Seth Rogen sets the record straight about Emma Watson ‘storming off’ movie set
Seth Rogen is clarifying his amplification of an old rumor about Emma Watson “storming off the set” of his 2013 apocalyptic dark comedy “This Is the End.”
Basically, no “storming” happened, he said in a note posted Monday night on Twitter.
But that came after the actor-writer-director was quoted talking about the incident in a British GQ story published earlier the same day.
Interviewer Stuart McGurk asked Rogen about the rumor, which held that the “Harry Potter” star stormed off the set after refusing to film a scene in which Danny McBride is a cannibal who attempts to eat Rogen, James Franco and Jay Baruchel, all the while keeping Channing Tatum on a leash.
“What happened?” McGurk wrote. “Had she not read the script properly?”
Rogen explained what happened, sort of, without clarifying anything about Watson’s alleged behavior — or at least without any clarification that made it into print.
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“I mean, I don’t look back on that and think, ‘How dare she do that?’ You know?” the actor told the magazine. “I think sometimes when you read something, when it comes to life it doesn’t seem to be what you thought it was. But it was not some terrible ending to our relationship. She came back the next day to say goodbye. She helped promote the film. No hard feelings and I couldn’t be happier with how the film turned out in the end.”
Rogen, who co-wrote and codirected the movie, then backtracked and posted a profanity-peppered statement on social media Monday. In it, he clarified what happened and praised Watson for having the courage to speak up in what appears to have been an uncomfortable situation.
“I want to correct a story that has emerged from a recent interview I gave,” the “Sausage Party” actor wrote. “It misrepresents what actually happened. Emma Watson did not ‘storm off the set’ and it’s s— that the perception is that she did.”
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Rogen explained that the scene had not been scripted as it was shot. In the filmed version, McBride is a crazed cannibal living in an old RV, Tatum scuttles around on all fours wearing not much more than a leather thong and boots and a luchador mask. And Baruchel, Franco and Rogen are on their knees trying to figure out how to escape McBride’s hungry, “Mad Max”-style mob, which is about to make them into dinner with the help of a chainsaw.
“[I]t was getting improvised, changed drastically and was not what [Watson] agreed to,” Rogen wrote. “The narrative that she was in some way uncool or unprofessional is complete bull—. I for sure should have communicated better, and because I didn’t, she was put in an uncomfortable position.”
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It turns out Rogen was on board with Watson leaving.
“She and I spoke on the night; it was overall a s— situation and it must have been hard for her to say something and I’m very happy and impressed that she did,” Rogen wrote.
“We agreed on her not being in the scene together. I was thrilled for the opportunity to work with her and would be thrilled to get that opportunity again. I am very sorry and disappointed it happened, and I wish I had done more to prevent it.”
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