The Seth Rogen movie even he wouldn’t pay to watch: “I just didn’t love it”
He may be clad in neatly tailored double-breasted suits and selling off his extravagant, stoner-inspired homeware brand, but we mustn’t forget where Seth Rogen truly came from.
Long before he was the purveyor of dorky-bohemian coolness, he was the man writing coming-of-age stoner films that pitted the lead characters in Cirque du Soleil while tripping on shrooms or lighting up the three ends of a cross joint. It wasn’t exactly high-brow, but it was very much of the times, and by some divine Hollywood miracle, Rogen carved himself a niche that made him one of the most beloved writer/actors in the industry.
Now, that’s put him in a position of complete career autonomy, whereby the roles he writes and plays are generally ones afforded to him by his reputation. Long gone are the days of him having to play cameo roles as a delivery driver or fulfil the duties of a dorky best friend in some glossy Hollywood rom-com.
But Rogen did have to do that, at some point in his career, despite what his current success may tell you. While those parts largely came from the school of Judd Apatow, where, alongside the likes of Jason Segel and Jonah Hill, he too ran on the treadmill of Apatow comedies that cast him as whatever bizarre weed-loving characters, before stepping outside of those realms in a bid to widen his career.
Most notably was his role in Donnie Darko, which was actually his first film role where he played the nerdy, somewhat aggressive school bully Ricky Danforth, but that was an acclaimed film Rogen is surely proud of, unlike You, Me and Dupree.
The comedy starring Owen Wilson was of the same era as Rogen’s big-hitting films, but sort of stepped outside his own mould of comedy and subsequently disillusioned him. The somewhat glossy and predictable plotline made for a film that, in retrospect, Rogen isn’t so enthused to talk about.
“When I like it and am proud of it, I am definitely more relaxed,” he said, in reference to his own filmography, adding, “It’s awkward to promote a movie that you yourself would not be that excited to go see.” When pushed for names, he frankly declared, “I remember You, Me and Dupree was the first time I had to do that, and that movie’s fine, I just didn’t love it. It honestly was not a movie I would have gone out to go see.”
“It’s OK, the Russo brothers did fine,” he added, laughing, before honestly explaining how standing in his Hayworth apaprtment closet during a promotional radio interview, he of course urged people to see the film but was really lying through his teeth, which made him vow never find himself in such a position, “Never again do I want to have to tell people to go see a movie that I myself actually wouldn’t see. It’s hard enough to promote a movie. When you’re also morally corrupting yourself, it’s a real bummer.”
While he went on a hot streak shortly after You, Me and Dupree, the experience would have been a worthy practice for some of his later work, because when The Green Hornet came out five years later, that closet in Hayworth would have beckoned once more.
