Observe and reflect: Duo discusses roles in latest comedy to hit theaters

Jackie McLean

Credit: DKS Editors

“Observe and Report” pushes the boundaries of the traditional comedy films in Hollywood with its elements of sex, male nudity, drugs and violence. Comedic geniuses Seth Rogen and Anna Faris star in this dark comedy, which hits theaters Friday.

Rogen and Faris gave us a behind-the-scenes look at the film:

Seth Rogen as Ronnie Barnhardt

Rogen is known for his stoner-friendly roles in films like “Pineapple Express” and “Knocked Up,” but with his role in “Observe and Report,” Rogen plays a much more complicated character. He is a mall security guard on a mission to become a real cop and get his dream girl, Brandi.

Rogen admitted he did absolutely nothing to prepare for the role.

“It was pretty much going off script,” Rogen said. “I didn’t actually do any research or anything like that, generally speaking. I had actually talked to one security guard for like five minutes a couple days before filming and didn’t really gather all that much from it, so it was all pretty created by Jody and me, I guess.”

Rogen was one of the first actors to sign onto the film. He said he doesn’t have any kind of strategy when picking the films he wants to do.

“We’re getting to make the movies we want to make … and that’s all we ever wanted – was to make movies that we would like to go see as movie fans. When I look at this movie, this is the exact type of movie I would be excited to go see, so I’m constantly thankful that we’re going to be able to do that,” Rogen said.

According to the film’s production notes, Rogen did a lot of his own stunt work in the film.

“The hardest scene to film was definitely the scene where I fight all of those cops in that mall because it’s one very long shot, and I crack around 14 people in the head in that one shot,” he said. “It looks really messy, but there’s actually extremely specific choreography to all that. We did not have much time to rehearse, so we kind of had to figure it out as we shot it, and I was, as you can see, extremely out of shape in the movie. That was a real motherfucker to shoot, I’ll tell you that.”

Anna Faris as Brandi

Anna Faris said the role of Brandi in “Observe and Report” is the worst character she’s ever played in terms of all the awful things her character has to do. She said the character Brandi is based off of one of Hill’s ex-girlfriends, even though he denies ever saying that now.

“I think she’s actually pretty different from the characters I’ve played in the past. I think she’s obnoxious like my character in ‘Just Friends,’ but my character in ‘Just Friends’ was so outlandish, and I think that Brandi is a little more grounded, even though she’s definitely the worst character I’ve played,” she said. “And I got to tell you, I just loved it. I loved every second of it. I just spent all day on set just laughing and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I get to do this!'” Faris said.

Faris’ character likes to drink and vomit in the movie. Faris said she has some real life experience with drinking and partying.

“We used to play hundreds club where you take a hundred shots or whatever. I think I made it to like 48 or something, which is pretty good for me.” she said.

“When I was in college, I liked to go to fraternity parties and pretend that I was 15 and see how many guys would try to sleep with me,” Faris said while laughing.

Faris and Rogen have a sex scene in the film. She said the scene was so offensive that she and Rogen did not think it would make it in the film.

“I was shocked. My character gets wasted and vomits and we end up having sex and it looks like I’m completely passed out. It really doesn’t look that good,” Faris said. “When we were shooting it, Seth and I were both like ‘This is a Warner Bros. movie. There’s no way. This is way too offensive.’ so I gave my parents a glass of wine and I showed them that scene. It was a rough one.”

Faris became a well-known actress with her roles in the “Scary Movie” series. She said playing those roles really gave her the confidence to try anything when doing a film.

“I’m pretty willing, and I think you have to have, especially in comedy, a lot of trust in your director and the project itself. The first few “Scary Movies” sort of broke me in. I’m willing to try just about anything, and I know that a lot of actresses probably would not want to be vomiting all over Seth Rogen, but I guess I have a twisted sense of humor, so I think it’s funny and I hope that other people do,” Faris said.

As for Faris’ future movie career, she said she would like to sing more in her films even though no one wants to hear her sing. She also said she does not feel the need to do a dramatic role like she used to.

“I always hoped that there was like a heroine-addict, prostitute character in my future, but I guess I’m not sure if there is,” Faris said. “At first when I started doing comedy, I was really frustrated that I couldn’t break into drama. It felt like, ‘I’m just the spoof movie girl or whatever’ and in the last few years I was just like, ‘Why do I want to do drama? I love doing comedy so much.'”

Contact all correspondent Jackie McLean at [email protected].