Superbad is one of those comedies that earned its R rating, as Jonah Hill’s Seth, Michael Cera’s Evan and Christopher Mintz-Plasse get into a lot of shenanigans that are definitely not meant for children’s eyes. But even with an R-rated movie, there are certain things that aren’t going to fly, some of which are just common sense. Then there are the unexpected reasons why something can’t be included, like when Seth Rogen, who co-wrote Superbad with Evan Goldberg, received a wild note from Sony Pictures that involved Hill’s character, which he described as “insulting.”
While speaking with Rotten Tomatoes at SXSW, where his new Apple TV+ show The Studio premiered, shared that his favorite note from working on Superbad was how Sony forbid the character Seth from using a PlayStation because he’s so detestable. As Rogen recalled:
On Superbad, we were told when — Sony made the movie, and Jonah Hill’s character, Seth, was so reprehensible to the studio that they were like — there’s a scene where they’re playing video games. And they’re like, ‘Jonah can’t touch a PlayStation.’ [laughs] They were like, ‘We can’t have him interact with our products as a character, because it’s too vile a character.’ And I was like, ‘It’s based on me. That’s very insulting.’ But we ultimately accommodated them.
Like Rogen mentioned, Superbad is loosely adapted from his and Goldberg’s own teen years, so he’s well within his rights to feel insulted. But with the PlayStation being Sony’s pride and joy in the realm of video games, apparently the executives at the film studio felt that Jonah Hill’s Seth was too reprehensible to show him playing the console. This sounds quite similar to the alleged rule Apple has that villains in movies and TV shows cannot be shown using iPhones.
Still, this wasn’t enough of a sticking point for Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg to put up a fight. Instead, Michael Cera’s Evan was show using the PlayStation while Seth, the character, was picking through Evan’s clothes for something to wear for the party that night. See for yourself:
Frankly, the PlayStation thing seems a little extreme, but Sony is well within its rights to rule out a character gaming on one. Ultimately, learning this information doesn’t detract from Superbad’s quality, and it was once even determined to be the funniest movie of all time. I don’t know if I’d go that far, as not everything in Superbad has aged well since its release in 2007. Still, the movie still has plenty of silver linings, and it played a big role in making Jonah Hill, Michael Cera and Emma Stone households names in Hollywood.
Superbad can currently be streamed on fuboTV, which can be added on to your Hulu subscription. If you’re interested in seeing Seth Rogen’s work on The Studio, it will premiere to Apple TV+ subscription holders on March 26.
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