Q&A

Daniel Franzese Talks About ‘Bully’ at New Beverly Cinema

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

On August 12, 2025, New Beverly Cinema presented a Larry Clark double feature of two of his films: “Bully” and “Another Day in Paradise.” Before “Bully” unfolded on the silver screen, actor and filmmaker Joel Michaely brought out a special guest: Daniel Franzese who played Derek Dzvirk. “Bully” was Daniel’s film debut, and it quickly earned him his SAG card. Daniel thanked Joel for being there and remarked how he killed Joel once in a horror movie entitled “Cruel World” where he shot him in the head.

Daniel said “Bully” was the first time he ever got to hold a screenplay in his hands, and he talked about meeting the casting director, Carmen Cuba, at his audition.

Daniel Fransese: She was like, “Do you wanna see who you are going to play?” I said okay, and she opened up the true crime novel (written by Jim Schutze), and I looked exactly like the guy. And I was just like, oh shit! I can actually get this! So, it was very scary and nerve wracking.”

Rumors are that the set of “Bully” was a crazy one, and being that this was Daniel’s first film as an actor, you can understand and appreciate his feelings at the time.

DF: I’m a pretty easy-going guy, and I am also a theatre guy and a standup comedian. I’m used to being around other people, and I am good at getting along with different personalities. But this movie was next level. we are getting ready to do fittings and start our first day of this movie, and Larry (Clark) is screaming because Brad (Renfro) was in jail for trying to steal a boat. He’s screaming, “This was three years of my life! This kid’s not going to ruin it!” He’s throwing papers and I was like, whoa! That was day one and you can just imagine how the stress level got worse from there.

From there, the discussion went to the late Brad Renfro who played Marty Puccio in “Bully.” Brad first gained worldwide attention at the age of 12 years old when he was cast as Marcus “Mark” Sway in Joel Schumacher’s cinematic adaptation of John Grisham’s “The Client.” Like many people on this planet, let alone actors, he died at far too young an age He was only 25 years old, when he passed away after a drug overdose. Daniel talked about working with Brad.

DF: Brad was great. I think he was like one of those golden retriever type people. Not evil, but dangerous. We were doing the table read for the first time, and Brad showed up wearing a white tank top completely soaked in lighter fluid. He came in saying, “I’M TRYING TO GET THE BARBECUE TO GO!” It was like, whoa! He was from Knoxville and had like that “Jackass” sensibility where you didn’t know what he could do, but I don’t think he ever had a mean bone. His intentions were always nice. If anything, he partied too much, and he once told me that at 12, he made hundreds of thousands of dollars to do “The Client,” and he was getting a lot of his drugs and stuff from family members as a kid. I don’t think he got a fair shot. If anything, the reason why I advocate for younger people in Hollywood or talked about my experiences on this movie which were crazy, I was never speaking from a victim place. I was speaking from a place of advocating for people like Brad who didn’t have anyone saying anything for them. I just think, we’re making art. It doesn’t have to be that crazy. We don’t have to be stealing boats or going nuts on sets to produce good material.

After “Bully,” Daniel went on to appear in many films, but he may still be best remembered for playing high school social outcast Damian in 2004’s “Mean Girls.” Like Joel and myself, I wondered what it was like going from an independent film to a studio movie where everybody is expected to be on their best behavior.

DF: I just don’t think the 2000s will be looked upon as a time where it was easy for people on movie sets. I really don’t. People always ask me all the time how to get their kid in Hollywood, and I say don’t. I waited until I was at least in my 20’s (before going to Hollywood), and that’s the only thing which might have saved me. A lot of our contemporaries are not around with us anymore or are in a crazy state. It was a rough time. I can’t say it was easier or better, but I think it’s better now.

Regardless of the crazy set, Daniel made it clear to the New Beverly audience what the experience of making “Bully” was like, and of how the filmmakers strived to capture the spirit of the true story it is based on.

Bully (2001) Directed by Larry Clark Shown in foreground: Bijou Phillips

DF: On a positive note, though, this movie was awesome. It was so fun to make. Larry was cool, the people I was working with were all like people from Thrasher Magazine, it was just like bad ass people. They did shoot in the real locations; it was the real apartment complexes, and it was the real Pizza Hut (we shot in).

Daniel also made it clear how he was the only local hero for hire in Larry Clark’s “Bully.”

DF: They were scouting locations for the gay clubs, and I was just a young kid just figuring that stuff out and performing at the clubs with people I was in musical theatre with and stuff like that. They were like hey we’re making a movie, and I’m like I’m an actor! I had no idea it was going to turn into this. Carmen Cuba, she discovered a lot of people, and I give her all the credit for plucking me out of obscurity and putting me with these people.

An audience member told Daniel that he was from South Florida, and this led Daniel to talk about when he worked at The Gateway Theater in Fort Lauderdale as a kid. a year later, “Bully” premiered there. Daniel found his road from being an usher to a working actor to be honestly insane.

DF: I was there at the theater going, would you like the popcorn combo? I am a movie lover. I worked at Blockbuster (Video), I worked at movie theaters, that’s all I did. Until I was able to support myself as an actor, I was either an usher in theatre or worked at movie theaters. It (“Bully”) was shot in Fort Lauderdale and the whole crew got their premiere at the movie theater where I worked at. So, whoever served me popcorn today, keep writing your scripts.

Like many, Daniel Franzese considers New Beverly Cinema to be one of his favorite places in Los Angeles, and that it was extra special for him to see “Bully” being screened there on 35-millimeter film. To see films presented there in their original format, something often not available to movie buffs in most places, means a lot to him.

Rachel Weisz on Playing Hester Collyer in ‘The Deep Blue Sea’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

WRITER’S NOTE: As the opening sentence hints at, this article was written in 2012.

The 2012 New York Film Critics Circle Awards were recently given out, and one of the big winners was Rachel Weisz who won the Best Actress Award for her performance in “The Deep Blue Sea.” In the film she portrays Hester Collyer, the wife of a High Court judge who ends up having a passionate affair with Royal Air Force pilot Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston), and we watch as this affair throws her life into utter turmoil. “The Deep Blue Sea” hasn’t yet found the audience in America it deserves, but hopefully Weisz’s win will bring more attention to the film which has earned tremendous critical praise since its release.

“The Deep Blue Sea” was directed by British independent filmmaker, Terence Davies. His resume includes such movies as “Distant Voices Still Lives,” “The Neon Bible” and “The House of Mirth” which featured an extraordinary performance from Gillian Anderson. In an interview with Ara Aquino of Complex, Weisz described Davies as being “very different” and “unusual” compared to most other filmmakers she has worked with. Hearing Weisz talk about Davies makes him sound both rigid and yet full of life:

“He’s probably as passionate as Hester and led by his emotions and his heart. He’s more like her than I am,” Weisz said of Davies. “He gets really carried away both in happiness and sadness and anger. He’s a very emotional person. He likes things to be incredibly controlled in terms of where the camera is; you’re the center of the frame. It’s the opposite of contemporary, hand-held reportage style films that we’re used to seeing now. He’s got real rigor as a filmmaker, but he’s also really passionate.”

Weisz then went on to tell Aquino that what interested her about playing Hester was how the character “really, kind of completely humiliated herself” and has “no pride.” Those who have seen “The Deep Blue Sea” can agree this role is a frightening and challenging one for any actress as it forces them to convincingly portray conflicting emotions and to play a character who is not exactly likable. Still, it was those challenges which made Weisz want to take on the role.

“What I found interesting about her was she just fell so completely, devastatingly, utterly in love with someone who really didn’t even love her back,” Weisz said about Hester. “She just couldn’t control it, and I thought that was really interesting to see someone lose it. She just throws herself at his feet and kind of makes a complete fool out of herself in many ways.”

Actually, one of the most refreshing things I heard Weisz say about the roles she chooses is that she does not worry about whether the character is likable or not. Many actors tend to be very self-conscious about their work and how the public will treat them for playing someone who is far from being universally loved. But they do themselves a disservice thinking like that as they cut themselves off from many interesting opportunities worth taking advantage of. Weisz made this clear in an interview she had with the Awards Line website.

“I think if you ask the audience to like you, it’s all over,” Weisz said. “The most interesting characters are those you’re drawn to, then repelled by, and then come to understand. All that tension – I live that. But I don’t plan the tension. It’s just something that should happen. I don’t judge the character at all. It’s a bit like being someone’s defense lawyer-you have to believe in their innocence in order to defend them. Did I know that Hester was a pain in the ass? Yeah.”

Another interesting story about the making of “The Deep Blue Sea” involved shooting the love scene between Weisz and her co-star Tom Hiddleston. While Weisz has been in her share of sex scenes in movies, this particular one was the first that Davies ever directed. In talking with Michael Ordoña of the Los Angeles Times, it sounded like she spent a lot of time trying to make Davies feel more comfortable about doing it which was amusing because it’s typically the other way around.

“He just said, ‘I want you to lick his shoulder.’ He had never shot a nude scene, or a sex scene,” Weisz said of Davies. “I thought for a while, ‘Maybe I’ll just keep on my slip.’ But then he said ‘Ah, no, I don’t think so …’ He was really embarrassed. He had it in his mind he wanted audiences to see their bodies together.”

“The Deep Blue Sea” may not be the kind of movie that fills up multiplexes around the globe, but it is a must see for those who love complex dramas and great acting. Rachel Weisz continues to deliver one great performance after another, and this film features one of her best yet. If she continues to choose her roles in the way she told Aquino, then we can expect many more unforgettable performances from her in the future.

“You just have to read a script and think, I’d really like to play this character,” Weisz told Aquino. “It doesn’t really matter if it’s a big movie or a small movie. You still have to say the lines and make it sound true. I just need to be intrigued or pulled in. It’s hard for me to put it into words. It’s like reading a book: Some books grab you and some books don’t. It’s the same with a character. Some things you just really connect with. It could be a really silly book or a dark tragedy.”

SOURCES:

Ara Aquino, “Interview: Rachel Weisz Talks “The Deep Blue Sea” & The Madness Of Love,” Complex, March 21, 2012.

“Q&A: Rachel Weisz on Deep Blue Sea,” Awards Line, November 21, 2012.

Michael Ordoña, “How Rachel Weisz put depth in ‘Blue Sea’ performance,” Los Angeles Times, November 29, 2012.