One of the starrier world premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival, “Babies,” as the festival’s program states, “digs deep into the dilemma that comes for every couple: to parent or not to parent?” It stars Seth Rogen and Anna Kendrick as spouses, and the movie was spearheaded by Rogen’s real-life wife Lauren Miller Rogen, who wrote, produced and directed the new comedy. The supporting cast includes Dan Stevens, Kate Berlant, Issa Rae, Ed Helms, Zach Cherry and Sharon Stone.
“As a woman, I’ve been asked the question of if I’m going to have kids a gazillion-and-a-half times throughout my lifetime, and was never quite sure of what that answer was,” Miller Rogen told Casey Loving at TheWrap’s studio at TIFF.
A decade ago, friends of the couple got divorced and one of them needed a place to stay, so they moved in with the Rogens along with their 2-and-a-half-year-old child. They ended up staying for an entire year.
“That experience is not technically what made us decide not to have a child,” Miller Rogen clarified.
But it did help to inspire “Babies,” with Berlant playing Eliza, a woman breaks up with her husband (Stevens) and comes to stay with Annie (Kendrick) and Aaron (Rogen). “Will witnessing the joys and sorrows of parenting up close tip the scales one way or another? Will ambivalence reign until Annie and Aaron simply age out?” reads the official TIFF program.
“I just thought that this is something that I had a point of view on and I had something that could add to the conversation that is happening out there. I thought that the fun way to tell that story would be to use our personal experience of this small child moving in with us, and then incorporate the amazingly beautiful stories that I’ve witnessed over the years from my friends who have become parents,” Miller Rogen explained. “I wanted to include all of the different points of views and experiences that I’ve seen with my friends, and to tell a story that felt like a very current and contemporary look at parenthood.
Seth Rogen has spoken openly about how his decision to not have children is what allows him time to produce projects like “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” star in two streaming series (one that he also writes and directs!) and spearhead Houseplant, his lifestyle brand of pot-friendly home goods. He said that the year he spent with the small child was “informative” – and not just for the movie.
“What to me is very interesting about the movie is that the couple is not confronted with an annoying kid or a bad kid. That isn’t the problem. They think kids would be annoying or that they don’t think they could do it. And I think that’s actually what became clear when we had a kid living with us for a long time was like, ‘We could do this,’” said Rogen. “We did have times where we were left with her and we spent a ton of time with her. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh I hate being around a kid.’ That was never the thing for us.”
“What’s nice about that perspective in the film is that I think a lot of people assume that is why some people are conflicted about having kids: they don’t think they could take care of a kid,” Rogen continued. “But what that year showed us was we were still very conflicted about having kids, but those were none of the reasons why. Having a great kid around was actually really informative because you’re like, ‘Oh, this is the best case scenario and I still don’t know if this is for me.’”
Roadside Attractions and Vertical picked up the rights to “Babies” ahead of its debut and will release it in 2027.
