Dave Franco has confessed that the cast of Now You See Me spent their first day on set convinced the franchise was doomed before it even began. The actor recently opened up about the panic that swept through the group during those early hours of filming. What started as chaos on set turned into a dinner table joke that none of them could shake. That reaction now doubles as one of the franchise's funniest behind-the-scenes stories.

While the cast expected disaster on day one, their private joke about ending careers reveals exactly how nervous the mood really was on set.

Dave Franco confirmed that the mood on the first day of filming Now You See Me was closer to despair than excitement. He recalled the set spiraling into chaos as the cast tried to figure out whether the concept could even work. That uncertainty followed them straight to dinner, where the group toasted to what they assumed was a doomed project.

"I remember at the end of the first day it was such chaos trying to figure it out,"  Franco said on the Aug. 24 episode of Hot Ones, speaking to Sean Evans.

He then added, "We all went out to dinner, and we literally cheered to the end of our careers." 

During the same Hot Ones sit-down, Franco explained that the nervous energy from that first day carried through years of uncertainty, even as the franchise quietly built a devoted following. He plays Jack Wilder, the pickpocket turned illusionist among the Four Horsemen, a role that kept pulling him back for two sequels despite that early dread. When Evans suggested the newest chapter would likely close the series, Franco simply agreed, calling it a fitting end to a story that once seemed destined to fail before it even started.

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While the Horsemen's fate turned out fine, their movies have not stayed on the same platform for long.

The first two films, Now You See Me and its 2016 sequel, once had a home on Netflix, drawing new audiences to the Four Horsemen's heists starting in June 2025. That run ended quickly, with both titles leaving the platform by the end of September 2025. Viewers today can find the pair on Starz and Lionsgate+ through various channel add-ons, along with Philo, or rent them digitally on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home.

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t follows a similar path, with the film primarily available on Starz and through bundles such as DIRECTV Stream that include the channel. It is also available to rent or buy on most major digital storefronts, giving viewers an easy way to revisit the franchise without a dedicated subscription. Checking JustWatch before pressing play remains the safest approach. Fifteen years on, that grim first-day toast has become one of the franchise’s best-kept secrets.

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What are your thoughts on Dave Franco's grim first-day toast? Let us know in the comments.