James Franco, Seth Rogen take a crazy ride in ‘Pineapple Express’
By Miki Turner
LOS ANGELES — There are certain actors whose body of work is so dignified that you can’t imagine them appearing in anything that’s not potentially Oscar-worthy.
James Franco, who has appeared in all three ” Spider-Man” films, ” Annapolis” and “In the Valley of Elah,” was one of those dudes. That was until he agreed to pick up a bong and hop aboard the ” Pineapple Express,” a new comedy also starring Seth Rogen that hits theaters Wednesday.
Franco, who plays a pot dealer named Saul Silver, goes on the lam with Rogen’s Dale Denton after Dale witnesses a murder while smoking some of Saul’s pineapple express. Dale carelessly leaves the blunt on the street, and the murderers trace it back to Saul.
Seated among his co-stars recently at a press day in L.A., Franco talked about changing up his game, appearing in his first comedy since 2005’s “The Ape,” and “Freaks and Geeks,” the short-lived Judd Apatow TV series he starred in.
“I hadn’t done a comedy for a while,” Franco said. “I had directed a low-budget movie called ‘The Ape,’ and it was playing at a festival in Austin. Judd was there and came and saw it, and it’s kind of funny.”
“Pineapple Express” reunited some of the old “Freaks and Geeks” gang. Rogen, who co-wrote the “Pineapple” screenplay with Evan Goldberg, was on that show and credits Apatow, the series’ executive producer, with first coming up with the idea for the film. It marks the first time the three of them have worked together since the critically acclaimed, low-rated show went off the air in 2000.
It was a nice reunion, particularly for Franco, who recalled one of his more memorable working experiences with Rogen. “There was one episode of ‘Freaks and Geeks’ where his character and my character had a thing where he had a crush on a girl and he got advice from me,” Franco said. “For me, that was one of the cooler episodes. That kind of dynamic was great; getting to work together again is cool.”
After seeing the magic Apatow and Rogen created in “Knocked Up,” Franco was cautiously excited about the comedic possibilities when they recruited him for “Pineapple Express.” He thought it was funny, but he had some initial concerns.
“I said, ‘Oh, Seth, you get to play the good role, or the role that I want–Saul,’ ” Franco said. “They were like, ‘Nah, you can play Saul.’ ”
Added Rogen: “We originally actually wrote Franco’s part for me, and the part I ultimately played just for someone else in general, and then when we got Franco involved, we thought it was a good idea to switch the roles.
“I think it worked really well.”
Although Rogen said he doesn’t smoke pot, he did say that he was very inspired by one of the ultimate new-school stoner flicks, “Friday.”
He also drew on some of his favorite action flicks, too, for “Express.”
” ‘The Last Boy Scout.’ ‘Total Recall.’ ‘Pulp Fiction’ is one of them,” Rogen said. “I love that movie and ‘Reservoir Dogs.’ And the Coen Brothers movies are really violent, a lot of those early ones like ‘Miller’s Crossing’ and ‘Raising Arizona.’ They have these crazy fight scenes in them. We were inspired by that I would say.”
If it sounds as though this reunion was one extended high, it was. As Franco put it, there was “a lot of bro love.” Rogen agreed.
“Mad bro love,” he said. “Is that the right expression? I think. We get along. I don’t know. We’re all friends. It’s very bonding to beat the crap out of each other.”
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