Seth Rogen’s fans have gotten used to the raunchy humor he and his writing partner Evan Goldberg have brought to movies like Superbad, Pineapple Express and The Green Hornet, but in 50/50, a movie they produced but didn’t write, they explore darker and more dramatic territory than we’ve seen from them in the past.
Written by Will Reiser, it stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Adam Lerner, a Seattle native who learns he’s contracted a rare form of spinal cancer. Unable to drive, he calls upon those around him to help get through it, including his pot-smoking friend Kyle (Rogen), his smothering mother (Anjelica Huston), a fairly inexperienced therapist (Anna Kendrick) and an unsupportive girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard). Even though the movie is about cancer, it’s still a comedy, but one with a humor that’s a bit more subdued than we’ve come to expect from a Rogen/Goldberg Joint, one that’s tempered with poignancy and real human emotion, greatly helped by Jonathan Levine, who perfected that mix of humor and drama in his own semi-autobiographical film, The Wackness.
The movie premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival a couple of weeks back where ComingSoon.net had a chance to talk to Reiser, Gordon-Levitt, Rogen and Anna Kendrick about the movie.
First, here’s a little introduction by screenwriter Will Reiser talking about how he got the ball rolling on this project when after getting cancer:
