Every movie, no matter how critically acclaimed or popular, has its own negative review, and Seth Rogen’s films are no exception. The actor gets candidly honest about receiving destructive criticisms toward his body of work and how these reviews affected him.
Rogen’s stardom catapulted in the mid-2000s when he appeared on Superbad and Knocked Up in 2007 and Pineapple Express in 2008. Nowadays, he focuses on more earnest projects such as Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans and Pam & Tommy series.
Seth Rogen Confesses Harsh Movie Reviews Affect Him And Other People In The Industry
Speaking on The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett, the actor discussed about how negative movie reviews and harsh opinions can affect artists and directors in a troubling way.
“I think if most critics knew how much it hurts the people that made the things that they are writing about, they would second guess the way they write these things. It’s devastating. I know people who have never recovered from it honestly – a year, decades of being hurt by… It’s very personal.”
Rogen also noted that these cruel assessments could sometimes get under the skin, and that is something difficult to get out of an actor’s system.
“It is devastating when you are being institutionally told that your personal expression was bad, and that’s something that people carry with them, literally, their entire lives, and I get why. It f-cking sucks.”
The actor specifically mentioned the projects he did and how the public enjoyed hating on these films. He said that people telling an artist that he has “creatively failed” would sting a lot.
“For ‘Green Hornet,’ the reviews were coming out, and it was pretty bad. People hated it. People were taking joy in disliking it a lot… [The Interview] felt far more personal. ‘Green Hornet’ felt like I had fallen victim to a big fancy thing. That was not so such much a creative failure on our parts but a conceptual failure. ‘The Interview,’ people treated us like we creatively failed, and that sucked.”
While filmmakers and actors have no power over how audiences would react to a movie, Rogen said that life must go on. Sometimes, movies flop; other times, they become blockbusters.
“That’s another funny thing about making movies… life goes on. You can be making another movie as your movie is bombing, which is a funny thing. It’s bittersweet. You know things will be okay.”
Seth Rogen added that if an actor’s main concern is the movie bombing really hard and he won’t get hired to do another film again, he need not worry about it.
RELATED: Seth Rogen Wants To Chill Out With His Fans So Bad He’s Offering $42 Slumber Parties at His Airbnb
Here’s Why Some Of Seth Rogen’s Films Received Bad Movie Reviews
There are several reasons why a movie gets poor reviews, but for Seth Rogen’s films, some of the factors are evidently apparent. The actor noted that Green Hornet garnered backlash because of a “conceptual failure.” The film basically falls under a movie genre that would require an actor with specific skills for the job. Rogen’s flair for comedy might not be suited for this project.
The Interview, which the actor immensely lamented on his statement, was a disaster. Historical alterations and the use of real people’s identities in a film is quite a delicate path to tread. The controversy over this film, which Rogen directed, even reached the United Nations.
Filmmakers and actors have the right to exercise creative freedom, and while Rogen said that he had found success in pushing boundaries, one has to draw the line somewhere.
Source: The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett
