Seth Rogen Never Intended For This Is The End To Become A Real Movie
Nowadays, well after firmly establishing himself as an actor, Seth Rogen is arguably just as busy as a producer, lending his talents to films and TV shows like "Invincible," "The Boys," "Paul T. Goldman," and "Good Boys," among others. Rogen is a director too, kicking off that chapter of his career in 2013 alongside longtime writing partner Evan Goldberg at the helm of "This Is the End."
The genesis of "This Is the End" was a 2007 short film Rogen made with Jay Baruchel titled "Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse." This mere minute-and-a-half-long short is formatted as a trailer for a longer film about Baruchel and Rogen attempting to survive an apocalypse together, despite not necessarily being the sorts of guys well-suited to a post-apocalyptic environment.
In an interview with Den of Geek, Rogen revealed that "Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse" was initially intended to remain nothing more than a fake trailer, until sustained interest from some of his peers inspired him and Goldberg to consider translating its core idea into a feature film. "After years and years, something about the idea really stuck with people, so we eventually thought about how it would work if we did try to expand it into a full movie," Rogen said, revealing how, six years later, a humble YouTube short turned into "This Is the End."
This Is the End checked a few important boxes for Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
After briefly outlining the timeline of his decision to turn "Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse" into a feature film, Seth Rogen fielded a question about what specifically pushed him and Evan Goldberg over the line in making "This Is the End" their next big project.
"I think once we decided that the actors should play themselves, and then the idea of a Christian apocalypse, those two things really made it all of a sudden seem like a big enough idea that we could actually make into a movie," Rogen replied.
The apocalypse, he went on to explain, is not the film's main focus, despite essentially serving as the core of its short film predecessor. Rather, Rogen and Goldberg wanted first and foremost to direct a meta comedy about friendship and religion, and it was the apocalyptic environment of "Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse" that got them there. Given Rogen's work on subsequent friendship-focused films like "Good Boys" and projects about religion like "Preacher," it's unsurprising that these ideas in particular were so key to the production of "This Is the End."