Amber Heard – 'Angie' in Pineapple Express

This is a stoner comedy, but do you have to be a stoner to like it?

Amber Heard: "No, that's what's really great about it. I had a great time. I'm not a stoner – unfortunately. But it's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun. It was actually, surprisingly, an action movie for some reason. When we made it, a lot of it was improv and not so much was given to you in the script. I was expecting when I read it to be kind of like hanging out on a couch, kind of an adventure on your sofa. But it's not at all. It's an action comedy."

Do you get into the action?

Amber Heard: "I do get to stab James Franco. So who can say that? "

What was that experience like?

Amber Heard: "It was amazing."

How many times did you do it?

Amber Heard: "Not enough. No, I'm just kidding. It was a blast. As you do in a movie, you film something about a million times so… "

And doing the improv on this, how tough is it for you to just go in a rhythm like that?

Amber Heard: "Working with people like Seth and James, the director David Gordon Green, Judd Apatow, amazing… It doesn't really make my job with improv difficult."

Pineapple Express Director David Gordon Green

What's the appeal of doing a stoner comedy? It's so different from what you've done before.

David Gordon Green: "The appeal is doing something I've never done before."

Tackling a lot of improv on the set and how do you handle that as a director? And how do you when to call cut because they're going off track?

David Gordon Green: "Well, I've done a lot of improvisation on all of my movies and I've learned the best thing is to typically not yell cut until everybody is tired."

How tough is it to rein Seth Rogen in?

David Gordon Green: "It's not tough at all. He brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm, but I think what the audiences really respond to most about him is the kind of honesty. It's not just a comedian going up there for the yuks and the laughs and the jokes, it's a guy that brings a humanity and a genuine emotion to some of the hilarious stuff that he gets into."

And it is an action movie and not just comedy?

David Gordon Green: "Yeah, we got a lot going on in this one."

How do you get the action in? Everything we've seen in the trailers is pretty much the stoner part of the story, so where does the action come into it?

David Gordon Green: "Well, they get kind of caught up in this chase where they kind of get on the run from their drug dealer. And, you know, the circus ensues. A lot of bloodshed and a pretty high body count in this one."

How do you handle action scenes? Is that something that you're comfortable with?

David Gordon Green: "I was very excited about it because this was the first chance I've had within my career to really get into that. I'm really inspired by a lot of '80s action movies, so I kind of wanted to have a little retro feel to this, and reference a lot of movies that I enjoyed as a kid growing up, and hopefully brought a lot of sensibility to this."

And you absolutely do not have to be a stoner to enjoy this comedy?

David Gordon Green: "No, absolutely not. I think it appeals to that prime demographic and then it goes beyond it. My parents came to the movie last night, in their mid-60s, and I think they got a big kick out of it."

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