Shooting the Sex Scenes with Katherine Heigl: Seth Rogen admits it was actually kind of nerve-wracking. “If I was 18 years old, I’d literally be as far as I’ve ever been with a girl. You’re essentially – you’re dry humping; I don’t know if you can say that, but I’ll say it. You’re dry humping a girl who you don’t know very well, and I was just afraid I was going to sweat on her. That was my major concern, that I was going to drip a big gob of sweat on her head. It’s nerves… But, luckily, they’re comedic sex scenes, supposedly, so that kind of helps. It’s not like I’m supposed to be acting sexy. There’s lines like, ‘This is my new record,’ in there so that kind of alleviates some of the pressure that would be put on me to look attractive and sexy, which is nice.”
And What About the Birthing Scene?: That was definitely much harder on Katherine Heigl than on Rogen. “The birth scene, okay, I was always a big proponent of showing the whole megillah, as they say. I thought it’d be funny and shocking and it reminded me a little of Something About Mary when you see Ben Stiller’s zipper and the crotch. It just kind of reminded me of… It’s always implied in movies, but not really 100 feet tall. So I just knew that that reaction would be fun from the audience. It’s one of those things that I couldn’t imagine how people would react. I assume they’d just scream, which pretty much happens. But it was stressful to shoot that scene. Katie was really – she actually pulled her back out pushing and screaming so much. I just had to stand there and hold her hand, which I felt a lot like I imagine a real husband feels during the birth. It’s her show, stay out of the way and try not to ruin anything. But, it was weird to film.”
Up Next – The Pineapple Express: Rogen co-wrote and stars in The Pineapple Express, a buddy comedy with Freaks and Geeks co-star James Franco. “Sexually speaking, Pineapple Express is not nearly as dirty as Superbad or maybe even Knocked Up. It’s not really a sexual movie. It’s more of a marijuana-themed, buddy/buddy comedy, more in the tone of, say, 48 Hours or Midnight Run. I mean, action-wise it’s pretty jammed packed. We’ve got car chases and shoot-outs and explosions and me holding many machine guns, which is amusing to me. I hope other people find it entertaining, but when you say you’re making an action comedy, it’s like anything else. We thought it really has to function as really both as an action and as a comedy. With a romantic comedy, it needs to function in those worlds as well. We took that very seriously.”
And Speaking of Freaks and Geeks: What’s it like working with so many of the people he met during his time on Freaks and Geeks? “It’s amazing,” answered Rogen. “I don’t know. It’s funny, I look back to Freaks and Geeks and I’m terrified how little thought I put into it. I think I was just young and inexperienced. It never really dawned on me that at this time, this was a really great show we were doing and these actors were amazing. It really just seemed so there and given. Looking back, it’s a great show with some really talented people involved. We all got along really well, so I think that’s why we all want to keep working together. I just finished a movie with James Franco a few days ago, and it was amazing to be able to work together again. We kept looking at each other saying, ‘If you told us eight years ago that someone would allow us to be in a movie that we’re the stars of, I would have never believed it.’ It’s amazing to us.”
