Toronto Flashback: Seth Rogen Balanced Emotion With Laughs in ’50/50′

On Seth Rogen’s first journey to TIFF, he supported a pair of movies, together with one with a difficult aim: cracking jokes about most cancers.

In 2011, the Vancouver native made his approach to Toronto for the premieres of Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz — which targeted on marital challenges for Rogen and onscreen spouse Michelle Williams — and Jonathan Levine’s 50/50. The latter was loosely primarily based on the real-life experiences of screenwriter Will Reiser and adopted a radio persona performed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt who will get identified with spinal most cancers (the movie’s title references the survival fee). Rogen was a producer and performed Gordon-Levitt’s supportive greatest good friend alongside co-stars Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard and Anjelica Huston.

One pivotal scene concerned shaving Gordon-Levitt’s head, which the group had one likelihood to nail. “It was the primary day of filming, and we improvised the entire thing, which isn’t smart when it’s one thing you’ve one take for, nevertheless it turned out humorous,” Rogen recalled on the New York premiere. THR’s assessment praised the movie as “touching and humorous” and singled out Rogen’s “humorous counterbalance” to heavier themes.

Rogen returns to TIFF this yr with one other fact-based film, Craig Gillespie’s Dumb Cash, that includes an ensemble forged that features Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, America Ferrera and Shailene Woodley. The Sony Photos movie tells the story of a bunch of unconventional buyers who upended Wall Avenue predictions by turning online game retailer GameStop right into a sizzling buying and selling commodity.