” Trailer Unveils HBO’s Superhero Comedy From “Veep” and “Succession” Alums
How delicious is the concept for The Franchise, HBO’s new series from Veep creator Armando Iannucci, Succession writer Jon Brown, and Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes? Well, first, take a second glance at that list of creators, and then consider that Warner Bros., the home of Superman and Batman (via DC Studios), is behind a biting comedy about the superhero movie business. Yet The Franchise isn’t here to besmirch the cinematic universes conjured by Marvel and DC, but rather delight in just how much crazier and less controlled the art and architecture of creating those universes really is.
The Franchise follows the crew of a major superhero movie franchise that is struggling to find a place within the rough-and-tumble world of comic-inspired film universes. Led by Himeseh Patel as Daniel, the first assistant director of the film whose job is “to keep the actors from killing themselves,” The Franchise will follow him and his fellow crewmembers as they try to keep their cinematic universe from falling out of orbit. Daniel works side-by-side with Daniel Brühl’s director, Eric, whose concerns are a little less on point than Daniel’s (the fact that someone else on set is wearing an “indoor scarf,” for example, which is obviously reserved solely for the director). Billy Magnussen co-stars as one of the franchise’s actors, Adam, alongside Richard E. Grant’s Peter, both of whose superhero shenanigans barely merit mention compared to what’s happening off-screen.
As The Franchise‘s logline puts it, the series aims to “shine a light on the secret chaos inside the world of superhero moviemaking, to ask the question — how exactly does the cinematic sausage get made?” Yet, as a profile the show on The Hollywood Reporter made clear, the series also highlights how hard the cast and crew work on these films and how much of themselves they pour into it. “The beating heart of the show has more to do with the ADs, PAs, the script supervisors, line producers and crew who actually make films and get no public praise for it,” Mendes told THR.
The cast also includes Aya Cash as Anita, Jessica Hynes as Steph, Lolly Adefope as Dag, Darren Goldstein as Pat, and Isaac Powell as Bryson. Check out the trailer below. The Franchise arrives on October 6.
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Featured image: Lolly Adefope, Daniel Bruhl, Jessica Hynes, Himesh Patel, Aya Cash, Isaac Powell. The Franchise. Photograph by Colin Hutton/HBO
