You want to see what I look like when my brain shuts down for no good reason right in the middle of an interview? Well, today’s your lucky day.
I’ve spoken with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg dozens of times over the years, and I always enjoy seeing them and talking about what they’re doing. Yet for some reason, as I’m making the introduction in this piece, you’ll see me completely blank on Evan’s name. It’s just a few seconds, but internally, it was a full-system reboot, one of those “what did I just do?!” moments.
Thankfully, Evan and Seth laughed it off and we had a great chat about their first film as co-directors, “This Is The End,” which arrives in theaters later this year. On the 16th of this month, I’ll be publishing some observations and interviews from my time on the set of the film in Louisiana last year, and we’ll have longer interviews with both Craig Robinson and Danny McBride this week that we did at WonderCon. That’s the long way of saying, “We’ve got a lot to share with you.”
It’s been interesting seeing how people react to this one just from the previews so far, and I’m not surprised there are people who are put off by just how self-referential this kind of comedy can be. I think the way these guys are all tweaking their own images and busting each other’s balls is fun, and it’s an inclusive sort of comedy. I don’t see this as a “aren’t we great because we’re celebrities?” joke, but more of a “yes, celebrity itself is ridiculous.” There’s an entire aspect of the film that I can’t discuss because it’s a major spoiler, but I think it completely demolishes any idea that they’re celebrating themselves or Hollywood. It’s going to be great to have these conversations once the movie is open.
I also managed to work in a totally graceless plug for “Goon,” a film that Evan Goldberg and Jay Baruchel wrote together. It was in my top 20 for last year, and I can’t recommend it enough. I think Seth and Evan are just warming up, and we’ve got years and years of movies from them to look forward to, with “This Is The End” serving as a great transition from writing to directing as well.
“This Is The End” will destroy the world on June 13, 2013.