Dave Franco on his brother James’ near-nude selfie

FRANCO. Happy to stay away from social media. PHOTO BY RUBEN V. NEPALES

LOS ANGELES—It was the morning after James Franco posted his near-nude selfie on Instagram to his two million followers so Dave Franco had to parry questions about his brother’s latest social media antic.

“At this point, I don’t think there’s anything he can do that’s really going to shock me. I think him putting out a naked selfie is actually a very refined act on his part. He’s done much weirder things,” Dave said.

He probably had in mind James’ nude paintings of his buddy Seth Rogen, captioned “Sleepy Bear” and “Seth Wants It!” that were, of course, also posted on Instagram.

Dave, who worked with Seth in “Superbad,” which the latter wrote and starred in, said with a chuckle that he had nothing to do with that nude painting project.

Will Dave take naked selfies of himself? “No,” came his quick reply. “First off, I’m not on social media at all. I’ve been able to avoid it to this point because the thought of it overwhelms me a little bit. I do value my privacy, so if I can avoid offering any extra information about myself, I’m happy to stay away from that.”

He stressed, “I respect my brother for going for it and doing anything he wants to do, not caring about the consequences or how people are going to perceive him.”

Dave’s star is rising, especially since his breakout roles in the sleeper hit, “Now You See Me” (where his natural charisma shone), “21 Jump Street” and his hit “Funny or Die” videos. He had actually met Seth earlier than James (the latter two have teamed up on several movies). Now, Dave and Seth are starring in “Neighbors,” with Zac Efron.

“There’s not much sibling rivalry to talk about,” Dave said about his relationship with James and Tom, a sculptor.  “We’re such different people. It’s not like we’re competing for the same roles. Even if we were, we’re happy in our lives. When you’re content, you want to see the people around you succeed. There’s never been a moment of jealousy or competitiveness between us.”

Gratitude

As James does in our interviews with him, Dave also expressed gratitude to their parents, Doug and Betsy, for nurturing their creative talents. “I give them a lot of credit,” Dave said. “We were a very weird artistic family. They always encouraged me to do whatever I wanted. I don’t take that for granted because I know there’s a lot of parents out there who discourage their children from getting into the arts.”

In “Neighbors,” Dave and Zac lead a fraternity that terrorizes new parents, played by Seth and Rose Byrne, who live next door with their baby. Dave’s Pete, the frat’s veep, has a special talent—being able to will himself into having an erection.

On how his character’s “skill” is achieved cinematically, Dave explained, “They actually put together a pretty extravagant rig. There was a guy standing off-camera. We had a good connection. He was taking my energy when to go up and down.”

“When you sign on to a Seth Rogen comedy, you know what you’re getting into,” Dave said about filming Pete’s “special talent” scenes.

There are rituals among the frat brothers that are too graphic to describe. Dave said with a laugh that he doesn’t have such rituals among his pals in real life. “But, I’m a pretty open person.  I love my guy friends. I tell them how much I love them all the time. Maybe that’s not normal for other guys, but we embrace it.”

More laid-back than his big brother, who’s noted for his multiple pursuits, Dave described his idea of a bash: “A great party for me involves sushi, maybe a bunch of kittens running around my feet (like James, he loves cats), my four closest friends and the movie, ‘Stand By Me,’ running on a loop in the background.”

The 28-year-old has come a long way. “In my first job, I worked at a mom-and-pop video store when I was 14 years old. I looked like I was 9. But, that’s how I found my love for films. They let me take home three movies every shift I took. That’s how I started pumping through all the classics.”

Prompted to describe himself in three words, Dave said, “I would say silly, bizarre and sensitive.”

E-mail [email protected]. Follow https://twitter.com/nepalesruben.