Rogen gets a dream gig: ‘Simpsons’ writer, voice
Not every man can write for The Simpsons. Since Seth Rogen is not every man, he can ó and throw in a voice, too.
Actually, Rogen’s creation, with writing partner Evan Goldberg, is superhero Everyman in Sunday’s 21st-season premiere (Fox, 8 ET/PT). The inspiration comes from Rogen’s preparations to play The Green Hornet, shooting now for release in winter 2010.
In the episode, Comic Book Guy creates Everyman, who can gain superpowers by touching the comic book of any superhero. The Everyman comic is such a success it becomes a film, with Homer in the title role. A trainer-to-the-stars, voiced by Rogen, pushes him to get in shape.
“In a lot of ways it mirrored the situation we were in working with The Green Hornet,” Rogen says. “I had to lose weight and do a lot of physical training. It seemed hilarious to us as it was happening.”
The writing gig came about after Goldberg met Simpsons executive producer James L. Brooks and learned he was a fan of Superbad, which Rogen and Goldberg wrote. They are “obsessed” with The Simpsonsó “the funniest single thing ever created,” Rogen says ó and decided it would be fun to write an episode.
“We knew Ricky Gervais had written an episode. We thought if he got to write one, maybe we could try,” says Rogen, who collaborated with Simpsons writers. They are the only outside celebrities to have penned episodes of the series.
Doing a voice was a bonus, he says. “In one scene, it’s just me and Dan Castellaneta talking to each other. All I could think of was, ‘I’m acting with Homer right now.’ It was the most surreal, amazing experience.”
Rogen is one of many stars who will be doing voices for the show, which this season surpasses the Gunsmoke record for most seasons for a scripted prime-time series. Other guests include the Smothers Brothers and Manning brothers (Peyton, Eli and Cooper) in an episode about brothers; Anne Hathaway as an actress who plays a princess character on Krusty the Clown’s show (“It’s an Audrey Hepburn-style romance,” executive producer Al Jean says); Sarah Silverman as a girl Bart likes who loves him, then hates him; and Jonah Hill as a guy who was like Bart 10 years ago and, at 20, still is.
“I think this upcoming season is our best in years,” Jean says. But he can’t say the same for the Everyman film the characters create: “It is a pretty bad movie.”
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