Was anyone really hoping for Pineapple Express 2? I wasn’t, but in a clever April Fools’ Day video James Franco and Seth Rogen released a prank trailer to their 2008 Judd Apatow-produced comedy.
In the ad, Danny McBride orders the stoners to assassinate Woody Harrelson (played by Jonah Hill). The clip also recycles footage from the first film and uses M.I.A.’s ‘Paper Planes.’
But it’s just a gimmick (a really neat one I might add) to promote Rogen and Franco’s, This Is The End.
The end-of-the-world comedy also stars Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride and Jonah Hill. The actors play themselves after Los Angeles descends into chaos.
“It’s about a bunch of actors stuck in a house after the apocalypse happens,” Rogen told me in a 2011 interview. “We will actually be playing ourselves. So I will actually be playing Seth Rogen, the actor.”
Pineapple Express was a surprise hit when it was released in 2008. After that, Rogen went on to high profile roles in The Green Hornet and Funny People. But the actor revealed to me he’s more comfortable working on smaller-scale films.
“I think if we learned anything from ‘Green Hornet’ it’s that we function better in a smaller scale world… I think creatively we are (better suited) to a world that is in the double digits and single digits than in triple digits of millions.”
While This Is The End looks funny, now I kinda hope there are plans for Pineapple Express 2 as well.