Seth Rogen took a studio note personally on “Superbad,” when Sony objected to Jonah Hill‘s character using a PlayStation 2 in a scene because he was too “reprehensible.”
“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,’” the star said through laughs, speaking with RottenTomatoes on the red carpet for the SXSW premiere of 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.’”
Rogen shared that the production “accommodated” the studio in the end. Hill isn’t seen interacting with Sony products in the film, though Michael Cera’s character, Evan, does play “The Getaway: Black Monday” on a PlayStation 2 in an early scene.
Rogen co-wrote “Superbad” with his longtime producing, writing and directing partner Evan Goldberg. The script originated during their teenage years and is loosely based on their experiences as high school students in the ’90s. Hill starred in the 2007 comedy, playing the analog for Rogen in his first leading film role.
In a 15th anniversary retrospective of “Superbad,” producer Judd Apatow shared that he “always wanted them to do a sequel to ‘Superbad,” but that “Jonah [Hill] said, ‘Oh it’ll be funny to do it when we’re 70 or 80,’ but I really wanted them to do a ‘Superbad’ in college where Jonah flunks out of college and just shows up and visits Michael Cera at college.”
