I’ve been hearing great things about Jonathan Levine’s cancer dramedy 50/50 for a while now, and can’t wait to finally see it. The film stars Joseph-Gordon Levitt and Seth Rogen and tells the true story of screenwriter Will Reiser’s struggle with being diagnosed with cancer in his early 20’s. Reiser and Rogen are best friends in real-life, and the film is loosely based on how they dealt with Reiser’s diagnosis.As a part of Gordon-Levitt’s hitRECord video project, Rogen, Reiser and Gordon-Levitt sat down to discuss the film in a more loose and long-form chat to hilarious result. Reiser and Rogen ended up recounting the very funny story of the first time Reiser told Rogen he had cancer. Hit the jump to watch the chat, which includes some NSFW language. 50/50 also stars Anna Kendrick and Angelica Huston and opens September 30th.The video is part of Gordon-Levitt’s hitRECord video project, which you can find out more about here.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Inspired by personal experiences, 50/50 is an original story about friendship, love, survival and finding humor in unlikely places. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen star as best friends whose lives are changed by a cancer diagnosis in this new comedy directed by Jonathan Levine from a script by Will Reiser.
"We worked with Will on Da Ali G show, and it was shortly after that we learned he was sick." Rogen recalls. "As shocking, sad, confusing and generally screwed up as it was; we couldn't ignore that because we were so ill-equipped to deal with the situation, funny things kept happening. Will got better, and when he did, we thought the best way to pull something good out of the situation was to get him to write a screenplay. Ideally we wanted to make a film that would be as funny, sad, and hopefully as honest as the experience we went through. As soon as the script was completed, it quickly became a passion project for all of us. It helped us come to terms with Will's struggle as well as our own experiences."
50/50 is the story of a guy's transformative and, yes, sometimes funny journey to health - drawing its emotional core from Will Reiser's own experience with cancer and reminding us that friendship and love, no matter what bizarre turns they take, are the greatest healers.