Featured Image Credit: Sony Pictures
Topics: Jonah Hill, Film
Brenna Cooper
Seth Rogen has revealed the surprising reason why Jonah Hill's character was banned from using a PlayStation in Superbad.
Released back in 2007, the coming-of-age film follows school friends Seth (Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) who are on a mission to lose their virginity before they graduate.
The film has since become a classic of the cringe-comedy genre, with memorable moments including the infamous 'McLovin' driving licence and a young Seth's obsession with drawing phallic imagery on everything he owned.
Advert
Eighteen years on from Superbad's premiere and co-creator Seth Rogen is still revealing interesting behind-the-scenes tidbits about the film — including the surprising reason why Hill's character wasn't allowed to be filmed using a PlayStation.
For anyone who needs to refresh their memory, Evan is seen playing The Getaway: Black Monday on PS2 while Seth rummages through his wardrobe in search of clothes he can borrow since he's unable to go home to change after getting his car towed.
While the scene itself is a pretty minor one, Rogen has now explained why Seth isn't using the gaming console alongside his friend.
Advert
Chatting to Rotten Tomatoes at the premiere of his new series The Studio, Rogen revealed that distributor Sony Pictures had requested the character not be seen handling any of their products in the film due to his 'vile character'.
Explaining how the video game scene was adapted, Rogen said: "Sony made the movie and we were told that Jonah Hill’s character, Seth, was so reprehensible to the studio."
He continued: "There’s a scene where they’re playing video games and it was like, ‘Jonah can’t touch a PlayStation'.
"They were like, ‘We can’t have him interact with our products as a character, because it’s too vile a character'."
Advert
Rogen then added that he had to explain to execs how the character was actually based off of himself, jokingly responding: "It’s based on me, that’s very insulting."
The requested was ultimately 'accommodated' by Rogen and co-writer Evan Goldberg, which explains why Cera's Evan had to fly solo on the video game.
Meanwhile Hill previously revealed his one condition for making a sequel to the movie, explaining the rather specific storyline which he would agree to.
"I haven't pitched this to anybody. What I want to do is when we're like 80, do a Superbad 2. Like, 'old-folks-home Superbad'. Our spouses die, and we're single again," he explained in a 2022 interview with W magazine.
"That's what I want Superbad 2 to be, and that's the only way I would ever make it."