The Pineapple Express

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

this looks so funny!

Nuh-uh!

[MacGuffin]

Q&A: 'Pineapple Express' director David Gordon Green lights up
Indie film auteur David Gordon Green talks about getting hired by comedy king Judd Apatow to direct the stoner movie 'Pineapple Express.'
By Denise Martin, Special to the Los Angeles Times

If you know who David Gordon Green is, chances are you were surprised to hear he was directing the Judd Apatow-produced action-comedy stoner movie "Pineapple Express." If you don't, the 33-year-old indie film director has been heralded within critics' circles for his work on his small slice-of-life films "George Washington," "All the Real Girls" and "Snow Angels," as well as the low-budget Southern thriller "Undertow."

Before he took the stage to promote "Pineapple" alongside stars Seth Rogen and James Franco at last month's Comic-Con, Green took some time to explain how he hooked up with Apatow, got Franco to go ugly and stunned his parents into total silence.

So how did you get involved with the Apatow camp?

Through Danny McBride. Danny did "The Foot Fist Way," which they all freaked out over, so Apatow's people called him and asked him what else he wanted to do. Danny told them that we'd actually been writing and that I was dying to get the opportunity to direct one, but no one had given us a shot. They said, "Well, that's weird because we have the power to give people shots." So it was really that.

The next week I had lunch with Apatow on the set of "Knocked up" and found out that we had a very common sensibility. Strangely, their process was really similar to mine, the way they make movies, the highly improvised performances, the collaborative energy of the crew. Two weeks later they sent me the script and asked if I'd be up for it. We were e-mailing back and forth trying to set up a time to hash it out, but we never really did. He finally just said, "Why don't we just make it?" It was bizarre.

Was he familiar with your movies? Not one is a comedy. Quite the opposite, really....

They were familiar with my work. I was familiar with theirs. And I think there was just a peculiar feeling of "How weird would this be if we just work together?"

A lot of people seem to think that Franco is the real revelation in this movie.

I love that he's the discovery in this movie. The guy probably has more money in the bank than any of us. But, yeah, he's great. It was a new turn for him. When we first met each other we were kind of sizing each other up -- like I was thinking, "What are you doing here?" and he was thinking, "What are you doing here?" But it was a perfect fit. We actually had a lot in common. We just made that commitment to each other. We kind of said, "Let's just trust each other and go to some pretty wacky places." I told him, "I'm not going to make you look bad. I'm going to make you look just bad enough."

We did kind of butt heads over what he was going to wear. And then I won those battles and so it was cool.

What did he want to wear?

He wanted to look cool. I was like, "You always look cool in movies. Look dumb for a minute."

What was the most difficult scene to shoot?

I actually had to excuse myself from set a couple of days because it was so funny. I have a cackle laugh. And if you have Danny, Seth and James in a room.... I'm thinking of the scene in Red's [McBride's character's] house when they're across the counter from each other, and they're riffing on the dead cat. It's all improv and I'm eating these stuffed animals, trying not to laugh. But I was ruining the takes so I had to leave. It was more tough on the actors.

How so?

I got them all hurt. We beat them up really bad because they did a lot of their own stunts. Franco split his head open on a tree. That's why he wears a headband through a lot of the movie, because he has stitches. And Danny, he split the back of his head open when Franco hit him with a bong. Seth broke his finger. They all got hurt. It was all them. They're all really getting thrown around.

I heard your parents just watched the movie last night. How'd they like it?

I couldn't really tell. They're not really the target demographic. They're a pretty conservative 65-year-old couple from Texas. But it's fun watching them watch it.

Did they laugh when they were supposed to?

No. There was a lot of silence. Really, for like 90% of the movie. They need to see it again. I think they were just confused, like, "What's going on?"

Tell us about getting Huey Lewis to write the title track.

The studio was super-happy after one of our first test screenings and asked us, "OK, what do you want from us?" We said, "How about like a kick-ass soundtrack where all our dreams come true?" They said all right, and at first I was trying to sell Seth on Ray Parker Jr. for the theme song. But he had just gotten sued by Huey Lewis for the lyrics to the "Ghostbusters" theme song because it was too similar to Lewis' "I Want a New Drug." So Seth said, "Well, why don't we just get our idol Huey Lewis to do it?" He was actually on our list to play [the villain] Ted in the movie because I really liked when he [bared it all] in "Short Cuts." Huey was unavailable, but he did agree to a meeting. Seth sat down with him and talked about how we wanted it to be like an '80s song: a lot of sax and saying the title a lot. Seth says Huey wrote the lyrics down on a napkin while they were at lunch. Really, it's all downhill from here.

What are you working on next?

Danny's written a script called "Your Highness" that's about Danny in the Middle Ages, fighting dragons. We're working together on a new draft of it. That's definitely one I'm excited about. I'm working on a horror movie, a remake of the Italian movie "Suspiria," about a coven of witches in a German dance school. It's a classic cult horror film. I'm also working on an animated TV series, a movie about Arctic warfare and this family film about kids that are the pit crew for a NASCAR racer.

So no more small movies?

No, there is a lot like that. But those are kind of intimate, and I need the paychecks of a couple of these other things so that I can do them. The indie financing world is in a really difficult place right now. It's hard for people to want to invest when you see the returns of a movie you spent two years of your passion on. That doesn't mean don't do them, but it does mean control them and be careful. The last thing you want is someone to have invested in your passion and then do what they want with your heart. I want to make sure I get to a point where I can control stuff that I'm really intimate and possessive about.

[72teeth]

this is one confused ass movie... pretty funny, but mainly confused-ass...

it's not quite a stoner comedy, not quite an action comedy, not quite a DGG film, not quite an Apatow project, but everytime it gets close to being one of those, it takes a hard right and just distracts the hell out of you...

S

Now normally, violence doesn't get to me too much, but here, it clashes with the context so hard that it's completely off putting... every killing was so unexpected and brutal that if i were stoned when i had seen it, i probably would have cried. maybe i just liked the actors/characters too much, especially Rosie Perez and Craig robinson's characters, but i really dont think it was crucial to see either of them get mushed by a daewoo. nor his foot shot off right after.

S

it's as coherent as DGG directing an action weed comedy with an Apatow crew could be i guess... but judging by the trailer, it could have been really cool.... may i coin the term, Betrailer? If it would have just kept going where the opening sequnce seemed to be going, it would have been a lot better... but i like it.

Franco gets gold. Danny McBride, silver. Rogen, a bong. and I'll recommend:

[squints]

I really dug this. I think I actually liked it more than Hot Fuzz (whatever). I saw it completely sober just to make sure it wasn't funny just when you're high. But i think 72teeth is right about it being too violent for your average pothead but I guess that's why i really liked it. The last bit of the movie turns into a pretty awesome action movie. And I really felt bad for Craig Robinson, he was so lovable in this. I had a ton of fun watching this and I thought Franco was pretty great. I guess getting an unabashed pothead to play an pothead was a pretty good idea. There's only one moment in the entire film where I felt that David Gordon Green feeling and thats in the woods where they're trying to find their way out and they end up screwing around and dancing in slo-mo. But even thats a stretch. I haven't seen that much this year but I say 1)Dark Gnights 2)Wallzee 3) Pineapple Express.

[Gold Trumpet]

It was more amusing than funny. I loved James Franco's performance because he is playing guys I know, but the movie never took its good idea and transformed it to be really funny. I believe the success of these new comedies are based on all the funny, lovable characters in them. Pineapple Express concentrated the story on just Rogen and Franco and it got a little tired. It also had too slim of a story. Superbad also was about the events over the course of a night, but the film had a lot more characters and story to it. Pineapple Express short changed a lot of things that were essential. I'm dissapointed because any new comedy with these guys in it is always going to be compared to Superbad and Knocked Up and this one didn't live up to those standards.

[cinemanarchist]

I've always been a huge Bulletproof fan and I was hoping this movie was going to be as mean and nasty as that but as others have said, it never really excels in any of the directions it chooses to go in. It does everything reasonably well but it just never equals the sum of its parts. I also saw this sober and I think the scene with them being paranoid in the forest would have had me curled up in the fetal position. My hopes were pretty high for this one and am mildly disappointed but only because it was Apatow/DGG/Pot/Guns all in a film together and that's pretty much a dream come true on paper. The theatre was also full of total chachholes who will no doubt be building cross joints and calling all of their weed Pineapple Express until they become cops or lawyers or something else equally annoying.

[Stefen]

So is it a good idea to see this wickedly baked, or no?

[cinemanarchist]

Depends on the person I think. The only panic attacks I've ever had have been while stoned so if that gives you any idea of where I'm coming from...I think you'll be fine. I still get freaked out watching How High when they start digging up corpses to smoke. Shit is just weird.

[Stefen]

Sometimes when I smoke, I get real anxious, too. Is that what happens to you?

[MacGuffin]

'Express' riding high at box office
Comedy nabs record-breaking $12.5 million
Source: Variety

Sony's R-rated stoner comedy "Pineapple Express" opened to hearty $12.1 million on Wednesday, laughing right past the record-breaking $8.5 million earned by "The Princess Diaries 2" on its Wednesday August bow in 2004.

Younger girls turned out in droves for Warner Bros.' "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2," which opened to equally strong results on Wednesday for its genre. Sequel grossed $5.8 million on Wednesday, while the first "Sisterhood" grossed $9 million over its entire opening weekend.

Both pics opted for a midweek bow to take advantage of kids still being out of school, and, albeit to a lesser extend, to get out of the way of Friday night's telecast of the Olympics Opening Ceremony. The move paid off.

There was still plenty of love for Warners' "The Dark Knight," which declined 10% from the previous day to $5 million on Wednesday for a domestic cume of $410.7 million. Film is now predicted to end up just north of $500 million in domestic ticket sales, making it the second highest-grossing pic of all time, ahead of the $460 million earned by the first "Star Wars." "Titanic" safely remains the No. 1 domestic title of all time, having grossed $600.8 million.

"Pineapple," starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, was produced by Judd Apatow. Sony's co-financing partner on the film is Relativity Media. It is the second Judd Apatow-produced and Sony laffer to enter the market in under two weeks.

The first is Will Ferrell-John C. Reilly starrer ``Step Brothers,'' which declined roughly 23% on Wednesday from the previous day, suggesting that ``Pineapple'' might have taken a bite out its aud. ``Step Brothers'' grossed somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 million on Wednesday.

"Sisterhood 2" reteams the stars of the first pic, America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel, Amber Tamblyn and Blake Lively.

[cinemanarchist]

Oh yeah. It always happens when I smoke too much. My mind starts racing and it's bad news from there on out. It's even worse if there are people around...so yeah, I don't smoke and go to the movies very often.

Did Pineapple just make more in one day than all of DGG's other films have combined??

[Ravi]

The first 30 minutes or so were damn near flawless.  Once the action plot kicked in I lost a little interest, but the film was still funny.  The girlfriend subplot was half-assed and left unresolved.

Winner: James Franco

[El Duderino]

A friend and I saw it a couple months back when he got tickets to a screening for a little special they did for the MTV Movie Awards and there was a Q&A afterwards with Seth Rogen and James Franco. Franco was real quiet and Rogen was an asshole, but when we were leaving...we were in the parking garage at the Landmark Theater (in LA) and parked right next to my Corrolla is a beautiful Astin Martin. James Franco is getting inside and nudges his head. "Sup?" he said.

We asked him if he wanted to smoke a quick bowl with us in my car. Of course, he declined, but it was a good time.


I liked the movie. Good plenty of good laughs.

[matt35mm]

I've always thought the Apatow movies were just okay... cute stories with a couple of laughs.

But this!  I really, really liked this, and laughed a lot.  I don't understand the criticism that some reviewers had that the movie doesn't know what genre it wants to be--I felt like the movie had a very clear idea of what it wanted to do, and did it really well.  Perhaps some people felt that the violence and goofy comedy didn't mix, but I found that it mixed very well--I was laughing and I was excited by the action!

As far as Green's work goes, I like this better than Snow Angels, maybe better than Undertow.  I saw this a couple of days ago and I'm having a difficult time thinking of any major criticisms.  I might have criticized the story line with the younger girlfriend if it didn't turn out to be so funny, and if Amber Heard wasn't so ridiculously beautiful in this movie.  The movie reminded me how much I love Rosie Perez, I liked Gary Cole in his robe while swilling beer, LOVED Danny McBride, and the ending scene is so good that I laugh every time I think about it.  The ending scene has my vote for best ending of the year so far.

Yeah, I guess I pretty much loved it.  I can't wait to own it.  I saw it sober by the way.

Did Pineapple just make more in one day than all of DGG's other films have combined??

Considering that all of DGG's other films combined have made less than $1 million at the US Theatrical Box Office.... yes.  I'm sure that Pineapple Express, just in the first day in the US, made much more than the worldwide theatrical and video gross combined.

[pete]

saw it last night, I liked the chats, but the bigger moments weren't that funny.  for example, the belt buckle scene, or the last scene at the diner - I liked what they were saying in those scenes, but the premises were just ok.  rosie perez was amazing.  the action sequences were ok, though they felt pretty hard-hitting, just as Undertow did.  I was expecting more in the action department, actually, after everyone saying how it turned into an 80s movie at the end.  I just didn't think any of the stuff with the guns was particularly exciting for funny.  average.  also, my buddy Lin, one of the stunt guys in the end, was never credited!  wtf?