It’s no secret that superhero films have dominated the cultural conversation in the world of film for almost two decades now. But there’s been visible chinks in the armor in recent years, Marvel’s 2023 flops and overall wobble, DC’s limp to the finish line of its previous universe, and just recently, the disastrous opening of “Joker: Folie A Deux,” which earned a D CinemaScore rating from audiences—the lowest score any superhero film has ever received. So, with perfect timing to it all comes the very funny, sharp, and amusing “The Franchise,” an HBO series created by “Succession,” writer and “Veep” producer Jon Brown and executive produced by comedy writer Armando Iannucci (“Veep”) and Sam Mendes (“Skyfall”).
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A mix of behind-the-scenes filmmaking satire that often mentions the trades—Deadline Variety, etc.—, Hollywood send-up, and ironic riffing on the state of cinema and the trending down nature of the once-seemingly-unassailable superhero genre, “The Franchise” is a lot of inside baseball about the film industry. However, it should still translate for the layman.
Centering around a film crew on a B-list unappreciated superhero film franchise called “Tecto”— though to be fair, it feels more like an old school “Flash Gordon”-esque, ‘70s space opera with a dash of comically grandiose “Thor”—“The Franchise” chronicles day by day, hour by hour chaos, complications and messiness of not just comic book movies, but any big-budgeted tentpole.
While temperamental “visionary” German filmmakers like Eric (Daniel Brühl) and narcissistic but insecure lead actors like Adam (Billy Magnussen) are a big part of the story, the series primarily focuses on how the cinematic sausage is made, thus focusing on the secret heroes and below-the-line crewmembers that genuinely get shit done while managing the egos and neurosis of “artist” filmmakers and bratty, self-involved, and self-doubting diva-like actors.
Thus, “The Franchise” is mainly seen through the eyes of its First Assistant Director, Daniel (Himesh Patel), the man responsible for managing the show and keeping the shooting schedule and directors on track, and Dag (Lolly Adefope), the Third Assistant Director, starting her first day on the production. But it’s day 34 of a 117-day planned shoot, the film is behind schedule, over budget, constantly changing on the whims of directors, actors and powerful producers and things are quickly going sideways.
Other key players in the story include Steph (Jessica Hynes), the director Eric’s dutiful assistant; Bryson (Isaac Powell), the assistant to the never-seen head of the studio who reports back on how the film is going; Benji (Alex Magliaro), the insanely overworked on-set pre-viz animator Bryson, and Pat (Darren Goldstein), the studio executive in charge of the franchise, also overseeing the flagship franchise “Centurions” whence “Tectro” came from in what’s called the Maximum cinematic universe.
But “Tectro” is wobbling and Pat and the unseen studio chief are starting to get nervous and losing faith. When the film’s producer Justin (Alex Gaumond) tries to push back on studio notes, much to the relief of Eric and the whole crew, he is unceremoniously fired, which puts Daniel and the entire crew into a panicked spiral thinking the film could shut down and they could all lose their jobs.
Trying to get things back on track, Pat hires Anita (Aya Cash), who takes care of Maximum’s television realm, to take over and produce the film. That’s a problem for Daniel, as the two came up together in the industry as P.A.s and have a complicated romantic and sexual history.
The “Tecto” principal cast includes the titular Tecto, played by Adam (Magnussen), the Evil Eye, played by the deliciously pompous Peter (Richard E. Grant, definitely understanding the assignment), who feels like he’s slumming it in this genre, and Katherine Waterston, in a cameo as an Obi-Wan Kenobi-like ghost character who eventually becomes a superhero in messy rewrites based on fan backlash and the perceived “woman problem” the franchise is facing online.
While Maximum, the studio and cinematic universe behind all these interconnected franchises, feels like an obvious stand-in and lampoon of Marvel, and in some ways it is, Maximum seems to appear more like the DC Universe, Sony, or any of the non-Marvel studios struggling to compete and keep up.
Or perhaps it’s a prescient foreshadowing of Marvel if the wobble turns into a full-blown faceplanting trip that creates major panic within the company, back-stabbingly pitting people against each other in the name of job security and covering their own asses for every production blunder.
Either way, “The Franchise” is very dialed into this very moment of superhero filmmaking, the online culture, and the 2023 Marvel problems that made the entire film industry worry. Toxic fandom and the way the studios are terrified of how the audience thinks and cowardly kowtows to their every whim is just one hilarious element of the show that mirrors reality. The dreaded “superhero fatigue” label—something Pat insists is “not a true illness and a scam” and should not be spoken about—is also comically on everyone’s minds, underscoring the fear that motivates so many people in Hollywood placing their job security over the artistic integrity of anything.
To that end, Mendes might be one of the big names attached to the series—and he directs the first episode—but it’s Armando Iannucci and his savage comedic parodies that “The Franchise” shares the most DNA with, and it’s not at all unlike the tone of “Veep,” just translated to the movie industry.
The ridiculing of artistic ego and fragility is another sore rib that “The Franchise” also mercilessly mocks. One laugh-out-loud moment includes Eric melting down and questioning his film’s authenticity (and ending) because Martin Scorsese comes out in the trades accusing the studio of killing cinema.
While many of these scenarios are side-splittingly funny—including the entertaining delicate insecurities of Adam, who doesn’t feel like he can cut it as a lead actor, taking growth hormones to stay in shape—it’s also the cast that sells it all so well.
Everyone is largely terrific, and Cash and Patel are a good lead duo with baggage. Still, some of the best scene-stealers are Darren Goldstein as the blowhard franchise exec and especially newcomer Lolly Adefope as the sarcastic and seemingly-delighted-by-chaos Dag. Another terrific cameo is Nick Kroll as The Gurgler, a character from the more critical “Centurion” franchise who is lent to the “Tecto” franchise to goose it up and make the lesser tentpole feel more connected and essential. However, there’s one problem: The Gurgler is a D-list also-ran and a substitute for Many Man, the A-list character they originally meant to borrow before being f*cked over by the studio at the last minute.
Logistical problems, studio politics, mutinous crews, explosion set piece complications, promises broken, studio interference, notes, product placement, changes in tone, direction, the notions of artistic integrity, and what, if anything, does that mean in an age of populist comic book culture are all explored to varying degrees of absurdity. It’s a witty, clever show, not always laugh-out-loud funny, but still clever and chortle-inducing.
Daniel has directorial ambitions, and that comes into play later in the series when he faces a big choice. This teases a second season, which could be an interesting continuation of the track they already laid, perhaps with a new movie, cast, and director while keeping the below-the-line team together.
“The Franchise” is not perfect by any means, but it is very watchable and bingeable, delivered in easy-to-digest 30-minute chunks of droll, in-the-know comedy. Whether the series assembles again for another sequel remains unclear, but fanboys, myself included, who enjoyed this origin story season will surely like to see where it flies next. [B]
“The Franchise” is streaming now on MAX.
