Seth Rogen Says Sony Banned Jonah Hill’s Character From Using a PlayStation in SUPERBAD Because He Was "Too Vile"

Seth Rogen recently shared a interesting behind-the-scenes tidbit about Superbad that still cracks him up to this day. Turns out, Sony, who produced the film, had a serious issue with Jonah Hill’s character using a PlayStation 2. Why? Because they thought he was too much of a degenerate to be associated with their brand.

Speaking with Rotten Tomatoes on the red carpet at SXSW for his new Apple TV+ series The Studio, Rogen recalled the studio’s stance on the scene.

“They were like, ‘We can’t have him interact with our products as a character, because it’s too vile a character.’ And I was like, ‘It’s based on me, that’s very insulting,’” he said, laughing.

Rogen co-wrote Superbad with Evan Goldberg, basing it on their own high school misadventures. Hill played Seth, the fictionalized version of Rogen, in what would become his breakout leading role. But apparently, the studio found his antics a little too crude.

“Sony made the movie and we were told that Jonah Hill’s character, Seth, was so reprehensible to the studio,” Rogen said. “There’s a scene where they’re playing video games and it was like, ‘Jonah can’t touch a PlayStation.’”

The production ended up rolling with it, and while Hill’s character was banned from interacting with Sony’s beloved console, Michael Cera’s Evan was allowed to play The Getaway: Black Monday on a PlayStation 2 in an early scene. So, the console made the cut, just not in the hands of the movie’s most chaotic character.

I think this is funny because in my experience playing PlayStation, especially at that time, most of the kids I ended up playing with were vile fouuld mouth idividuals. You’d think Sony would know their audience.

As for the possibility of a Superbad sequel, don’t hold your breath. Producer Judd Apatow once revealed that he really wanted to make a college-set follow-up but was shut down by Hill. “Jonah said, ‘Oh, it’ll be funny to do it when we’re 70 or 80,’” Apatow recalled.

“But I really wanted them to do a Superbad in college where Jonah flunks out and just shows up and visits Michael Cera.”