2007's Superbad was a massive hit comedy film starring Jonah Hill and Michael Cera as two virgin teens trying to party and get laid before graduation. In the movie, Hill’s character is such a shitty dirtbag that Sony, which was producing the film, made it very clear that he can’t touch a PlayStation at any point in the film.
In a recent red carpet interview with Rotten Tomatoes, shared on TikTok, Superbad’s co-writer Seth Rogen was asked to share the weirdest or funniest studio note he’s ever received while making a movie. The comedian then shared a story about a moment in Superbad that involved a character playing video games, and how worried Sony was that the scene would include a PlayStation console.
“On Superbad, we were told, Sony made the movie, Jonah Hill’s character Seth was so reprehensible to the studio that they were like—there’s a scene where they’re playing video games—and they’re like, ‘Jonah can’t touch a PlayStation,’” said Rogen on the SXSW red carpet.
“And they’re like, ‘We can’t have him interact with our products as a character, because [he’s] too vile a character.’” The funniest part about all of this is that Hill’s character in Superbad, Seth, is directly inspired by Rogen as a teenager. So Sony was negging Rogen himself.
“I was like, ‘It’s based on me. That’s very insulting.’ But we accommodated them, ultimately,” said Rogen as he laughed.
Superbad would end up being a huge box office hit when it landed in theaters in 2007. The movie cost around $20 million to produce, but earned $170 million at the box office. It also spawned some memes and jokes that nearly 20 years later are still floating around via t-shirts sold at mall kiosks and Hot Topics. And yes, Superbad is nearly 20 years old. Sorry.
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