Could this be a case of art imitating life?
Like his character Ira, Rogen knows what it’s like having friends in showbiz. “Me and Martin [Starr] and Jason and all these guys, Jay [Baruchel] and Jonah -- we’ve all been friends for years, and we’ve been in direct competition with each other for roles in movies, so I heavily relate to that aspect of it and the desperation of a comic and a person who is trying to find their comedic voice.” Not all friendships can weather the storm he confessed. "There are literally people that I don’t talk to anymore over work-related issues. Not my choice by any means -- it happens. When you all have jobs that are really personal … there is no separation of professional life, and your personal life and those things can really effect friendships. The movie gets into all that stuff heavily with me and Jonah’s character in particular.”
The tension in the movie starts with Mark who is by far the most successful of the three friends with his own television show Yo Teach. “That fits in somewhere between Dangerous Minds and The Cable Guy,” Schwartzman said. “I’m a teacher. I teach some kids that have been written off by society, but my heart is too big to let that happen. I want to make sure they’re loved and treated like humans and get an education along the way.” Hill on the other hand is still making his way up the stand-up comedy food chain. “I’m slightly better than Ira. [Ira’s] kind of realizing that he’s getting this writing opportunity and he’s going more in that direction. He’s feeling low because I’m the better comedian, and [Mark] is finding more success with his show so he’s kind of feeling the lowest out of his group of friends. Then he meets George — Adam Sandler’s character.”
The cast takes a hike.
We were on hand to watch the three roommates hiking along Runyon Canyon (a popular trail in Hollywood). Schwartzman went over the scene with us saying, “We’re finding out for the first time that something might be wrong with one of our main characters — Sandler’s character. [Ira] said he wouldn’t tell anybodym then it cuts to him telling us.” First, we watched the guys hike up the hill bantering back and forth (Ira: “He slept with a girl, and then he slept with my girl also.” Mark: “You got cock-blocked by a terminally ill guy?"), then it was time for the guys to move on to a pivotal scene, according to Schwartzman, “We’re smoking some pot and talking about life and death. It kinda puts the whammy on us. [It] makes us feel paranoid and like maybe we shouldn’t be talking about life and death stuff while on drugs.”
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