UNITED KINGDOM: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg talk about their star-studded apocalyptic comedy

Record ID: 319388

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg talk about their star-studded apocalyptic comedy
  • Date: 27th June 2013
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JUNE 24, 2013) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR AND DIRECTOR SETH ROGEN, SAYING: "We found that the worse off the characters are the funnier the movie is and there's again no worse situation than the world ending so it kind of provides for a very heightened environment which lends itself to comedy."
  • Embargoed: 12th July 2013 13:00
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  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVA40UECD18EB4IB19P8ZP9L789G
  • Story Text: Actor Seth Rogen and writer-producer Evan Goldberg, known for R-rated stoner comedies such as "Superbad" and "Pineapple Express," make their debut as directors with "This Is the End."
    Rogen, 31, and Goldberg, 30, told Reuters that they wanted to push the boundaries of comedy by having actors play themselves dealing with an apocalypse in the film.

    "We found that the worse off the characters are the funnier the movie is and there's again no worse situation than the world ending so it kind of provides for a very heightened environment which lends itself to comedy," Rogen admitted.
    In the film, a group of Hollywood's top young comedy actors including Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Mindy Kaling, Jason Segel, Michael Cera, Emma Watson and Danny McBride come together at a wild party at James Franco's house.
    The revellers are interrupted by the apocalypse. Fireballs ravage the Hollywood Hills, leaving a trail of destruction and a giant fire pit that swallows up many celebrity guests, including pop singer Rihanna, in front of Franco's house.
    Rogen, Franco, Baruchel, Hill, Robinson and McBride survive by locking themselves into Franco's house and proceed to engage in absurd survival stunts.
    Hollywood has a long-standing fascination with the end of the world such as 1998's space fantasy "Armageddon" and 2004's environmental disaster film "The Day After Tomorrow."

    "This is The End" takes a unique twist by giving the topic an R-rated comedy treatment with celebrities playing themselves.
    Goldberg said they managed to agree on the way Rogen, Baruchel and Robinson's characters would be portrayed, while Franco, Hill and McBride play a version of themselves that were even further removed from reality.

    "We went to them first before we wrote the movie and said 'we're going to write a movie where we all play stupid versions of ourselves in the apocalypse. Are you open to that?' and they all said yes. And then we really sat down with them and some of the characters we got really good on our first go like Danny's character changed very little and Jay's character didn't change that much but Franco's character and Jonah's character and some of the smaller cameos like... they came to us and we said we can develop this. But it was never like they were insulted, it was just they thought they could have a better character overall," said Rogen.
    Goldberg added:
    "If anything they made themselves look worse. Pretty much everyone made themselves worse by their own notes."
    Rogen, with his curly hair, thick-framed spectacles and unique rumbling laugh, has become a Hollywood poster boy for slacker films. Behind the scenes, both he and Goldberg are becoming big names in movie comedy.
    Rogen and Goldberg said their biggest challenge for "This Is the End" was securing funding and convincing studios to come on board with the film's premise.
    Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Entertainment, took on the project, giving the duo "a few million dollars," Rogen said, with less than $3 million for visual effects.
    After surviving the apocalypse, Rogen and Goldberg are moving onto their second directorial project "The Interview," where Rogen and Franco will play journalists on a mission to "assassinate the president of North Korea," Rogen said, calling it their "comedic 'Argo.'"
    The duo will also be making their animated film debut with an R-rated comedy "Sausage Party," about sausages in a grocery store, teaming up with producer Megan Ellison of Annapurna Pictures, the company behind "The Master" and "Zero Dark Thirty."
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