“Superbad” would never be made in 2026, Seth Rogen said on an episode of “The Interview” released Saturday, because Hollywood is more rick-adverse than it was in 2007.
“When we made that movie, they bought our script, they hired a director, they said it would have a $20 million budget and it would start shooting in August or in April of that year,” he explained. “And it would come out in August of the following year. That’s it. And then we cast the movie, we found a director for the movie, we made it according to their schedule and we released it on the date they chose.”
“That would never happen today in 100 million years,” Rogen continued. “No studio, would just buy a script, give it a release date, cast it and then make it. Like, now, everything has to be in place before they will decide whether or not they’re making it. Who’s the director? Who are the actors? Are they famous enough? Do they have big enough names? If not, then we’ve got to change, we’ve got to get different ones or else we won’t make it.”
Rogen added that if a studio feels the “right” actors aren’t attached, they’ll change the shooting schedule, too. “Because we think these actors will get us more money than these actors, even though they might not be the funniest actors for the role, they might be more commercial for the role,” he said.
“Not to say you won’t ultimately get to the funniest people for the role, but you’ll have to go through an incredible process to do it in a way that is all due to risk aversion.”
The 2007 comedy starred Rogen alongside Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Emma Stone, and Bill Hader. Hill and Cera play Seth and Evan, two teenagers who want to lose their virginity before graduating from high school. The movie was also Stone’s film debut.
