James and Seth Ride the "Pineapple Express"

Actors James Franco and Seth Rogen, on the surface, couldn't be more different; the hottie with the movie idol face and smile and the cuddle bear funny boy. However, these two have been buds since they co-starred in the cult-fave TV series "Freaks and Geeks". James has been waiting for that "different" role to take him out of "prettyboy land" and Seth is often relegated to "side-kick" or "guy who doesn't save the day" roles.

All this changes with the stoner-anthem film Pineapple Express. James plays the stoner, dealer, 60's-throwback loser and Seth is the guy with the girl and the responsible job... at least for a while. Originally, the guys were going to play the opposite role but decided to go untraditional. We cornered the unlikely duo in Beverly Hills recently and got them to spill on their friendship, making the funny film, experiences in high school and.. what makes them tick. Get set for a funny, heartfelt riff from Rogen and Franco.... [Warning: This film is rated "R" for drug use, language and violence]...but it's funny.

TeenHollywood: You guys met as young actors as 'Freaks and Geeks'? Did you bond then?

James: Yeah, we hung out quite a bit with Jason [Segel].

Seth: We all hung out. I think at that point in our lives the age gap was a lot more significant. James is a few years older than me.

James: I'm not that much older.

Seth: You didn't hang out that much with me, dude. You would bail. You bailed a lot. I remember we'd all hang out and order steaks and sandwiches and you'd order like a chicken breast and vegetables and that's when we were like, 'This is never going to work.' But yeah, we did hang out a lot. We were saying this while we were shooting [this movie] too, like, 'Who would've thought when we were doing "Freaks and Geeks" that one day we'd get to make a movie.'

TeenHollywood: So this was a nice reunion?

James: Yeah. 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. For me that was one of the cooler episodes. That kind of dynamic was great, getting to work together again is cool.

TeenHollywood: What was the idea behind writing Pineapple Express? Also, James this isn't something we'd normally expect to see you do. How did this come to you and why did you say yes?

Seth: The original idea came from Judd [Apatow] actually. He just kind of had the loose notion of like, 'What about a weed action movie?' We started thinking about making a movie that was kind of a weed movie and action movie and had a real kind of friendship story to it then that would be our favorite movie ever. 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.

James: I hadn't done a comedy for a while. I had directed a very low budget movie called The Ape and it was playing at a festival in Austin. Judd was there and he came and saw it and it's kind of funny -

Seth: I think it's funny.

James: Thank you. After he saw it he said, 'I miss the funny Franco.' I hadn't really done a comedy other than The Ape since 'Freaks and Geeks'. He said, 'Well, I'm going to do this movie Knocked Up with Seth, but after that you guys should do a movie together.' I read it and thought that it was very funny, but I said, 'Oh, Seth, you get to play the good role, or the role that I want - Saul.' They were like, 'You can play Saul.'

TeenHollywood: Seth, can you talk about the action scenes which aren't what we really expect from you? I understand you fractured your finger too.

Seth: Yeah. We really wanted it to be an action movie. Those are the movies that we love and we're big fans of like Shane Black movies, when we were younger like Die Hard and Paul Verhoven movies. [Stuff] like Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, The Last Boy Scout, Total Recall. The kind of movies where violence and comedy and characters work together really well and it was a great time. We did hurt ourselves. Franco cracked his face open. Danny McBride cracked the back of his head open. But it was a lot of fun. I loved it.

TeenHollywood: Best bud guy "Bro Love" is a theme with you and the guys you make films with lately, Seth. How much bro love is there between all of you guys?

James: A lot of bro love.

Seth: Mad bro love. 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 c**p out of each other. We're very physical.

TeenHollywood: There is a black and white opening, retro scene in the film that seems like it's out of another movie but it's really good. What's the deal behind that scene?

Seth: Yeah, that was actually the first thing that we ever wrote for the script. A writing book, 'The Art of Dramatic Writing' said 'A thematic introduction will do.' We were like, 'Hey, good. We can write a scene that has nothing to do with the f**king movie. We can say that this book told us to.' [laughs] Yeah, I thought it was just funny. I guess the subtle thread is like if weed wasn't illegal then this whole movie wouldn't take place and the government is to blame.

TeenHollywood: James, your hippy-retro outfit was amazingly accurate. How do clothes affect your performance and did you base this guy Saul on anyone that you know or have known?

James: I guess that it was originally based on someone that I wasn't allowed to meet [he glances at Seth].

Seth: We were trying to keep a distance. There were set boundaries.

James: We don't have any changes [of wardrobe] in the movie and so picking the right outfit was fairly important. I wasn't a fan of the Guatemalan pants, but I was convinced that I should wear that. Then the t-shirt is a special creation by David Gordon Green. It's a kitten sitting in a shark's mouth, but he's happy about it.

Seth: A kitten getting eaten by a shark?

James: No. The shark is rescuing the kitten.

Seth: [laughs] In its mouth! [James just flashes that famous grin]

TeenHollywood: Did the outfit help you out as an actor?

James: Certainly, I'm sure. Once I had that outfit on, Saul just came along.

TeenHollywood: You said that Saul was the character that you wanted. So did you take any inspiration from the great past characters who were similar like Jeff Spicoli of Fast Times at Ridgemont High?

James: Yeah. I watched a lot of pot movies before we did this. My favorites were always the characters in movies that weren't necessarily in stoner movies. So, Spicoli in "Fast Times" which isn't exactly a stoner movie or The Big Lebowski which I think is more than a stoner movie or Brad Pitt in True Romance. I don't know. Somehow they're like goofy stoner guys, but there's something more going on, I guess. So maybe that's the kind of inspiration that they gave me.

TeenHollywood: Are you intimidated by high school guys in real life and have you ever dated an eighteen-year-old high school girl like your character in this film does?

Seth: I would only date a fifteen year old high school girl. Eighteen? Come on. I'm an actor. No. [laughs] I actually live right near a high school and I always walk by - I live in a high school. I actually live in the boiler room of a high school at night. When I see high school guys now I'm actually like, 'Thank God I'm not in high school anymore because they look like they could beat the living s**t out of me.' I'm soft compared to these guys. Maybe it's just L.A., but they look like men, like they would have kids and s**t.

TeenHollywood: [we're dying laughing] Uh, okay. Seth and James, all of your big scenes seemed ad-libbed in a way. Were they or how much ad-libbing did you do and how much did you stick to the script?

Seth: I'd say that we always kind of to keep it loose. I don't think that any scene is word for word how you'd find it in the script. Some of it was much more loose than others. The last scene with me, Danny and James in the diner, there was never even a script for that scene. We wrote like, 'They talk in a diner.' We just kind of shot stuff. That's what is always amazing. Some of the scenes that seem scripted or written are improvised and some of the scenes that are improvised seem scripted. I'd say that nothing is word for word how you would find it in the script. That's always just a blueprint so that people get the point of what we want.

TeenHollywood: Okay, we know you weren't actually getting high during some of the scenes so what was that stuff you were smoking?

Seth: It's this s**t called Wizard Smoke. I didn't like it. Franco didn't have that hard of a time with it. Franco will smoke anything.

James: Whatever. Any plant. That's like the 'near beer' for weed.

Seth: It is. It's like non-alcoholic weed. It's like the O'Doul's of weed.

TeenHollywood: What's the most enjoyable action scene to shoot?

Seth: The fight in the house was a lot of fun. It's always fun to do something that you really think is funny and that fight, as we were doing it, we thought could actually really be funny. It goes on and on and we just destroyed that house. It goes on for around four and a half, five minutes.

TeenHollywood: James, are you going to continue doing comedy on FunnyorDie.com and are you going to give acting lessons to your mother?

James: Actually, I think the latest is that my mother has a comedy troupe in Palo Alto. She's been taking acting lessons through Stanford Extension. So that'll be the latest episode in the Franco household.

TeenHollywood: Okay, James, Seth said you got injured making this film. What's the story on that?

James: I took a head shot but I've got a hard head. In the woods when we're running around like morons, there's a shot where I run into a tree and that's actually me hitting the tree and I make a sound like that. [Seth makes a weird sound]. That's the sound that I actually made. My head got cut and I got stitches and went to the hospital.

Seth: He wears a headband after that. We had to cover it up.

James: But you can see that I finished the shot. I got up and ran off-camera.

Seth: He stayed in character.

James: Then I looked around and everyone had very wide eyes because blood started pouring down my face. If you buy the DVD I'm sure it'll be on there in the behind-the-scenes.

TeenHollywood: James, what are you planning on doing with your university Liberal Arts degree now? Would you ever teach?

James: I think I would teach. I enjoy teaching as you can see if you go to 'Funny or Die'. I think that would be a great thing. Maybe I'll do it on the side. I'm going to continue school and get my graduate degree in writing and directing.

TeenHollywood: If your character Seth were in Palo Alto, where you are from, what would he be doing there?

James: In Palo Alto? I don't know. Saul's cruising around Stanford University getting crazy. Saul goes to college. I don't know.

TeenHollywood: Seth you are writing the script for The Green Hornet. How is that coming?

Seth: We're done with the script. It looks like they're going to make it. We got a release date. June 25th, 2010. So mark your calendars because it's gettin' pretty busy. It was actually helpful having made this movie, in the writing of another kind of action movie. We learned exactly how specific you can or can't be.

TeenHollywood: Do you have to be more disciplined as a writer, writing something like that as compared to this?

Seth: No, not necessarily. Luckily the MPAA decided that violence is fine. When you're doing an action movie you can really have as much violence as you want. In writing The Green Hornet, I'd say that action-wise we've been able to do anything that we could've ever wanted.

TeenHollywood: Are you going to play The Green Hornet?

Seth: Yeah, I will. Don't say it like that [laughter]. Soon James and I want to do a Green Hornet/Green Goblin crossover movie in 2012.

James: 'Green Squared'.

Seth: Yeah. 'Green to the 2'.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.