Voice acting lets Dave Franco take bigger risks than live-action — including alternate jokes
On Hoppers, the recording booth wasn’t just for lines—it became a playground for testing jokes, shifting deliveries, and taking risks.
In the recording booth for Hoppers, Dave Franco says he finally got to unleash the kind of anything-goes energy that live-action rarely allows. He voices Titus, the Insect King — a manic butterfly villain built to zig where you expect him to zag — and the team leaned into that chaos, urging him to keep pushing takes while the script ’s spine stayed put.
“You can try each line a million different ways,”
Franco explained in a promotional chat for the film, as reported by Discussing Film. He also came armed with alts.
“I’m a nerd, I’ll do my homework and look through the script and I’ll come in with alternate jokes.”
Working without a camera or marks meant fewer limits and more trial-and-error until the read popped. It ’s not Franco’s first time behind a mic — he previously voiced Lloyd in The Lego Ninjago Movie — but he says this one offered far more room to experiment.
On the mic, off the cuff
That looseness carried into a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. When host Josh Horowitz mentioned his wife often calls him an “idiot,” Franco didn’t miss the chance to flip it into a bit, joking that if it’s happening that often, Horowitz must be doing something wrong — and he should probably own it.
The quick-draw riff tracks with the off-script persona friends and fans know. Even at his wedding to Alison Brie, guests reportedly left with playful keepsakes — and plenty of leftover pizza — a night that doubled as a comedy hang as much as a party.