Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller Have made a man out of James Franco.
We mean this in the most literal of senses. On Sat. Oct. 17, the Rogens hosted a very public rite of passage for their palāone thatās usually reserved for 13-year-old boys: his very own bar mitzvah!
Most Jewish teenagers donāt have the kind of affair Franco, 37, was afforded, but then, most kids donāt have the Rogens orchestrating their coming-of-age do. Most bar mitzvah boys certainly donāt have their brisāa circumcision (albeit a fake one) aired live on Funny or Die, or have Zac Efron posing as the newly-clipped appendage with a blanket around his head. Most teens canāt book Miley Cyrus as their eveningās entertainmentāwearing a bodysuit dotted with Stars of David, no lessāhave their ceremony officiated by a famous rabbi who looks a hell of a lot like Jeff Goldblum, or see Bill Haderās supreme auctioneer skills in person. They definitely canāt bid serious moolah to score a date with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak or dance the hora to āHava Nagilaāāperformed by L.A-based It-band, Haim instead of your motherās best friendās sonās typically cheesy bar mitzvah band, that is. And, you certainly donāt see Seth Rogen wearing a yarmulke shaking it to āIf I Were a Rich Manā from Fiddler on the Roof on the dance floor on the night youāre becoming a man.
Since all of the above actually happened, what weāre essentially saying is, the Rogens are miracle workers.
Then again, who could doubt this philanthropic super coupleāno matter how crazy the requestāespecially when all of the amazing aforementioned moments took place not just for James Franco, but in the name of charity?
The cause in questionāAlzheimerāsāis one thatās personally very important to both of the Rogens. Laurenās mother was diagnosed with the disease nine years ago; her condition is now so advanced that she can no longer stand, dress or feed herself. Her rapid deterioration and lack of a cure prompted the couple to create the nonprofit Hilarity for Charity, an annual variety show, as well as accompanying yearlong programs and events, which raises funds for Alzheimerās research through the Alzheimerās Association. Thanks to Franco, Wozniak (whom Seth plays in the new Universal Pictures release Steve Jobs), in addition to longtime supporters like Judd Apatow, Paul Rudd, Aziz Ansari, Sarah Silverman and Mindy Kaling, the organization has brought Alzheimerās awareness to generations X, Y and Z, and made Hilarity for Charity one of the hottest tickets in Tinseltown.
The help of the Rogensā celebrity friendsāand they have manyāhas been essential to the organizationās growthāthough bringing in big guns like Franco and Cyrus, or upping the ante each year by booking talent such as The Backstreet Boys and Bruno Mars, hasnāt been as difficult as you might expect.
āI came up with the idea [for Jamesās bar mitzvah] at last yearās event [but] itās not like we sat down, had a brainstorming session and said, āWe have to do that for next year,āā Lauren, 33, says.
ā[Lauren is] friends with James as well, and over the years, heās talked about wanting a bar mitzvah,ā Seth, also 33, interjects. He pauses a moment before releasing his infectiously boisterous chuckle and saying, āMaybe weāll have to have a brainstorming session this yearāmaybe weāll circumcise Dave Franco!ā
Whatever weird and wonderful idea they eventually come up with will have an important purpose, especially for Lauren, whose mother was diagnosed with the disease at the age of 55; she has also lost two of her grandparents to Alzheimerās and dementia.
āI was very familiar with the pain [Alzheimerās] causes, and the destruction it has on a family,ā she says. āIn the beginning, I was living in a very angry, sad and depressed place about it. I felt like it was taking over my whole life, because it had.ā
But then, writer Matthew Bass had the brilliant idea to do a variety show benefitting Alzheimerās research, and before long, convinced the Rogens to take part alongside fellow co-founders Tum Cohl and Raffi Adlan. Six months later, the first Hilarity for Charity show was born.
After the success of the inaugural event, something incredible happened. Young people who related to Laurenās dilemma and who had caught wind of the variety show started reaching out, happy they could speak to peers about living with the disease, and happier to discover they werenāt alone. āIn doing the event, we started to get contacted by a lot of young people who were like, āWhy is this guy who makes weed comedies talking about Alzheimerās?āā she recalls.
For Seth, becoming a champion for curing the disease was natural, especially because it was so personal for his wife and his mother-in-law. āI probably did enoughĀ to harm the younger generation over the years, so itās nice to give something back,ā he jokes, before adding more seriously, āAs I was getting more recognizable, I noticed a lot of other famous people had these causes. I was like, āI donāt have a cause. Am I an asshole because I donāt have a cause?ā There [are] a lot of things I care about, but not a lot of things I could find myself talking about in a way that didnāt feel like I was a fraud of some sort, I guess.ā
He continues, āWhen all of this stuff started happening with Lauren and her mother, I found myself in a position where I could very easily talk about something in a way that was insightful. I didnāt have to do any research or learn any statistics or numbers. I could literally just talk about my own personal experiences; that I was able to do something that apparently was helpful to people was great.ā
Being authentic is particularly important to the couple, who wanted to bring much-needed attention to Alzheimerās, but in a genuine way. The neurodegenerative disease has symptoms including short-term memory loss, mood swings and behavioral issues at its best, and at its worst, a loss of all bodily functions.
Thus, the Rogens decided to focus on what they did know. āItās such a sad and heavy disease, and all the [existing] events surrounding it are more serious, and rightly soābut we wanted to do the anti-that. While those are meaningful and necessary, our way, into pretty much anything, is comedy. Weāre comedy writers!ā Lauren notes, proclaiming, āThatās what everyone should do. The reason itās been so natural for us is that, itās natural for us. Iām a big believer that when things are sad, all you can do is laugh.ā
Armed with authenticity, the two grew Hilarity for Charity (HFC) by creating mixers and online support groups for relatives and friends of patients under 40. They have also implemented the Alzheimerās and Dementia Care Grant Program with Home Instead Senior Care, which has, to-date, awarded more than 17,000 hours of free, at-home care to senior citizens, as well as HFC U, a nationwide program that encourages and supports college organizations to throw their very own HFC event; it has, to date, raised more than $200,000.
The charityās success is a testament to how much the Rogens care about the cause, and how hard theyāre working to terminate the disease. While angry that Alzheimerās has consumed her mother, Lauren refuses to give up hope: sheās confident that one day, she and her husband will find a cure.
āI felt very alone; I felt like I was the only person in the world that was losing my mom in this way at that point in my life, which wasnāt true at allāthere are many other people going through it. [That said], itās very easy to slip into [a] dark hole and live in that dark hole. You have a lot of rage,ā she admits, before noting that altruism really has been the best medicine. āI felt alone; I thought I should help people who also felt alone. Helping others has helped me tremendously.ā
LAUGHTER: A LABOR OF LOVE
Itās 1 p.m. on a rainy Sunday afternoon in New York, and the Rogens are propped up on a plush Trump SoHo penthouse bed with their Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Zelda, eating double-wide pastrami sandwiches from Katzās Delicatessen for our shoot. That said, Lauren assures us that, had they been at home in L.A., they would have been doing the same exact thingāminus the high-end hotel stay, that is.
āFor us, the thing about being together is that we donāt have to be on and funny. We can just be who we are. Iām my most comfortable self when weāre doing thisā [chilling out], eating pastrami sandwiches in bed. We make each other laugh,ā she says.
Laughter, as you might have already guessed, is the recipe for their successful relationship. They have been together for more than 10 years and, in fact, are actually celebrating their fourth wedding anniversary on the day of our shoot. From here, Lauren is heading to a bachelorette party, while Seth is attending Francoās real bar mitzvahāthe actual footage of which was later shown at the variety show.
That they canāt actually celebrate on the day-of is no big thing. Theyāre completely down-to-earth, and donāt need a grand affair to show one another that they care. Sorry to be trite, but theyāre cute together. The Rogens finish each otherās sentences and laugh at one anotherās jokes. Lauren is supportive, saying how incredibly funny her husband is (though Seth clearly doesnāt need the praise, dead-panning āThatās niceā in response); he very clearly dotes on her, quietly allowing her to take the stage.
Theyāre that rare, mythological couple whose relationship was easy, right from the start. They met through Sethās friend, Will Reiser, a screenwriter and producer most famous for scribing Sethās 2011 dramedy 50/50ānot working together as TV writers on Da Ali G Show, as many have assumed.
āI worked on the show, and [Will] was dating [Laurenās] friend,ā Seth recalls. āWill and I were friends, and he said that the girl he was dating had a friend, and that we might like each other, so we went to a birthday party and met.ā They hit it off so well that they decided to have their first ādateā that very night, where they went out for grilled cheese sandwiches at 4 a.m. and played Spanish Scrabble until the sun came up.
To both, the beauty of their relationship is that neither has to be āonā around theĀ other, and there is no one person competing to be the funniest. They do supportĀ one another and stimulate each other creatively. For example, Seth and Will actually came up with the idea for 50/50 the night that he and Lauren metājust beingĀ around her, he says, sparks his inspiration.
Aside from being famous and philanthropic though, both assure us that theyāre completely normal–and we believe them. When you don’t know someone, andĀ youāre in the public eye the way that Seth is, itās so easy to make up exactly whatĀ you think their lives are likeābut weāre just normal people,ā Lauren says. āWe go to the drugstore and buy toothpaste. We’re just people.”
Seth canāt resist an obvious opportunity for a joke and quips, āStarsātheyāre just like us!ā before agreeing with his wife. āI think thatās right. I think people meet me and expect me to have one of those hats that you drink beer cans out of. I donāt have one of those; I never have. People always think Iām going to be partying, like Iām Pitbull. I donāt live like that. Pitbull lives the life people think I live.
āLauren adds, āI donāt think itās good to have any one thing define you. When [people] hear one thing about you, it defines you, and you are forever that person.ā
Sethās movies are a perfect paradigm. Aside from a few select projects like the superhero film The Green Hornet, 50/50 and the indie drama Take This Waltz, he has a reputation for being the funny dude who talks about weed and stars in stoner- fueled comedies. While this is certainly part of his lifeāand something he has no qualms about admittingāit isnāt the only thing that defines him.
āAs long as it doesnāt limit my ability to work in some ways, I really donāt care what the public perception is, as long as it generally coincides with people wanting to go see my movies,ā he says with a shrug, noting that the reason he actually talks about marijuana use so frequently is that, as an open and honest advocate of legalization, itās become a constant question in interviews. āPeople ask me about it, [so] what am I going to say?ā
Another topic of constant discussion is his 2014 North Korea satire The Interview, which caused a national uproar and reportedly led to the hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment. The Rogens were in New York when the situation broke, and remember that unfortunate moment in time with crystal clarity, asĀ could be expected.
ā[After the situation occurred] in the following few weeks, we didnāt do muchĀ of anything,ā Seth admits. āI just wanted it to end and get back to work, honestly.ā Lauren adds, āPeople kept asking if we were scared; I was never scaredābut it was sad. [Seth and co-star James Franco] had worked so hard and made an incredible film shedding light on some f***ed up shit in the world, and it didnāt get seenĀ in the way it was meant to be seen.ā
Though that period in their lives was trying, to say the least, they didnāt let itĀ keep them down. āIt was a bummer,ā Seth admits. āWould I make another movie about North Korea? Probably notāand I wonāt be making any Isis movies any time soonābut Iād say in general, overall, that it showed how effective a comedy can be, and how you can really get the attention youāre looking for. It can become unwieldy and ultimately lose the focus youād hoped it had, or the goal you hoped it had. At the same time, it was sad, but also very creatively validating. We created a piece of art that was so talked about, and thereās something thatās validating about that.ā
That said, Lauren wasnāt as physiologically attached to The Interview as Seth was as a saving grace; she could be his rock when the shit hit the fan.
āI think itās good that weāre not emotionally invested in the same projects at the same times, like if I have a movie that does shitty, or people hate it, or it causes a war, she isnāt involved in that, and can help counsel me through it from an out- siderās perspective, from some degree,ā he notes. āIf we worked together on some of the things that Iāve worked on in the past, the fallout probably would have been much harder.ā
Lauren has a different take on the matter; she champions her husband. āSeth just really knows who he is and knows his thoughts and opinions,ā she says. āHeās not afraid to stand strong.ā
WHATāS NEXT? MORE HILARITY & A SAUSAGE PARTY
Although Seth Rogen is this generationās King of Comedy, donāt try to pigeonhole him. Take his most recent role as an example: he played Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in Danny Boyleās and Aaron Sorkinās new biographical Steve Jobs drama so well that heās now developed a lifelong friendship with the guy he calls āWoz.ā
āItās fun to participate in as many genres as possible; I like horror movies and I want to make a horror movie one day,ā Seth admits. But donāt expect him to cut comedy in favor of Oscar-worthy roles any time soonāhilarity is in his genetic makeup, after all.
āThat being said, if you told me now I was only allowed to make comedies for the rest of my life, I would be pretty happy with that,ā he continues. āI didnāt need to prove anything to anyone [by doing Steve Jobs]; I was excited by the idea of working with Aaron Sorkin, Danny Boyle, Kate Winslet and Michael Fassbender, more than anything.ā
Heās also refused to shy away from comic book contentāhis brief foray playingĀ DC Comics character The Green Hornet is a particular topic of discontentāby co-producing Preacher, a drama based on another DC Comics imprint revolving around Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper), a conflicted preacher in a small Texas town who merges with a powerful creature that has escaped from heaven.
āPreacher is something weāve been trying to make for a really, really long time. I was reading it while [Lauren and I] were dating. Itās irreverent and subversive. Itās dark, and thereās violence and swearing and all sorts of insane characters. Working with AMC is great; you canāt say f**k, but you can pretty much do what you want. You can just go crazy.ā
The experience was completely different from filming 2011ās Hornet. āThe truth is, I didnāt love The Green Hornet,ā Seth admits. āI liked it fine; we got into it when the opportunity came up. It was probably not a superhero that I would have everĀ mentioned before that, though. The Green Hornet was hard, because it was PG-13, honestly. It was really difficult for [writing partner Evan Goldberg] and me to navigate communicably.ā
Heās not having that problem at the moment, having just wrapped the holiday comedy The Night Before (which hits theaters Nov. 20) co-starring Anthony Mackie, Lizzy Kaplan, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and bar mitzvah performer extraordinaire Miley Cyrus.
While expressing the desire to work with fellow Judd Apatow disciple Amy Schumer in the futureāāSheās really nice [and] Iād love to work with her in a meaningful capacity at some pointāāhe just wrapped production on Neighbors 2, the sequel to his 2014 box office smash hit Neighbors, a comedy about the problemsāand ensuing hilarious momentsāthat occur when a frat house moves next door to a young, thirtysomething couple with a baby. It was all fun and games on set, in particular when Seth is able to affectionately haze hunky co-star Zac Efron.
āWe tend to be mean to Zac,ā Seth says with a chuckle. āNo one is sympathetic to Zac Efron. Heās so handsome. All comedy comes from making him experience pain in some wayāthatās what weāve found out.ā
Pain is also a hot topic for his upcoming 3D, animated August, 2016 release, Sausage Party, a comedic, animated film voiced by Salma Hayek, Bill Hader, Franco, Kristen Wiig, Michael Cera and Edward Norton, with a serious underbelly about one sausageās quest to discover the truth about his existence as he tries desperately to get purchasedānot knowing what will happen when he actually does.
āThey think something good happens to them when they get purchased, and slowly, the truth of what really happens to food is revealed to them. Itās an existential journey, I would say,ā Seth reveals, adding, āItās not easy to make a movie like that; people arenāt begging us to make a movie like that. That movie took years and years and years to get made.ā (Try 10 yearsāhe and frequent co-star Jonah Hill came up with the idea over dinner oneĀ night at Fred 62 in Los Feliz back in 2005).
Lauren, too, has a small part in Sausage Party playing Camille Toe [her characterās name is the only detail Seth will let her share] as well as a plethora of different projects in the works.
āI just sold a TV show to NBC that Iām writing,Ā and I just directed a pilot presentation for FOX digital that Iām starring in. The show is based on a book called āThe Day I Turned Uncool: Confessions of a Reluctant Grownupā by a writer called Dan Zevin. Itās a book of essays about the time in your life when you go from sending dick pics to when youāre sending photos of your pets. Itās really just about a group of friends in this time of their lives when theyāre starting to feel like uncool grownups,ā Lauren reveals, noting with a smile, āI know a little bit about that. Iām writing with a friend [Alanna Thompson], and itās very much based on our lives. Iāll literally text my friend throughout the day that Iām writing with, and hashtag: uncool.ā
Seth takes a moment to lean over and wipe a smudge from his wifeās mouth. āYou text hashtags?āĀ he asks incredulously. āWho does that?ā
Lauren pauses from her train of thought to defend herselfāāItās creative inspiration for the series!āābefore discussing another imminent project of importance. āIām writing an Alzheimerās movie,ā she reveals. āItās super personal. Iām still brainstorming and outlining.ā She is also producing the documentary This Is Alzheimerās, a film about three familiesāincluding her ownāand how theyāve struggled and suffered, but also how theyāve managed to live with the disease on a day-to-day basis,Ā which she hopes to finish and release next year.
As for the possibility of starring with her husband on the big screen [he appeared in her 2012 feature For a Good Time, Call…and she had bit parts in his films 50/50 and Zack and Miri Make a Porno], well, thatās still TBD. āI donāt know if weāll make a feature together,ā she admits. āWe have two sets of couple-friends who are working together, and IāmĀ a little jealous of it, but [also] a little afraid.ā Whatās to be scared of? Personally, we think a feature film co-starring the Rogens would be, well,Ā hilarious.
See out behind-the-scenes shoot with The Rogens: