James Franco and Seth Rogen are Skylark and Aaron in ‘The Interview’, with hilarious results.
‘The Interview’ has already become arguably the most controversial comedy of the moment, with its less than sensitive approach to the crisis in North Korea. Nonetheless, it’s another tremendously funny venture from a comedy duo we just can’t get enough of.
James Franco and Seth Rogen appear to be simply inseparable at the moment; having been best buddies since meeting on the set of late nineties show ‘Freaks and Geeks’, the pair have collaborated on numerous projects such as 2008’s Golden Globe nominated ‘Pineapple Express’, Evan Goldberg’s memorable ‘This Is the End’ (in which they play themselves) and Franco’s own film adaptation of William Faulkner’s ‘The Sound and the Fury’ (yeah, we couldn’t imagine them doing ‘serious’ either).
‘Franco’s the best, we get along really well, we’re funny together’, Rogen admits of his friendship with the Oscar winning star. And that joint humour that they share certainly hasn’t been missed by their co-stars on ‘The Interview’, as Diana Bang insists ‘seeing Seth and James work is a masterclass in improv’.
While ‘The Interview’ – which sees the pair play ‘superficial’ talk show presenter Dave Skylark and his producer Aaron Rapaport who land the chance to meet their number one fan Kim Jong Un and are subsequently asked to assassinate him by the CIA – treads on thin ice with its main theme, there really couldn’t be a better duo to lend their cheeky comedic charm. ‘Franco and Seth, as actors themselves and the two characters created for the movie, both have the thing that audiences love’, producer James Weaver explains. ‘It’s friendship. It feels real and genuine because it is and it’s also incredibly unique and hilarious
Individually, they are perfect for their respective roles too, with director Evan Goldberg explaining that Franco was the best guy to play Skylark ‘because Franco’s crazy and so is his character’. Even co-star Lizzy Caplan – who plays the seductive Agent Lacey – admits: ‘I feel like Franco’s been gearing up to unleash this character on the world.’
The fun doesn’t stop at ‘The Interview’ either; you’ll be seeing a lot more from Franco and Rogen in the coming months as they currently film for Goldberg’s forthcoming animated comedy entitled ‘Sausage Party’, as well as James Franco’s upcoming flick ‘Zeroville’.
‘The Interview’ is set to hit movie theaters on February 6th 2015.