Seth Rogen Takes (Return) Aim At Film Critics: ‘I Know People Who Have Never Recovered From It Honestly’

Seth Rogen doesn’t seem to be bothered by too much. Maybe it’s all that weed mellowing him out, but he usually lets stuff roll off him on most subjects. Back when An American Pickle came out, Rogen told us that he wasn’t at all upset about backlash over then-circulating comments that he made regarding Israel. During that discussion (and in the context of Pineapple Express), he also mentioned that he never knows if his movies are truly good for about five years when the audience reaction solidifies. And he added, “[H]onestly, I am still slightly traumatized by some experiences that I’ve had with my movies just being trashed.”

Rogen remains bothered by the inevitability that not everyone likes everything that you’re gonna do. As he recently told host Steve Bartlett on the Diary of a CEO podcast (by way of Variety), the framing of some arguments against his movies (chiefly Green Hornet and The Interview) really stung and continues to sting. Rogen maintains that he’s not the only artist to react this way, and he’s talking about “decades of being hurt.” Here’s more:

“I think if most critics knew how much it hurts the people that made the things that they are writing about, they would second guess the way they write these things,” Rogen said. “It’s devastating. I know people who have never recovered from it honestly – a year, decades of being hurt by [film reviews]. It’s very personal .. It is devastating when you are being institutionally told that your personal expression was bad, and that’s something that people carry with them, literally, their entire lives and I get why. It f*cking sucks.””

On one hand, yes, it must not feel fantastic when years of one’s professional life gets boiled down in a review in an unflattering way. Not fun.

On another level — and this is not a dig at Rogen by any stretch — we could all (yours truly included) stand to back up for a few moments every so often and check ourselves. One also can’t help but think about Pam & Tommy and how Pamela Anderson would still like an apology from everyone involved with the project. You really never do know what someone else is going through, and levels of hurt are different for everyone on every level. So yeah, I’m setting a reminder for myself on that note, too.