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explained that he experienced the period as a relief. His
parents were socialists who worked for the government.
Financial security had never been prioritised or
guaranteed. “I was happy to have enough money,” Rogen
said, “that everyone could have money.”
With Freaks And Geeks, Rogen established a
relationship with Judd Apatow, the crucial patron of
his early career, who’d brought him onto the show and
later hired him as both a writer and actor on the college
network comedy Undeclared. Their association would
bring them mutual glory and enrichment in the end,
but first there were disappointments to endure. When
both shows were cancelled after one season, Rogen
was pissed off and depressed. The whiplash of success
and then failure had been a succinct introduction to
Hollywood, and he was suddenly stuck in a loop of
auditioning and not getting parts. To make matters
worse, “My friends who were better actors were getting
cast in things,” he said. “That was making me angry as
well. I knew deep down they deserved it more, so that
was annoying.”
But when Goldberg finished college and joined him
in LA, the two directed their energies towards finishing
the script for Superbad and writing Pineapple Express.
To keep them afloat financially, Apatow tossed them
occasional rewriting jobs, and in 2004, they were hired
as writers on Da Ali G Show, effectively ending the
fallow period for good. Over the next few years, Rogen
and Apatow worked together on, among other films,
The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad and
Pineapple Express – making Rogen a star.
He is aware that some of the work from that period
has not aged well. “Evan recently was like, ‘By the
time my kids are grown, all of our work will be deemed
unwatchable.’ He’s like, ‘I have no doubt about it. I think
entire parts of culture will just be deemed regressive
and no one will fucking watch it any more, and there’s
a good chance our movies will fit into that category.’”T-SHIRT,
TROUSERS; BOTH
BY LOUIS VUITTON.
SHOES BY SABAH.
SUNGLASSES BY
GARRETT LEIGHT.
WATCH BY TUDOR“IT‘S
SOMETHING
THAT I LOOK
AT WITH
MYSELF: HOW
MUCH DO
YOU EXPAND?
HOW MUCH
DO YOU
SPREAD
YOUR WINGS,
OR HOW
MUCH DO
YOU STAY
IN YOUR
LANE? IT‘S A
CONSTANT
MODULATION”