Dave Franco and O'Shea Jackson Jr. Share Wild Stories from the Set of 'The Shitheads'

1 week ago 13

Published Feb 1, 2026, 10:00 AM EST

Summary

Perri Nemiroff talks with the team behind The Shitheads at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
Writer-director Macon Blair returns with a wild buddy comedy featuring an A+ ensemble cast.
In this interview, Blair, Dave Franco, O'Shea Jackson, Kiernan Shipka, and Nicholas Braun discuss their experience on set, how the story changed over the years, Mason Thames' unexpected performance, and the scary movies they saw way too young!

Writer and director Macon Blair (I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore) returned to the Sundance Film Festival this year with a story he's had in the works for a decade now. This year, he debuted his downright wild buddy comedy, The Shitheads, starring Dave Franco (Together), O'Shea Jackson Jr. (Den of Thieves), and Mason Thames (How to Train Your Dragon), to sold-out theaters at the festival. The crew stopped by Collider's interview studio at the Arby's Cinema Center to sit down with our own Perri Nemiroff to give fans a taste of what to expect from Blair's next venture following his 2025 release, The Toxic Avenger.

The Shitheads follows Franco and Jackson as mismatched chaperons, Mark and Davis, respectively, who are responsible for transporting an emotionally troubled teen, Sheridan (Thames), to rehab. As with most road trip movies, the journey is not without its bumps in the road, but in The Shitheads, the main characters experience an especially twisted turn. In addition to this trio, The Shitheads also stars Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Kiernan Shipka (The Last Showgirl), and Nicholas Braun (Succession).

At the final Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Nemiroff sat down with Blair, Franco, Jackson, Shipka, and Braun to discuss The Shitheads' journey from script to screen, Franco's pivotal hand in casting Thames in an unexpected role for the rising star, and the unforgettable movies they saw way too young. Check out the full conversation in the video above for all of this, plus Jackson's update on the third installment in the Den of Thieves series (affectionately and jokingly called The Den of Threeves).

Mason Thames Has a “Profound Dark Side”

Franco was pivotal in the casting of the How to Train Your Dragon star.

dave-franco-o-shea-jacson-jr-mason-thames-the-shitheads

Casting is always a tricky process, but this is especially true when recruiting young talent to help carry the weight of a film. For his role in The Shitheads, a wealthy but haunted teen being transported to rehab, Thames needed to unlock his darker side that audiences wouldn't have expected from the star of the 2025 live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon. After seeing Thames' breakthrough role in The Black Phone, Blair still wasn't sure what to expect for a character so wildly different, but his Regretting You co-star, Franco, had experienced Thames' acting chops firsthand.

I had seen him in The Black Phone, and I thought he was great in The Black Phone, but that is not this guy at all. Dave had come on board by that point already, and we were talking about casting this part, who's a younger guy, 17 years old, and has a really, really profoundly dark side to him, and he said, “You should take a look at Mason Thames.” So, it was just a process of getting tapes from people, and he sent in a tape that just crawled through the screen, and you were like, “Ooh, yikes.” It was just kind of, like, “Oh, okay. That's exactly it.” It was not the kid from Black Phone. It was like it was not like previous work, like I'd seen it before; it was something entirely new. It kind of made the decision very easy.

Finney holding The Black Phone up to his ear

Thames' bright career is just taking off. Blair teases that if his team had waited another year, Thames' star power might just have been too big for them:

We were lucky enough to get him before he became, like, “I've made three billion-dollar movies in one year.” [Laughs] We got in right under the wire. The whole thing is them transporting him, and it's their dynamic and Mason. If that was not solid, then the movie, whatever jokes it had, anything else, it just wouldn't work. So, them trying to corral this kid who's quite a bit more clever than they are was the whole thing. He's just great in it, and I think people will see that.

Franco, however, witnessed Thames' acting range on Regretting You, and was curious to see just how deep the well went. The takeaway? Whether he's in a Colleen Hoover adaptation or a Sundance horror comedy, Thames will always deliver and surprise you whenever he's on-screen. Here are Franco's thoughts on his two-time co-star.

I just worked with Mason on Regretting You, and up until that point, he kind of always played the good guy. He was always the hero. So, I think we were all just curious. We're like, “Let's see what his dark side is like.” He's such a great actor. I truly think he can do anything. So, this is just kind of a pitch for, like, a great double feature down the line with Regretting You and The Shitheads.

Check out the full conversation in the video above, with a time index below where the team behind The Shitheads talk about their new movie.

01:18 - What Is The Shitheads About?
01:43 - The Shitheads Was Almost a Will Ferrell-Type Comedy
02:59 - The Crew Share Their Experience Working With Macon Blair
06:49 - Dave Franco and O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s “Fabled” Chemistry
08:33 - Discovering Mason Thames’ “Dark Side”
10:41 - Which Movies Scarred the Team Way Too Early?
14:30 - O’Shea Jackson Jr. Is Ready to Go on Den of Thieves 3
16:14 - The Shitheads Crew Play the Collider Bracket Challenge!

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Arby’s, for making the Collider Studio happen at the Arby’s Cinema Center and keeping us all fed with their selection of curly fries, mozzarella sticks, and tastes of their new Italian Beef Dip, a new limited-time sandwich that brings Chicago-style flavors to its menu. In addition, thanks to our supporting partners, including Hendrick’s Gin, Sommsation - The Wine Company, Peroni USA, neau water, Bernier, and our producing partner Twenty35 Agency.