Directing Fun Friday - Director's Top 10

Fun Fridays – Director’s Favourite Films – Seth Rogen

June 28, 2013April 27, 2017 filmdoctor Andy Wooding, film doctor, film doctor seth rogen, Oli Gots, seth rogen, seth rogen's favourite films, this is the end, this is the end movie

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Hello Film Doctor friends.

So here’s our new Fun Friday post, slightly lighter in tone than usual. And how can it NOT be, with comedian/actor/writer – and now, director – Seth Rogen in the spotlight.

With his directorial debut, “This Is The End” (starring Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, and Danny McBride playing fictional versions of themselves) hitting the cinema screens today, the Film Doctor team takes a look at what has inspired him along the way:

– “The Big Lebowski” (1998, dir. Joel Coen) – “Obviously amazing. It’s hilarious. I can watch it over and over. Unbelievably funny.” (Seth Rogen in interview for Rotten Tomatoes.com, 2008)

– “Ghostbusters” (1984, dir. Ivan Reitman) – “That was just good ol’ high-concept fun. Evan (Goldberg) and I always like to take ridiculous situations and handle them as though they were real. That’s kind of where the idea of Pineapple Express came from. These ridiculous action movie situations and you handle it just how two idiots would handle it. And that’s kind of what Ghostbusters did. It’s a ridiculous concept but it was handled very much, “How would four dudes do that, you know?” And it’s great. I love that movie.”

– “The Last Detail” (1973, dir. Hal Ashby) – “I saw that more recently in life. Hal Ashby shoots very simply. He kind of takes a step back and shoots stuff as it happens. Things are never about the shot, you know? It’s always about the joke. It’s never about how the camera moves. That’s a very interesting style. Superbad is very Last Detail-ish. We wrote Superbad before we saw Last Detail, but after we saw it, it helped clarify what we were going for, I think.”

– “Total Recall” (1990, dir. Paul Verhoeven) – “Total Recall’s just f–king rad. And super violent. That movie is a good indicator that you can take things much farther than you think you could. [Laughs.] And they will strike a chord with the mainstream, I think. That movie goes really far. It’s pretty crazy. I love Paul Verhoeven. He’s the man.”

– “Goodfellas” (1990, dir. Martin Scorsese) – “I just love that movie. It’s a rad movie. It’s beautiful.”