High Comedy
From:
Bradley Barth
154 days 10 hours 4 minutes ago
In a summer dominated by the likes of Batman, Iron Man and the Hulk, an immature process server and his perpetually stoned pot dealer have emerged as the unlikeliest of action heroes.
alumni Seth Rogen and James Franco team up to play this doped-up duo, who must elude a ruthless drug kingpin’s henchmen while simultaneously fighting off the munchies in the adrenalized comedy
Pineapple Express. Which begs the question: How does one, um, “research” what it’s like to be a pothead?
“It was really hard for me,” wisecracked Rogen, 26, with enough sarcastic innuendo to suggest that he may in fact have drawn on some first-hand experiences. “I moved to Holland, spent some time there, just talking to people,” he kidded, before erupting into his unmistakable laugh, a contagious cackle that sounds almost Neanderthal.
As for Franco, who plays the spaced-out, sensitive cannabis dealer, getting into his character was all about being high on laughter, after a string of serious projects. “I never want to do a drama again,” playfully asserted the 30-year-old actor, best known for playing Harry Osbourne in the
Spiderman trilogy, as well as his roles in
Annapolis and
Tristan and Isolde. “I wish I had done more comedy after Freaks and Geeks. I guess I thought being an actor you just had to be serious.”
The concept of two chronically high stoners as action heroes was the brainchild of producer (and Freaks and Geeks creator) Judd Apatow, whose screenplay for
Knocked Up ultimately turned into a star vehicle for Rogen last year. Apatow charged Rogen and his childhood friend Evan Goldberg with co-writing the film after they previously collaborated on the raunchy coming-of-age comedy
Superbad.
For them, the trick was creating a script that would place comic twists on typical action-movie conventions such as the car chase and the big fight scene. For example,
Pineapple Express audiences get treated to a violently clumsy, seemingly never-ending slugfest between Rogen, Franco and Danny McBride, who plays a drug-trafficking middle man.
“You’ve seen a lot of scenes where three guys are fighting,” said Rogen. “But I feel like you’ve never really seen one where none of them are able to knock each other out just ’cause they’re not that good at fighting” – not to mention a little fuzzy-headed.
These vicious combat scenes grew even more outrageous thanks to director David Gordon Green’s conscious decision to avoid stunt doubles and elaborate fight choreography, instead opting for the raw, untrained and even improvised performances of his actors.
“A lot of the humor came from how poorly we were doing the action. So the more exhausted we got, the funnier it would all be,” said Rogen. “It’d just get sloppy and that’s when we’d start hurting ourselves. ‘Cause coordination kinda goes out the window after a long day.”
As did the actors’ inhibitions, apparently. Just ask Franco, who admitted to biting co-star Rosie Perez on the butt while shooting a climactic fight scene. (Perez plays a crooked cop in the film.) Unfortunately, Franco lamented, the take was not used in the movie. “I think the reason is Rosie was laughing when it happened.”
Green’s odd directions also kept the actors in a “trippy” frame of mind. According to the cast, Green frequently asked them to say their lines like “an old British lady” or a “drunk robot,” or as if they were going to the bathroom. “Some of those [takes] snuck into the movie here and there,” said Rogen. “I think he just tries to take you outside of what you plan. Sometimes actors come in with a pre-set notion of how they’re going to play the scenes, and we don’t like that.”
Despite these mind-expanding acting techniques, the cast feels confident that this movie will appeal to not only the stoner set, but to the general public. Audiences will be surprised to encounter a story about two casual acquaintances, connected only by their mutual love of pot, who discover that they are actually friends.
“It’s not just two idiots smoking weed and they’re just high and it’s the only appeal,” said Franco. “It’s a relationship movie.”
“It was the perfect mix of thoughtful intelligence art with…brainless shootouts and balls-to-the-wall action,” said Rogen. Now that sounds like head trip that most everyone can enjoy.
