Rogen, Reiser talk about '50/50'

Seth Rogen and Will Reiser, the respective star and writer of the new comedy "50/50" opening today, stopped by the Elysian Hotel in Chicago to meet the local press. I peppered them with questions:

<b>Q.</b> Mr. Reiser, how did your bout with cancer change you?

<b>WR.</b> Six years ago when I was sick I was a much different person. I was much more sensitive. I was much more neurotic. I worked all the time. I just didn't take care of myself.

Now I take care of myself. I'm more relaxed. More easy going. Nothing I deal with on a day-to-day basis comes near to dealing with cancer. So it's easy not to worry about the small things.

<b>Q.</b> Mr. Rogen, how did Mr. Reiser's cancer alter the dynamics of your friendship?

<b>SR.</b> It didn't that much. I really took my cues from Will, and he seemed to joke about it. So I started joking about it with him. Honestly, one of the things we joked about was what kind of movie could we turn this into? We would come up with like an R-rated version of 'The Bucket List' where guys go do heroin for a day or go have sex with prostitutes in Thailand. We would always joke about what kind of funny cancer movie we could come up with.

<b>WR.</b> I think humor is what got me through it. That's what enabled me to feel normal. Everyone was so concerned about how to act toward me and that was incredibly alienating. By using humor, it would diffuse the situation.

<b>Q.</b> Here's the question everyone wants to know the answer to. Did Joseph Gordon-Levitt actually shave his head in that scene with you, or was it effects?

<b>SR.</b> That was real. That was the first day of filming. It was mostly improvised, which was probably not the best way to approach a scene like that, in retrospect. To Joe's credit, he was very comfortable with that, which I probably wouldn't be if it was my head.

<b>Q.</b> Where does the film stray most from fact?

<b>WR.</b> Picking up girls. Using cancer to pick up girls.

<b>SR.</b> Will also never went through chemotherapy. That was a big part of the movie. We never specifically went to bars to hit on girls.

<b>WR.</b> We talked about it.

<b>SR.</b> Yeah, we talked about it. But we never actually put that plan into action.

<b>Q.</b> Who would you rather hang with, the real Will or the movie Will?

<b>SR.</b> I think the real Will is much easier going and a much funnier person to be around than that (Gordon-Levitt's) character.

<b>WR.</b> If you had said that character, that would have been awkward.

<b>SR.</b> I have now just given you a very long answer to not look like a jerk.

<b>Q.</b> What do you know now at the end of the tunnel that you didn't know at the beginning?

<b>WR.</b> People worry so much about the right thing to say and the right thing to do. We realized there isn't any right or wrong way. People are so afraid that they just run away. And that just creates more dysfunction. We need to admit we don't know what we're doing, laugh at that and that kind of helps everything.

<b>SR.</b> If you asked me 10 years ago if we could make a movie like this, I would have said you would be insane to try it.

Now I would encourage other people to take their pain and their horrible experiences and try to make comedies out of them because it worked well for us!

<b>Countdown to villainy</b>

Who's the greatest villain in motion picture history? To find out, join me and film historian Raymond Benson as Dann & Raymond's Movie Club counts down the greatest "Vilest Villains of the Silver Screen," 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6 at the Schaumburg Township District Library, 130 S. Roselle Road, Schaumburg. (847) 985-4000 or go to schaumburglibrary.org. Free admission! Bring your own popcorn and maniacal laughter.

<b>Rogen's 'Hornet' story</b>

I asked Seth Rogen to tell me the worst bashing he ever received from a purist fan after he turned "The Green Hornet" into a stoner, slacker dude.

"I was actually in a comic book store that I frequent, there was an old man," Rogen said. "He didn't know I was in the comic book store. I heard the tirade from the old man to the owners of the comic book store about the atrocity of the movie.

"There was a point when I thought I should go up and talk to him. But he was so hateful that I was like, no, I'm going to avoid this crazy dude! He might actually punch me in the face!

"I've learned that some people take that stuff much more seriously than they should. Hey, it's a dude in a green mask!"

<b>Still shopping at Sears</b>

So there I was, shopping at Sears to purchase bags for my Kenmore Progressive canister vacuum cleaner, when the clerk sees my credit card and says, "Wow, that's weird. You've got the same name as that film critic at the Daily Herald."

I showed her my press card. She looked confused for a moment, then said, "I'm sorry, but I always imagined you to be much younger!"

<b>Time to cut loose!</b>

I don't know if there are any tickets left at this point, but Paramount Pictures is showing its "Footloose" remake free Friday night (that's Sept. 30) at the Webster Place Theater in Chicago. Go to footloosefriday.com for details. "Footloose" opens Oct. 14.

<i>Daily Herald film critic Dann Gire's column runs Fridays in Time out!</i>