From an outside perspective, with no personal interactions with him to speak of, Seth Rogen seems like a pretty relaxed, calm guy. He also seems incredibly smart and savvy, particularly about the ins and outs of Hollywood. However, that doesn’t mean Seth Rogen is invincible, especially when it comes to critical reviews of his projects.
While being interviewed on the Diary of a CEO podcast, Seth Rogen talked about a variety of topics, but what stood out more than most was his honest discussion about film reviews and their impact on the mental health of filmmakers. Rogen, for the most part, has been given praise quite a few times for the film work he’s done. That said, not all of them have been home runs, and Rogen has also seen how negative reviews not only impact him but other filmmakers who are being told their work is bad.
“I think if most critics knew how much it hurts the people that made the things that they are writing about, they would second guess the way they write these things,” Rogen said. “It’s devastating. I know people who have never recovered from it honestly – a year, decades of being hurt by [film reviews]. It’s very personal…It is devastating when you are being institutionally told that your personal expression was bad, and that’s something that people carry with them, literally, their entire lives and I get why. It fucking sucks.”
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The topic of “Green Hornet” was brought up, which is one of Rogen’s films that received largely negative reviews. He explained that the opening weekend box office ($35 million) gave him solace. However, when it came to a later film, “The Interview,” the negative reviews for that film felt much more personal and hurt more than his superhero film.
“That felt far more personal,” Rogen said about “The Interview” reviews. “‘Green Hornet’ felt like I had fallen victim to a big fancy thing. That was not so such much a creative failure on our parts but a conceptual failure. ‘The Interview,’ people treated us like we creatively failed and that sucked.”
Again, it’s worth noting that, by and large, Rogen’s IMDB is littered with films and TV projects that have been met with critical praise. Films such as “Superbad,” “Pineapple Express,” “Knocked Up,” “The Disaster Artist,” and “This is the End” have all been well-received by audiences and critics alike. Just over the past couple of years, he’s been a part of acclaimed projects such as “Pam & Tommy,” “The Boys,” “Invincible,” and, of course, “The Fabelmans.” Alas, even with decades of success, not even Seth Rogen is immune to the words of critics.