Seth Rogen recently revealed that Sony didn’t want Jonah Hill’s character in Superbad to use any of its products.
Rogen revealed the surprising tidbit about the classic movie at the red carpet SXSW premiere for his new Apple TV Series, The Studio.
“Sony made the movie, and we were told that Jonah Hill’s character, Seth, was so reprehensible to the studio,” Rogen said. “There’s a scene where they’re playing video games and it was like, ‘Jonah can’t touch a PlayStation.'”
Superbad was co-written by Rogen and his creative partner Evan Goldberg and is based on their high school experiences. In the movie, Hill’s character is a stand-in for Rogen — so Sony’s note hit him where it hurts.
“They were like, ‘We can’t have him interact with our products as a character, because it’s too vile a character.’ And I was like, ‘It’s based on me, that’s very insulting,'” said Rogan, laughing.
If you’re reading this and have your hopes up about a Superbad sequel, well, think again. Last year, we spoke with Rogen and Goldberg about making sequels to their films and they made it clear that although they would revisit some of their past work, they have no wish to make a sequel to Superbad.
“We’re not opposed to revisiting some things, like Sausage Party,” said Goldberg. “Superbad and Pineapple Express, we will not be revisiting. We will keep those safe and sound. There are a few things that are best left untouched.”
Later in the interview, Rogen and Goldberg opened up about why they wouldn’t go further with Superbad. Yeah, Superbad and Pineapple Express are still probably two of the ones that people bring up the most. It's nice that high school kids still seem to like Superbad. I get a lot of 18-year-old kids coming up to me talking about it, which is not what I would have expected.”
“Which I think also ties into your last question, which is why I don't want people to be like, “But the sequel was a little shitty,” chimed in Goldberg.
“Yeah, exactly. Let's fucking leave it as is,” added Rogen about Superbad. “Because it’s very personal to us and based on our high school experience, it’s nice that so many people found it funny and resonated with it. It’s unexpected.”