Seth Rogen Admits There Are Old Videos Of Him That Could 'End His Career Very Fast' If Unearthed
Seth Rogen has opened up about his past movie auditions during the start of his career in Hollywood.
The actor admitted to being relieved that clips of his auditions from early on would not see the light of day, as they would "end his career very fast."
Seth Rogen made mention of one particular audition for a role in a movie starring Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, and how the role of a boy with a cognitive disability wasn't well written.
During an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Rogen, known for his hit roles in "Superbad," "Knocked Up," and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," opened up about a particularly regrettable audition from his early days in Hollywood when he was just another struggling actor trying to break into the industry and willing to take any opportunity he could get.
Speaking to Kimmel, he said: "Thank god it was mostly physical VHS tapes and stuff like that that was being used when I was auditioning for things. Because the things I auditioned for, in retrospect, if they were out there in the world, they would end my career very, very fast, I believe."
The Canadian actor revealed that one early audition he's relieved never saw the light of day, as he believes it could have completely derailed his career, was his audition for the role of Brian, a character with a cognitive disability in the infamous 2003 romantic comedy "Gigli," starring Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.
He admitted that portrayal of the character was not handled with sensitivity in the script or his performance, saying: "I don't think the script was written in what, by today's standards, would be the most sensitive portrayal of a boy with a cognitive disability."
Recalling the audition, Rogen admitted he was so embarrassed by his performance that he couldn't even bring himself to reenact it for the audience.
"I'm tempted to do an impression of what I did and can't even do it," he confessed, per the Daily Mail. "That's how bad it was. Truthfully, if that tape were out today, this would be the last video you see of me today - outside of my apology tour."
Rogen even joked that he would go to extreme lengths to make sure the tape never resurfaces. "Please, if you have it, burn it. Please sell it to me. I will buy it," he said.
Ultimately, the role went to Justin Bartha. "Gigli" would go on to become one of the biggest box office flops of the early 2000s, pulled from theaters just three weeks after its release due to overwhelmingly negative reviews and poor ticket sales.
In 2023, Rogen spoke about his successful movie career and shared how his and his wife's decision not to have children had a positive impact on their lives.
"That has helped me succeed as well, definitely," he shared during an appearance on the "Diary of A CEO" podcast with Steven Bartlett. "There's a whole huge thing I'm not doing, which is raising children."
Rogen continued by saying that the choice was not made accidentally because he and his wife had always discussed it, and that, at the moment, they are "grateful" they don't have kids.
"Some people want kids, some people don't want kids," he explained. "Honestly, you just are told, 'You go through life, you get married, you have kids.' That's what happens. And me and my wife, neither of us were like that."
Rogen continued, "Honestly, the older we get, the more happy and reaffirmed we are with our choice to not have kids."
According to Rogen, one benefit of not having kids is gaining the freedom to pursue any interests he and his wife may have.
"Now more than anything, the conversation is like, 'Honestly, thank God we don't have children.' We get to do whatever we want, we're in the prime of our lives," he said.
The actor continued by listing his and his wife's numerous accomplishments with children out of the pictures, noting that he has more free time than his friends and colleagues, who are parents.
"I'm not saying that kids don't bring them joy," he acknowledged. "But Me and my wife seem to get a lot more active enjoyment out of not having kids than anyone I know seems to get out of having kids."
Rogen's comments about his past auditions come on the heels of his jokes about Donald Trump, which were cut from the broadcast of April's Breakthrough Prize ceremony, one of the world's most prestigious science award shows.
Often referred to as the "Oscars of Science," the high-profile event honors exceptional achievements in scientific research and is backed by some of the most prominent names in the tech world, including Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
While presenting a special prize in fundamental physics alongside actor Edward Norton, Rogen reportedly took aim at Trump.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, he quipped to the elite audience: "It's amazing that others [who have been] in this room underwrote electing a man who, in the last week, single-handedly destroyed all of American science."
The "Pineapple Express" star went on to say, "It's amazing how much good science you can destroy with $320m and RFK Jr, very fast."
However, despite being delivered at a live event, the jokes were notably absent from the so-called "full" YouTube upload of the ceremony.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
38 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Actress Lili Taylor on finding a ‘parallel universe' in birding
No one heads to Times Square in search of natural splendor. And yet, when I met the actress Lili Taylor this spring, she stood in Bryant Park, feet planted wide, open to the possibility of experiencing some awe. She turned away from the roped-off lawn — lifeless except for a remote-controlled toy car, ambling over the grass — and peered into the bushes.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
If You Enjoyed ‘Dept Q', Don't Sleep on New Prestige Crime Series ‘Smoke'
There's a lot of noise around the big blockbusters coming out right now – Fast cars! Dinosaurs! Jonathan Bailey's flip flops! – but while the cinemas are busy whipping themselves into a frenzy, a new prestige drama is quietly dropping onto television screens. As Netflix's recent Dept Q showed, a high-calibre, low-key crime thriller can scratch a different kind of itch, and if you've burned your way through that one, you're in luck: another superior offering is on its way. Smoke, which consists of nine hour-long episodes, isn't set in dreary old Britain/Scotland, but takes place in dreary young America, in an unspecified state. It does, however, star several British actors, including a chisel-jawed Taron Egerton in the lead, who also executively produces the series. Egerton plays Dave Gudsen, an amiable and ominously named firefighter turned arson investigator who is wrestling with memories of the traumatic conflagration that ended his former career. Dave is also getting flak (I stopped myself saying 'heat' – you're welcome) from his boss (an excellent Greg Kinnear) for failing to identify the two serial arsonists who are running rampant through the local area. One of them, 'The Divide and Conquer' arsonist, is setting off simultaneous fires in multiple public locations including supermarkets, so that the fire departments are stretched beyond capacity. The other, the 'Milkjug' guy, is burning down ordinary people's houses with cooking oil, though viewers are given more than a tip-off of who that might be with the introduction of downtrodden fry cook Freddy (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine). Dave, however, is having minimal success tracking down either culprit – in fact, he seems rather distracted by his own literary ambitions, as he's got a schlocky fictionalised memoir on the go – and the situation is raging out of control. The corporation that owns the supermarkets isn't happy and is threatening to take action against the whole department; that, if not people's houses burning down, might be what's needed to light a firecracker up Dave's... (sorry but it's so hard!). What does Dave need? Why, a partner of course! And preferably one towards whom he can feel mild animosity, if not outright contempt. Enter Michelle Calderon (another conspicuous name, from the Spanish for 'cauldron'), played by the impressively self-contained Jurnee Smollett, a detective from a different police force who has been assigned to assist Dave for reasons that aren't entirely clear. Michelle has secrets, including a toxic affair with her former boss (another Brit, Rafe Spall) and some fire-related trauma from her earlier life. She's doing her best to block it out – mostly by exercise – but the past, as we know, doesn't like to stay buried. Of course these elements are all familiar, some might say hackneyed, tropes of the crime genre, but what elevates Smoke – which is based on the true-crime podcast Firebug – is the quality of its cast and, thanks to writer Dennis Lehane (Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island), who created and wrote the series, its big-swinging script. 'Fire doesn't give a fuck about your wallet, or the size of your gun, or the size of your dick you wish was the size of your gun,' narrates Egerton, presumably quoting from the book Dave's writing in giant letters in his notepad (maybe it's not so bad after all!). It's punchy stuff. Smoke looks great too – all desaturated compositions of sickly grey-greens, with the striking billows of pale yellow when a fire is burning white-hot. And fire really is staggering beautiful, as much as it is terrifying and obliterating and all the other things that get writer-mode Dave so hot under the collar. It's certainly a change to have a drama that focuses on ash dispersal rather than blood spatter. (For a bit of bonus cred, the title track, over elegant sequences of smouldering pages, is performed by Radiohead's Thom Yorke.) That said, there are no dinosaurs, or F1 cars, or flip-flops. But Smoke does have tension, and great performances, and slow-burn simmer. Also, if you stick with it, the promise of some serious twists (and John Leguziamo!) to come. 'Smoke' is now streaming on Apple TV+ with new episodes every Friday You Might Also Like The Best Men's Sunglasses For Summer '19 There's A Smartwatch For Every Sort Of Guy What You Should Buy For Your Groomsmen (And What They Really Want)
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
The Weeknd's Breakout Album Reaches A Momentous Milestone
The Weeknd's Beauty Behind the Madness celebrates 350 weeks on the Billboard 200, climbing back into ... More the top 100 as Starboy approaches 400 weeks. HAMILTON, ON - MARCH 15: The Weeknd is presented an award at the 2015 JUNO Awards at FirstOntario Centre on March 15, 2015 in Hamilton, Canada. (Photo by) Nearly a decade ago, Abel Tesfaye — better known as The Weeknd — earned his first No. 1 album in the United States with Beauty Behind the Madness. Two years prior, he became a breakout star with Kiss Land, which instantly made him a critical favorite and one of the most exciting new artists in the music industry. Beauty Behind the Madness, however, turned him into a global superstar thanks to hits like "The Hills," "Can't Feel My Face," and "In the Night." Almost 10 years later, that project remains successful, and this week it reaches a landmark that the Canadian powerhouse has only seen once before. 350 Weeks on the Billboard 200 Beauty Behind the Madness celebrates reaching 350 weeks on the Billboard 200, a number it hits this time around. The blockbuster collection shifted another 12,000 copies last frame, according to Luminate. That's enough for it to return to the upper half of the 200-spot roster, as it climbs from No. 110 to No. 98. Starboy Nears 400 Weeks on the Ranking The Weeknd has only seen one other album spend at least 350 weeks on the Billboard 200. Starboy passed that mark about a year ago and remains present, sitting a little more than a dozen spaces above Beauty Behind the Madness. In just two weeks, Starboy will become The Weeknd's first 400-week charter in America. A Strong Showing on Multiple Charts Beauty Behind the Madness appears on two genre-focused rankings in addition to the all-style Billboard 200. It holds at No. 12 on the Top R&B Albums tally with 351 weeks on that list and lifts slightly on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums ranking. If the early-career release is still present on that chart next week, it will mark 200 frames on the competitive roster. The Weeknd's Five Charting Albums The Weeknd currently claims five hit albums in America, all of which appear on multiple tallies at once. In addition to Beauty Behind the Madness and Starboy, both After Hours and House of Balloons also reside on a trio of rankings. His most recent full-length, Hurry Up Tomorrow, can still be found on six charts simultaneously, though it is declining on most of them.
