When Seth Rogen was at our offices last week to discuss his new film 'The Night Before,” we touched on a number of subjects, and the conversation turned at one point to “Sausage Party,” an animated film directed by Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon.
For those who haven't heard of the film, it's understandable. It's not due in theaters until August of 2016, but it's been in production for a while now. The film tells the story of Barry, a hot dog voiced by Michael Cera, who begins to suspect that the entire ideological afterlife that has been explained to him for his entire existence is, in fact, a lie. What that lie is and how his adventure peels back the layers of reality is something you'll have to see for yourself, but it's a blisteringly filthy script, and very, very funny.
It's got a great voice cast, including Rogen, Cera, Kristen Wiig, Paul Rudd, James Franco, Salma Hayek, Bill Hader, Jonah Hill, Edward Norton, David Krumholtz, Danny McBride, Nick Kroll, Craig Robinson, and more, and according to Rogen, the film opens with an actual Alan Menken musical number featuring all the food in the grocery store singing about their relationship to the Gods.
When we talked about the film, Rogen mentioned that there came a point in the development of the movie where they realized that in order for the joke to work, they were going to have to make something just as slick and sophisticated as Pixar's work. After the interview wrapped, he showed me a quick clip from the film on his phone, and certainly there's a level of technical polish that surprised me. They've made some big stylistic choices, and it's a visually arresting world. It's also, like the script, almost breathtakingly dirty.
You can see the section of the interview when we talk about “Sausage Party” at the top of the article, or you can see the entire full-length interview at the bottom of the story.
“Sausage Party” will be in theaters at the end of next summer, but “The Night Before” is in theaters now.