'Express' Stars: Dazed, Confused, Riding High
Seth Rogen and James Franco Come Clean on Their Stoner Action-Comedy
"Normally (when buying weed), you want to get in and out as fast as humanly possible, because you're doing something illegal, it's unpleasant, and I get nervous really easily," he said. "I've had guys that are kind of like his character, that want you to just hang out or clearly just lonely, so they kind of engineer reasons that you need to hang out with them and not just buy weed."
Franco and Rogen's onscreen chemistry is a direct result of years of friendship. The two first met on the set of Apatow and Paul Feig's television cult classic "Freaks and Geeks" in 1998, and share an almost brotherly rapport.
"Seth likes to tell the story about how the first time he met me was actually the moment he first thought about having sex with a man. I felt the same way, but he was underage," Franco said.
"It was pre-'To Catch a Predator,'" Rogen said. "We were way ahead of that curve also."
The role of Saul the drug dealer was originally written for Rogen. In table reads and rehearsals, it came about that the opposite would work out better.
"Judd and James actually both started having the thought that it could be more interesting if we switch roles," Rogen said. "James just wanted the Saul role because it's true that's the role he would never normally get to play."
"I can't see it working the other way, because my character wants to be friends with his character more than his character wants to be friends with me. I kind of feel like that's how it is in real life," Franco said. "I'm interested in what he's interested in and he just doesn't reciprocate."
"I've tried to," Rogen responded. "This is like a conversation I've had with my girlfriend."
With "Pineapple," writers Rogen and Goldberg attempted to fuse their favorite disparate genres of the stoner flick and big budget action movies, resulting in the mutant "stoner action-comedy" tag. Rogen, in fact, loves action movies so much that he even dragged co-star Franco to the opening night of "300."
"You've never seen a guy more excited for anything in your life," Rogen remembered of himself from the experience.
