Can Dave Franco Play Luigi Mangione in a Biographical Film? Everyone Thinks So
During the Sundance Film Festival, Dave Franco was frequently asked a question that had nothing to do with his movie Together, the horror rom com he co-starred in with his wife, Alison Brie. The question? Whether he’s aware that he looks like Luigi Mangione.
Dave Franco and Luigi Mangione Comparison
Franco mentioned in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that “I have never received more texts in my life about anything. Anyone who has my phone number has reached out about it,” referring to his resemblance to Luigi Mangione, who allegedly shot and killed United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Brie also mentioned that a lot of people are reaching out to Franco about it but there aren’t “any official offers.”
After Mangione’s arrest, social media went buzzing calling for the actor to play Mangione on-screen.
One tweet reads, “Can’t wait to see Dave Franco play Luigi Mangione in whatever TV series Ryan Murphy is currently creating,” with side-by-side photos of Franco and Mangione. Another wrote, “Netflix and hbo executives getting ready to hire Dave Franco to play Luigi Mangione in a 4 part documentary.”
Saturday Night Live even included the resemblance during the cold open for Sarah Sherman’s Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. During the segment, they flashed Mangione and Franco’s photos with Sherman saying, “I mean seriously, this guy looks like Dave Franco with Eugene Levy’s eyebrows.”
The New York Post reported Franco “experienced his third-most-popular week of Google searches in the last five years.”
Luigi Mangione Documentaries
There might not be any on-screen project in the works yet with Franco playing Mangione, but there is a documentary on Hulu about Mangione called, Manhunt: Luigi Mangione and the CEO Murder — A Special Edition of 20/20. The description for the show reads, “Investigating the secret life of the young man prosecutors allege gunned down United Healthcare’s Brian Thompson.”
Deadline reported another documentary from Anonymous Content and Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions about Mangione is also in development. According to Variety, Stephen Robert Morse is also working on a separate documentary. Morse also produced Amanda Knox and How to Rob a Bank documentaries for Netflix.
Variety (via Newsweek) also reported that Investigation Discovery, Warner Bros. Discovery network is also making an hour-long documentary, entitled “Who Is Luigi Mangione” set to premiere in February. The documentary is set to examine “the lingering questions surrounding Mangione’s arrest and explores how a young man of such wealth and privilege could seemingly commit such a heinous crime.”
