Superbad (2007)
Trivia
Writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg started this script when they were just thirteen years old, because "we just wanted to see if we could write a movie."
Michael Cera's mother actually read the script before he did, and she was the one who convinced him to try out for the part.
The penis drawings featured in the film are done by David Goldberg, Evan Goldberg's brother. There were close to one thousand produced, but only a handful were featured in the movie and closing credits.
Because Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen are such great friends, they were quoted as saying that when casting Evan, they weren't so much looking for a good actor, as they were "casting for a new best friend."
The word "fuck" is used one hundred eighty-six times. The movie itself is only one hundred thirteen minutes long. That averages to approximately 1.6 uses of the word per minute (eighty-four are said by Seth (Jonah Hill) alone).
The lead characters, Seth and Evan, are named after writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
Eminem says that this is his favorite movie of all time. He even referenced it in two of his songs, "Brainless" and "Ballin' Uncontrollably".
The "semen conversation" was mostly improvised, and lasted for about four minutes. It was edited to under a minute for the final cut.
Seth's (Jonah Hill's) comment about Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) looking "like a future pedophile" after being shown the I.D., was ad-libbed.
During filming, Christopher Mintz-Plasse was the youngest at seventeen, Michael Cera was eighteen, and Jonah Hill was the oldest at twenty-three.
The 1970s version of the Columbia Pictures logo was shown at the beginning of the film, instead of the 2000s version.
According to the DVD commentary, the night that Evan (Michael Cera) describes to Becca early in the movie is "beat by beat" what Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and their friend Sam Fogell did when they were in high school.
The pivotal penis drawings were a point of contention with the MPAA, particularly the scene with young Becca holding an image of one of them. Producer Judd Apatow said it was the subject of much legal wrangling, including how erect they could be, if veins could be shown, et cetera. However, the actress playing young Becca, Laura Marano, had a different picture to hold before they cut to the actual drawing. You can even see from the reverse that the drawing she holds appears completely different.
In a skit for the Special Edition DVD commentary Judd Apatow had his nine-year-old daughter with him. He asked that no one swear in front of her. Jonah Hill swore numerous times, angering Apatow. After an argument, Apatow left the commentary with his daughter.
Bill Hader (Officer Slater) has stated that he was offered many roles as a cop after this film due to the popularity of his character.
When the two police officers (Seth Rogen and Bill Hader) ask McLovin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) where the party is, he says, "13th and Granville". Granville Street is a busy street in Vancouver, British Columbia, where Rogen and Goldberg grew up.
Water was used for vodka, apple juice for hard liquor, and non-alcoholic beer was used for the party scenes.
On Eminem's eighth studio album, "The Marshall Mathers LP 2", "Brainless" samples the portion of the film when the clerk from the liquor store says his name in correlation to the white person who robbed the store.
Jennifer Lawrence was considered for the role of Jules.
The song "These Eyes" that Evan is made to sing at the first house party, can later be heard playing on the radio of Officer Slater and Michaels' patrol car.
Justin Long had a scene in the movie that was omitted due to length.
The screenplay for this film was featured in the 2006 Blacklist; a list of the "most liked" unmade scripts of the year.
No actual alcoholic beverage companies would give the okay to the film using their products. "Companies that make money poisoning and killing people would not clear their product for a boner movie."
Jonah Hill wasn't keen on Mintz-Plasse after their first audition together as he felt the newcomer kept "stepping all over his lines." They pulled Hill aside, played him back the tape, and asked him to show them a single instance -- he couldn't as Mintz-Plasse was instead helping boost Hill's delivery and performance. Hill claims it was because his character wasn't supposed to like Mintz-Plasse's, but everyone calls him on it. "That's great guys, I thought we were all friends."
Greg, the soccer player who "pissed his pants", is played by Dave Franco, brother of James Franco.
Seth Rogen credits Jay Baruchel for first suggesting Michael Cera to them.
During filming Undeclared (2001), Greg Mottola had a table read for the script, with Seth Rogen reading for Seth, and Jason Segel reading for Evan.
The scene where Evan ( Michael Cera ) accidentally winds up in the room with guys doing cocaine is actually based on a real incident from Rogen and Goldberg's younger days. They attended a party when they were fourteen meant to say goodbye to a local stand-up comic who was moving, and Rogen's mom took them. "Everyone started doing blow," says Rogen, and Goldberg adds that "the house was owned by a midget and a bodybuilder who were a couple." "And there was a pig."
Reunion: Six years after the release of this movie, Jonah Hill (Seth), Michael Cera (Evan), and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Fogell), played themselves in a scene, in This Is the End (2013). They are seen together at James Franco's house party.
Despite Jonah Hill playing a high school student, and Seth Rogen playing a cop, Hill is only 2 years younger than Rogen.
The DVD/Blu Ray menu featuring a silhouette of Evan ( Michael Cera ) dancing was filmed continuously for an hour with Micheal Cera dancing nonstop for the entire time as to give the menu the feeling of not having a looped scene.
At 15 mins.) Mintz-Plasse's first scene in a movie ever is the sequence, where he interrupts the cooking class. He started improvising from his very first line.
They were concerned early on that Michael Cera "wasn't doing anything" with the character and wondered if he needed more energy or, if it would "read" on camera. "We had to get a thirty foot screen for video village so we could see what he's doing." His subtle comedic styling quickly made themselves known.
Evan Goldberg had an incident involving excess drinking and stripping down in a bathroom at LA's Canter's Deli, and Rogen first heard about it when "coincidentally Joe and Anthony Russo were in Canter's and we overheard these two guys saying 'there's this naked guy drunk and passed out in the bathroom upstairs.'"
Steve Bannos plays the math teacher in Evan's (Michael Cera) class. Bannos also played the math teacher in Freaks and Geeks (1999).
The role of Officer Michaels was originally offered to Kyle Gass.
The shirt Evan (Michael Cera) wears for the majority of the film is also worn by him (as George Michael) in episode 4.1, Arrested Development: Flight of the Phoenix (2013), of Arrested Development (2003).
When Dave Franco first appeared on set they didn't know he was James Franco's brother. "We were just staring at him, what's wrong with this guy?"
Jonah Hill initially read for a smaller part despite suggesting he was perfect for Seth, the character he eventually went on to play. "How frustrated were you at that moment?" asks Apatow. "I just felt that you guys were stupid," replied Hill.
Jonah Hill (Seth) and Carla Gallo (Period Blood Girl) have appeared in five films together. Besides this movie, they were in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), Get Him to the Greek (2010), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), and Funny People (2009).
Jonah Hill hated Christopher Mintz-Plasse after his audition for the character of Fogel. Jonah kept getting agitated because he felt like Christopher was getting the better of him comedically although they ultimately figured out that Jonah and Christopher's relationship and butting heads made Jonah more funny as he got more angry and it worked for the films characters really well.
Advanced buzz was so strong that Judd Apatow was billed as "the producer of Superbad" in trailers for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) and Drillbit Taylor (2008), which were released before and/or attached to the film itself.
In the scene where Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan ( Michael Cera ) are waiting for Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) to buy the alcohol for the party, Seth says "this plan's been fucked since Jump Street". Jonah Hill later starred in 21 Jump Street (2012) and 22 Jump Street (2014).
In the scene in Evan's bedroom, Evan is playing as Sergeant Ben Mitchell in The Getaway: Black Monday (2004), a popular Playstation 2 game set in London, England.
The comic, "The Goon" by Eric Powell, can be seen in the background of Evan's room.
Jonah Hill (Seth) & Emma Stone (Jules) also worked together on Maniac (2018) as Owen Milgrim & Annie Landsberg, respectively.
The penis-drawing scene required "enormous legal complications" getting it to the screen. Every single drawing had to be approved individually by the studio's legal department "and we would get notes back saying 'too big, too veiny.'"
Actors Michael Cera and Bill Hader share the same birthday.
They wanted the cop car's windshield to crack when they hit Seth, but after multiple takes it wouldn't break so Trella had to smash it with a hammer.
Seth Rogen, Bill Hader, Danny McBride, Joe Lo Truglio and Kevin Corrigan were reunited in Pineapple Express (2008).
Bill Hader (Officer Slater) was offered many "funny cop" roles due to the popularity of his character in this movie.
The first collaboration between Rogen and Goldberg happened when they were twelve years old and made "a bad Star Wars spoof movie." It starred Goldberg while Rogen was entirely off-screen.
Teagan Presley is the model on the cover of the Temptress magazine.
When Evan is at the party where all the people want him to sing for them, one of the party goers tells him that his brother came there from Scottsdale, Arizona, the birthplace of Emma Stone.
At 19 mins.) The shot of the little girl holding the dick drawing at is actually the hands of a tiny adult woman.
They mention that "cool" audiences cheer and clap when Joe Lo Truglio appears on screen, and Rogen compares it to the reaction when Alan Tudyk shows up in Knocked Up.
Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) doesn't get introduced until around the fifteen-minute mark.
One of two Jonah Hill movies that featured breakout roles for future Best Actress Oscar winners (Emma Stone - La La Land (2016), and Brie Larsen - Room (2015)). The other film starring Hill and Larson is 21 Jump Street (2012).
Seth Rogen (Officer Michaels) and Martin Starr (James Masselin) are in this film, and they also starred in the show Freaks and Geeks (1999), also produced by Judd Apatow.
In the scene where Evan (Michael Cera) tells Becca (Martha MacIsaac) his Saturday night in detail, Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is wearing a white t-shirt with an ad for Monty Python's "SPAMalot", a Broadway musical comedy adopted from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975).
Early drafts of the script were read during production of Apatow's series Undeclared (2001-2003), but while they were funny, he says, it took many years of rewrites to add heart to the humor.
Seth Rogen (Officer Michaels), Carla Gallo (Period Blood Girl), and David Krumholtz (Benji Austin) were in Undeclared (2001).
At 56 mins.) Rogen says the blond woman is "that bat-shit crazy chick from that f*cking.." He offers no further details.
Michael Cera, Emma Stone, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Jonah Hill all had something to do with superheroes. Emma Stone was Spider-Man's girlfriend, Hill is the voice of The Green Lantern in the Lego Movies, Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays the Enemy Red Mist in the Kick Ass Movies and Michael Cera is the voice of Robin in Lego Batman.
Edgar Wright interviewed Cera and Hill, and this lead to the well known freak out from Jonah Hill near the end of the interview.
Cameo
Mark Rogen: Seth Rogen's father appears as the baseball bat-wielding dad when Seth (Jonah Hill) and Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) are fleeing the police through backyards.
Danny McBride: In the background at the house party scene.
Tim Trella: The stunt coordinator plays the robber.
Clark Duke: In the Gazebo at Jules' party when Evan shows up to see Becca.
Ted Haigh: The bartender is played by the graphic artist.
Spoilers
Because Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Fogell) was only seventeen at the time of filming, his mother was required to be on-set during the filming of his sex scene.
Emma Stone's (Jules') reaction to getting hit in the head by Jonah Hill (Seth) was improvised.
The scene in which Evan (Michael Cera) is forced to sing "These Eyes" at the adult party is strikingly similar to the scene in Dead Poets Society (1989), when Knox (Josh Charles) attends the high school party. (1) Evan and Knox are mistaken for someone's brother, who they are not. (2) Both are pressured into something by drunk partiers: Evan to sing and Knox to take a shot. (3) Both are outsiders at the parties. (4) Both parties erupt into fistfights after the cases of mistaken identity.