Originally appeared on E! Online
After a shocking murder that captivated the nation, Dave Franco started receiving texts saying the same thing about him.
His of his friends and acquaintances jokingly informed him he looks like Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York City street in broad daylight last month.
“I have never received more texts in my life,” Franco told the Hollywood Reporter in an on-camera interview posted Jan. 25, “about anything.”
His contacts not the only ones who have suggested he bears a resemblance to Mangione. The subject has been discussed on social media for weeks, with some fans naming Franco as a contender to play the murder suspect in a biographical film or series, should one be developed.
“I don’t think there have been any official offers,” the actor’s wife Alison Brie, sitting beside him, joked during the interview, to which the 39-year-old responded, “No, no official.”
Franco continued, “It’s just friends. Anyone who has my phone number has reached out about it.”
READ Inside Luigi Mangione’s Life in Prison Amid Indictment on Murder Charges
Meanwhile, he has been keeping busy with acting projects such as the thriller “Together,” in which he and Brie play a couple whose move to the countryside triggers a supernatural incident. The film is set to premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival Jan. 26.
Mangione, 26, was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a five-day manhunt in wake of Thompson’s Dec. 4 killing. Later that month, Mangione was indicted on 11 charges, includes first-degree murder and murder as an act of terrorism, in New York City. He has pleaded not guilty to all of them and remains in custody, awaiting a trial.
If convicted of all counts, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Luigi Mangione pleaded not guilty to murder and weapons charges in the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson during his arraignment on Monday morning.
