No video games for you! Superbad co-writer Seth Rogen has revealed that Sony found Jonah Hill’s character so “reprehensible” that reps insisted he stay away from a PlayStation during a video game scene in the now-beloved comedy.
“On Superbad, we were told that Jonah Hill’s character, Seth, was so reprehensible to the studio that they were like, there’s a scene where they’re playing video games and [Sony] was like, ‘Jonah can’t touch a PlayStation,’ ” Rogen told Rotten Tomatoes in a South By Southwest 2025 red carpet video.
“They were like, ‘We can’t have him interact with our products, because it’s too vile a character.’ And I was like, ‘It’s based on me, that’s very insulting.’ But we accommodated them, ultimately.”
@rottentomatoes “Jonah can’t touch a Playstation. We can’t have him interact with our products.” #TheStudio’s Seth Rogen shares his favorite note from working with Sony on #Superbad. #SXSW #sethrogen #playstation #comedy #movie #movietok #filmtok #redcarpet #interview ♬ original sound – Rotten Tomatoes
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Sony Pictures co-financed the film, so they had a lot of leverage over a few top-notch comics trying to make a generational comedy. Ultimately, instead of Hill’s Seth keysmashing his controller and yelling at the TV screen when he died in-game, Michael Cera’s character Evan can be seen playing The Getaway: Black Monday on PS2 in that scene. But fun fact: there’s actually a bit of a gag with one of Cera’s lines here. He mentions using an M16 assault rifle in the game — but The Getaway: Black Monday, a British cop game, doesn’t even include them in the weapons arsenal. Go figure.
Rogen was at SXSW to promote his new Apple TV+ series The Studio, which had its world premiere at the festival just days ago.
Superbad also starred Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Emma Stone, alongside memorable cameos from Bill Hader and Rogen himself. Rogen co-wrote the script with Evan Goldberg and Greg Mottola directed.
Photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
