Idiots stars Dave Franco, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Mason Thames opened up about what it was like working under Macon Blair, the film’s writer, director and one of its producers, and how his direction encouraged them to go big in their performances. The road comedy follows two inexperienced hires tasked with transporting a rich teen to rehab, only for the job to spiral into chaos.
In an exclusive interview with BLKCinema.com, Jackson Jr. said Blair avoids dictating performances outright. “With Macon, he always wants you to know that he’s not telling you how to do it,” he said. “He leads the horse to water. He’ll give you little things that he knows will trigger something in you.” Thames added that Blair gives actors “the pieces of the puzzle” rather than full direction, and Jackson Jr. noted, “with no corners.”
Franco said Blair’s own acting background shapes that instinct. “Because Macon’s also an actor, so he understands that mentality. And so he just gives you a little nugget and you’re just like, ‘I know what to do with this.’ And it just sends you on this path and gives you something interesting.”
Jackson Jr. said that trust builds over time on set. “When you knock a few of those out, where you crush those moments where he does throw those tidbits at you, now you get this trust with each other of just now you feel like you know the character better and also you know that he’s actually watching you. He’s taking care of you.”
Thames said that care extended to a particularly difficult scene he filmed with co-star Kiernan Shipka. “I had a pretty crazy scene with Kiernan in this film, and I have crazy scenes with everybody, but it’s a wild scene, and I’ve never felt safer,” he said, describing the scene as one that “could have been very vulnerable.” Franco and Jackson Jr. agreed Blair handled the material with what Franco called “grace.”
Franco said his interest in Blair predates Idiots by nearly a decade. “I’ve been such a big fan of Macon for so long,” he said. “He’s the lead actor in this movie called Blue Ruin, which I re-watch every year. This is the movie I recommend to more people than any other movie.” He said Blair’s directorial debut, I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, cemented his desire to collaborate: “When I saw that movie, I was like, ‘I need to work with that guy.’”
Franco said he reached out to Blair around that time and was sent an early draft of the script, then titled Shitheads, but passed because of his age relative to the roles. Nearly a decade later, he circled back. “I reached out to Macon and I was like, ‘Whatever happened with that script?’ And he’s like, ‘Oh, it almost went and it fell apart.’ And I was like, ‘Hey man, no pressure, but I’m here. If I can help in any way, let’s go.’ And he was like, ‘Let’s do it.’”
Franco said Blair’s sensibility ultimately won him over. “I just love his style and so I just trust him. He has good taste, and he has weird taste too. He’s got a dark humor. He loves violence. This movie has more layers than you might expect from a movie called Idiots.”
Idiots is in theaters now.
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