Series “The Franchise” – Invisible jackhammer

In recent years, the film industry has pumped as much money into hardly any other sector as into the superhero genre. Marvel in particular is spending record sums, sometimes more than $300 million per film, to chase men with superpowers across the screen in the Avengers blockbusters, who often make flat-out sexist jokes along the way.

The broadcaster HBO is now coming up with a satirical comedy series that takes a nasty look at the filming of such a superhero film. The blockbuster “Tecto: Eye of the Storm” is filmed in “The Franchise”. Actor Adam (Billy Magnussen), who embodies the title hero Tecto, is a young man struggling with his self-confidence with little talent but presentable muscles. With his invisible jackhammer he can trigger entire earthquakes and fights with or against Eye (Richard E. Grant), who looks like a cheap Dr. Ming copy from the Flash Gordon comics. The big diva on the set is the supposedly avant-garde director Eric Bouchard (Daniel Brühl), who acts as if there was some kind of artistic message in the undemanding script. The chaos on the set is held together by assistant director Daniel Kumar (Himesh Patel), who is constantly on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

The film industry and the superhero genre are deservedly getting their fat. Above all, the blatant hierarchies of the film industry with their “hire and fire” logic are targeted.

The situation on the set escalates when the studio bosses send the supervisor Pat (Darren Goldstein) to the filming location to put pressure on the filming schedule and, if necessary, to change the script as they see fit. But that’s tricky, especially since every intervention is immediately commented on by an extremely attentive fan base and the film comes under heavy fire during filming.

Behind closed doors, those responsible even threatened to stop filming. When the producer is fired and replaced by Anita (Aya Cash), the ex-girlfriend of assistant director Daniel, the chaos seems perfect. And then, at the behest of the studio bosses, the film should be made even less sexist, which leads to heated debates and can hardly be implemented given the simple script full of macho aesthetics and flat action plot. So a few changes are made to the script without further ado and a supporting actress suddenly becomes the center of the film, much to the displeasure of her male colleagues.

The eight-part series “The Franchise,” whose episodes are only about 25 minutes long, is a briskly told series with great actors and funny dialogue, but in places the humor is too one-dimensional and too rowdy. The film industry and the superhero genre are deservedly getting their fat. Above all, the blatant hierarchies of the film industry with their “hire and fire” logic are targeted.

The supervisor is a tough manager who rules downwards. This film production has nothing to do with the artistic standards that would-be avant-garde director Eric Bouchard, who Daniel Brühl plays with devotion, would like to have. The film set with its studio structures somewhere remote in the English countryside resembles a cheap factory hall in which a half-baked product is cobbled together with effort and a lot of improvisation.

The film industry and its production processes were also caricatured in the HBO series “Irma Vep” (2022), which at the same time also showcased French film history and paid homage to an avant-garde film industry. “The Franchise” wants to make fun of the blockbuster industry, which is absolutely justified in times of empty coffers and increasing difficulties in finding financing for ambitious films or series.

Can be seen on Sky.