Film sets can often be dangerous places, with stunts and props all over the place. But Zac Efron dislocating a thumb on the crotch of Dave Franco probably wasn’t something the insurance was expecting.
Talking on the Call Her Daddy podcast, the pair were looking back over their time on the set of Neighbors. The film had the two of them acting alongside Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne. It was a pretty middling movie about noisy, partying neighbors.
But, looking back, one thing has stuck in memory for Zack Efron and Dave Franco. While filming one particular scene, Efron injured his thumb with a particularly wild crotch grab. The scene had some pretty aggressive penis grabbing, which is on brand for a Seth Rogen film.
Thinking back, Franco tried to remember just how he managed to dislocate Efron’s thumb. “I’m trying to remember if I was wearing a cup, and he came in just really strong. There’s a scene where I think we’re both grabbing each other’s crotches at the same time. And I just think he came in with enough force from the wrong angle.”
It Wasn’t Hard
In the film, Franco has the ability to get it up just with the power of his mind. “[Efron] grabs my crotch and we’re both holding on like – who’s gonna let go first? And then my character actually, to get him to let go, I have a trick where I go ‘zen’ and I know how to get hard on cue. So, I do get hard in this hand. That’s what makes him let go.”
But, in reality, Franco didn’t really have a hard-on, and it certainly wasn’t what dislocated the thumb of Efron. It was probably just his box. But it did result in a brief break from filming, and a pretty funny story to tell after the unremarkable movie.
When asked if he could actually summon an erection with only the power of the mind, Franco had to admit that it wasn’t an ability he was blessed with.