With The Green Hornet currently the number one movie in America, it's time to post the final interview I got to do at the press junket and it's with co-writer and executive producer Evan Goldberg. While Seth Rogen gets a lot credit for Superbad and Pineapple Express, both were co-written and executive produced by Evan Goldberg. He's Rogen's partner in crime and a major component in his success.Anyway, what's great about talking with Goldberg is that he's brutally honest. When I asked him about the online buzz for Green Hornet, he didn't shy away from talking about it. In addition, we also talked about what Sally Menke did on the film before she died, deleted scenes, what changed by doing test screenings, what are his motivations right now for making future decisions, and I got updates on future projects like Sausage Party, Neighborhood Watch, his Untitled Cancer Dramedy (previously called Live With It and I'm With Cancer), and a lot more. If you're a fan of any of the projects I mentioned, I think you'll really enjoy the interview. You can either watch the video or read a transcript after the jump:Since I know some of you just want to know about future projects...Regarding Neighborhood Watch, Goldberg says:
"I honestly donât know what I should and shouldnât say. I mean, I could say that some guys form a neighborhood watch, and stumble upon something that is very real. I donât know what the world knows, thatâs all I can say.
But he did tell me that they've been brought in to "up the R" and "we wrote a thing where someone was smoking a hardcore drug, and they were like, âYeah, thatâs a little too far.â So, itâs a hard R, but itâs not going to be really brutal."
Regarding Sausage Party, Goldberg says:
"Itâs our secret project. Me and Seth and Jonah Hill came up with it one day. Me and Seth and Conrad Vernonâwho did Shrek 2 and Monsters and Aliensâare going to produce it, and me and Seth and our writing cohorts Ariel and Kyle, who are buddies from Canada who we brought down to work with us, are going to write it. Itâs about Jonah and Seth, playing the two main characters, theyâre sausages in a supermarket, and itâs a hard R mockery of a Pixar movie, where they get taken across the store in a cart, and fall out of the cart, and they need to get back to their aisle before the fourth of July sale, so they can reach every sausages goal of being purchased and carried to the heavens by the humans."
I then asked if it would have filthy dialogue. Goldberg says:
"Yeah. The scriptâs completely done, and is by leaps and bounds the dirtiest thing weâve ever done. It makes âSuperbadâ look like âA Walk Through the Park.â Itâs insane. Thatâs why itâs not getting made, right (laughs)? But weâre really close to getting made, I think we might get financing this week, and none of us are taking any money for it. Iâm a very practical person. Iâm not doing shit for free. I would not do âThe Green Hornet 2â out of a love for what Iâve done before. I expect to get paid if I do something, but âSausage Party?â Iâll pay money to make it."
Regarding his untitled cancer dramedy previously called Live With It and I'm With Cancer, Goldberg says:
"We currently have a title, and if no one beats it in like the next week or two, thatâs going to be the title."
While he wouldn't tell me what that was, he did say he thinks it will be "released at the Toronto Film Festival, or right around then, so I imagine there wonât be a trailer out for at least three, four months."Â And regarding what he thinks of the project, he says:
"I couldnât be more proud. My mom had breast cancer. All of our parents had cancer of some type, who was involved with the film more or lessâexcept for lucky old Seth, who comes from a health family, I guessâbut the audience cries, people just ball when they watch it, and laugh. I couldnât be prouder."
Finally, if you missed my other video interviews with director Michel Gondry, Jay Chou, Seth Rogen and Cameron Diaz, and producer Neal Moritz, just click their names. Here's the video interview with Goldberg and further down is the complete transcript.
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Collider: The film went through a period where there was a lot of people talking about it, not saying the most flattering things.
Evan Goldberg:Â No they didnât.
For you, as one of the creators of the project, what was going through your brain, knowing you have a solid movie, but people are really bad mouthing it?
Goldberg: Well, two things. One is I get a sick joy out of bad reviews. I donât read good reviews. I like to know what percentages are going on. When Sony sends out something saying that people are liking the movie, I like to know that, but I donât actually sit and read the good stuff. I go on the IMDB board and Iâll find something like, âIs this for real?â And thatâs what I like to read. Because I just get a kick out of it, and because, hey, weâre still making movies, it doesnât matter what they say. When we first took this project, we knew that would happen. We actually took the project on this spot. This is where the âPineapple Expressâ base camp was set up, I think literally in this exact spot. Neil came to us and brought us the idea. We agreed to do the idea in the room, because we were like, âYouâre saying 80 plus million, action, hero-sidekick?â Which is what we always wanted to do. We were like, âWeâll do it.â The second they left, we said weâll do this, but people are going to think this is the worst idea ever, at first. Ever. I just stepped out of myself for a moment and just thought, âIâm just some guy and heard that Seth Rogen is going to play the Green Hornet. Thatâs the stupidest fucking thing Iâve ever heard.â Thatâs what we expected. But we hoped, and it actually seems to be happening, is that the negativity helped to create a real upsurge in the positive reviews coming up to the release of the movie.
Well, some would argue itâs better to be the underdog, and then come out of left-field, then to have such high expectationsâ¦
Goldberg: I donât like to make it seem as though Seth and I had some sort of master plan and it happened. We didnât. This whole movie, we werenât prepared for certain things, some crazy things came out of left-field. We said at that junctureâand this is really egotistical and stupid at the timeâbut we were like, how are we going to follow up âSuperbadâ and âPineapple?â They both did so well. We need to lower peopleâs expectations. So we kind of wanted to take a project that would make people think. Which, in hindsight, was probably stupid (laughs).
Itâs good that you donât have a grand, arching plan, you know?
Goldberg: Yeah, ever since I learned that you can get money from the Canadian government, as a Canadian, to make movies, I throw it all away at the drop of a hat now. I can always go back to Canada and just do shit there.
The last time I talked to you, you were very confused about Twitterâ¦are you on Twitter (now)?
Goldberg: I got Twitter right after that. It confused me and I deleted it. Then I got Twitter like two months ago, checked it out a bit more, and I concluded the only thing Twitter Iâm interested in following is Nick Stoller.
Heâs a wacky guy on Twitter.
Goldberg:  Heâs got some interesting stuff on Twitter. But yeah, itâs still not really getting me.
This was Sally Menkeâs last project, and she was on it for a little while. What did Sally, on her time on the project, bring?
Goldberg: Oh yeah. When people say, âOh, itâs Quentin Tarintino-esque,â I think a lot of time they should be saying, âItâs Quentin Traintino-esque, with that Sally Menke kick.â You can see, she definitely knows how to make a hit hurt. She knows how to make things come home, hard. I think that is one of the reasons that it didnât pan out properly. Sheâs got a real vision when she does her shit, and thereâs definitely some of the stuff she didâlike we sat down with the editor Michael Tronick, and he was like, âOh no, hers is better. Letâs do hers on that one.â She brought, you know, a dark, edgy, hard-hitting element to it that in the end I would say contributed to the action on a huge way. Some of her action was really amazing. Also on the start, with Brittâs father, she really made those emotions hit hard. Just that kind of shit. Sheâs just hard-hitting, really.
Something I liked about the movie is that Britt Reid is basically just a spoiled little brat. Could you talk about the level that you could play Seth Rogenâs character at, while still keeping the audience invested in his being a protagonist.
Goldberg: Seth and I were really excited to do this character, because in all these years we have never come up with a character for him and then done it. Like, he was supposed to be Seth in âSuperbad,â and then he ended up being the cop. He was supposed to be Francoâs character in âPineapple,â and then he ended up being the other character. So this is the first movie where we wrote it for him. The only time we ever kind of had a balance issue was with any joke that was sexual in nature. We found through our testing that whenever he was like, a little too sleazy to Lenore (Cameron Diaz's character), or he was being like, âOh, I was out banging this girl I was with last night,â people were just like, âugghhh.â They didnât like that. So I mean, besides that, there wasnât really much of a challenge and we were just all happy and it all worked out. We definitely had a de-sexualizing pass of editing, and we definitely had a, lessen-the-dickeness pass. He was a little too dickey, in some of the screenings we did, and the sex jokes really failed. Like, just failed.
Speaking of, were there a lot of deleted scenes, or did most of what got shot make it to screen?
Goldberg: Thereâs a whole bunch of deleted things. Unfortunately a whole lot of them are so small in run time that it would be an unsatisfying feature, but I think we have seven or eight strong deleted scenesâsome alternate deaths for henchmen, and stuff like that. We have one really good scene, that didnât happen at all in the actual film, where Seth and Christoph Waltz meet at a bar, not knowing who the other guy is. That scene, thatâs a good one. Thatâs probably one of the best scenes we filmed, and itâs not in the movie unfortunately.
Was it just because of tone or pacing?
Goldberg: We came up with the idea. We were being told we werenât allowed to do it. We were told there was no time, no money. We were filming at CAA, the Daily Sentinel.  Our locations guy and our line producer guy came up, and they were like, âwe can film it, in that restaurant, for this much money, and we can film it right now, and we have like one hour.â We were like, letâs do it!â So we all ran over there during the setup of another scene, and we shot the scene, and it is one of the best scenes in the whole movie. They sit down in a bar, are together, and they donât realize who the other guy is. They each motivated the other guy to go on their third act path, in a scene where they didnât realize who they were talking to. It was really cool.
Iâm actually really curious to see that
Goldberg: Â It was a really cool scene, Iâm pretty bummed it was not in the movie
Recently you guys signed on to Neighborhood Watch. What can you tell people who donât know anything about the project?
Goldberg: I honestly donât know what I should and shouldnât say. I mean, I could say that some guys form a neighborhood watch, and stumble upon something that is very real. I donât know what the world knows, thatâs all I can say.
Is this an R rated kind of thing, or PG-13?
Goldberg:Â Weâve been hired to up the R.
So, weâre talking hard R?
Goldberg: Yeah. We wrote a thing where someone was smoking a hardcore drug, and they were like, âYeah, thatâs a little too far.â So, itâs a hard R, but itâs not going to be really brutal.
Is there a filmmaker on this?
Goldberg:Â No, we got hired on by Shawn Levy to do it, heâs producing it, but thereâs no director, thereâs no actors attached, thereâs nothing but a script.
It seems like youâve been working nonstop for a couple of years now. Whatâs your criteria for picking something that you want to be involved with?
Goldberg: Well, Seth and I have different motivations. Iâm more financially motivated, because I have not gotten gigantic actor paychecks. âThe Green Hornet,â I havenât been paid in like two and a half years, I donât have any backing on the Hornet, because we made the deal during âPineapple.â So during these three years, where you think I would have made mad cash, I was just working on âThe Green Hornetâ for the salary I got paid. So I very much want to reach a financial goal in my life, but itâs also largely what is going to amuse me on a day-to-day basis. I have a great script in our possession that has no producer attached right now, thatâs amazing and itâs great, but thereâs no action, thereâs no huge comedy, itâs more like a âRoyal Tenenbaumsâ kind of thing. Which is a great movie, but I want to do something with aliens, and with people who come from the center of the earth, with explosions, with giant war things. Seth and I very much want to do big stuff. I just want to keep going for broke, making bigger and bigger things like âLord of the Ringsâ until they kick me out of Hollywood. I just want to do the biggest thing I can.
Obviously you guys reinvented this whole Green Hornet thing. Is Sony or are you sitting down right now thinking about other franchises to work on?
Goldberg: Well, we pretty much have our plate full for the next while. We got âThe Green Hornet,â and now weâre doing that. If âThe Green Hornet 2â happens, thatâs going to occupy a massive amount of time, but who knows. Then we have our âSausage Partyâ movie, we have our apocalypse movie, and we might be doing a movie over at Paramount. So we have three projects running that are probably going to happenâweâll, apocalypse is definitely going to happen, the one with Paramount will probably happen, and âSausage Party,â mark my word, will happen.
I should be more familiar with âSausage Partyâ than I am.
Goldberg: Itâs our secret project. Me and Seth and Jonah Hill came up with it one day. Me and Seth and Conrad Vernonâwho did Shrek 2 and Monsters and Aliensâare going to produce it, and me and Seth and our writing cohorts Ariel and Kyle, who are buddies from Canada who we brought down to work with us, are going to write it. Itâs about Jonah and Seth, playing the two main characters, theyâre sausages in a supermarket, and itâs a hard R mockery of a Pixar movie, where they get taken across the store in a cart, and fall out of the cart, and they need to get back to their aisle before the fourth of July sale, so they can reach every sausages goal of being purchased and carried to the heavens by the humans.
Is this going to be some filthy dialogue?
Goldberg: Yeah. The scriptâs completely done, and is by leaps and bounds the dirtiest thing weâve ever done. It makes âSuperbadâ look like âA Walk Through the Park.â Itâs insane. Thatâs why itâs not getting made, right (laughs)? But weâre really close to getting made, I think we might get financing this week, and none of us are taking any money for it. Iâm a very practical person. Iâm not doing shit for free. I would not do âThe Green Hornet 2â out of a love for what Iâve done before. I expect to get paid if I do something, but âSausage Party?â Iâll pay money to make it.
Wouldnât you argue that making a movie like âSausage Partyâ that is so hysterical and makes people laugh, is just so good for the future, though? People then think of you as the ones that made it, and it helps with the next thing.
Goldberg:Â Well, I guess you got to go, âSausage Party, âSuperbad, âSausage Party,â âSuperbad,â âBig Movie,â because youâve got to do the big ones if you want to bolster your status.
âLive With It,â is that the final title?
Goldberg:Â Hell no.
What is it?
Goldberg: Undetermined. Do you have an idea for the title? Oh yeah, itâs a problem.
Whatâs the process with (naming a title) like?
Goldberg:Â We currently have a title, and if no one beats it in like the next week or two, thatâs going to be the title
So, whatâs the title?
Goldberg: Not saying. Itâs not the title, because someone responded, âWell, currently, itâs âLive With It,ââ and for like two months everyone thinks the title is âLive With It.â Which it is not going to be.
Well, there was also âIâm With Cancer.â
Goldberg: That was the original title, and itâs undeniable, itâs a marketing bullet-in-the-head. We just canât put âcancerâ in the title. That title canât be beat, but we just canât do it.
When do you think people are going to see a trailer?
Goldberg: I donât know, I imagine it will be released at the Toronto Film Festival, or right around then, so I imagine there wonât be a trailer out for at least three, four monthsâdonât you think? I guess it depends on what title we land on. If we land on a title thatâs hard-hitting, that changes things. If we land on a title thatâs middle-of-the-road, that allows us to build what we want the vibe of the movie to be in the public arena, then we can do that. So itâs to be determined, I would say
Have youâve seen a rough cut, what do you think?
Goldberg: Oh yeah, weâve screened it. I couldnât be more proud. My mom had breast cancer. All of our parents had cancer of some type, who was involved with the film more or lessâexcept for lucky old Seth, who comes from a health family, I guessâbut the audience cries, people just ball when they watch it, and laugh. I couldnât be prouder.