EXCLUSIVE: Interview With ‘Neighbors’ Stars Seth Rogen & Zac Efron

Neighbors is a new comedy film about a young married couple, played by Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne, who are suffering from arrested development and are forced to live next to a fraternity house after the birth of their newborn daughter. Seth Rogen gets fed up with the fraternity, whose leader is played by Zac Efron. After attempts to ask their neighbors to “keep it down,” the couple soon find themselves at war with the fraternity.

Neighbors is written by Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O’Brien and is directed by Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek). In addition to Seth Rogen, Zac Efron and Rose Byrne, the film co-stars Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Dave Franco, Ike Barinholtz and Lisa Kudrow.

During the filming of Neighbors in L.A., Heavy.com had the opportunity to have a chat with stars Seth Rogen and Zac Efron about the new comedy.

Here are the highlights.

---

HEAVY: How does being married in real life help you out with your new role?

Seth: It helps a lot, honestly. From an improvisational standpoint it helps. I’m very domesticated. My wife and I, we watch House of Cards and we don’t go out and drink anymore, but we both would like too. We both are constantly grappling with, “Do we go out to the club and hang out with our friends and stay out all night? Or do we just catch up on Game of Thrones and go to sleep?” I truly relate to that. That’s what the movie is about.

Zac: This is true. He never comes out with us.

Seth: But, I’m all caught up on Game of Thrones. [laughs]

HEAVY: Does playing a father role get you excited to want to create your own family and have kids?

Seth: In a way, it speaks to all my fears about it. The babies in this movie are great. The babies in this movie are our commercial for babies worldwide.

Zac: They are freaking cute babies.

Seth: The babies in this movie are so great they reduce everyone to blithering idiots. Like, whenever they are on set we are like “ah ga ga ga ga ga.” [Zac and Seth laugh]

Zac: There’s moments where you love babies and you’re like, “God, we are the reason they exist.” As soon as they start crying we’re like, “God! Jesus!”

Seth: When we’re on set, we’re like, “Someone get that baby out of here!” But, no, these babies are good. Some of the concerns the characters had was that we don’t want to have kids, because we’re afraid we won’t be able to go out on vacation anymore or hang out with our friends, and stay out late, and do the fun stuff that we like to do. The movie reaffirms how life changing having kids really are and how we are right for not having done that just yet.

HEAVY: Zac, this is something new for you. What’s it like having freedom and being able to say “f*ck” over and over again in a hard R movie?

Zac: It feels f*cking fantastic.

HEAVY: Did you only sign on for the amount of male nudity?

Seth: I did!

Zac: I knew I’d get to touch Seth’s bare chest. I signed on because I was always excited about the prospect of being in a R comedy and potentially finding the right one, but it just never came. I didn’t want to with anyone but Seth, you know? In a perfect world I thought I would be able to work with him. He’s always been in comedies that I really relate to and agree with, and it makes sense to me. It’s not like a jokey comedic thing, it’s just reacting to life in a very real way. That’s what I really appreciate about Seth’s comedies, is you really feel for him. So that’s why I was attracted to it.

HEAVY: Seth, it seems you’re playing against someone who is a character you could have played 10 or 12 years ago.

Seth: Part of what makes this movie funny is Zac’s character recognizes he might be me in 10 years. It’s also about not wanting to grow up and accepting that you’re on the verge of that, or its happening. It feels appropriate.

Zac: There is a scene where we’re talking on the couch about how he seems to be doing it all, and doing everything right. Whatever this stage is, he’s doing it correctly. I’m feeling pretty good right now. I sort of hit my peak you know? It sort of makes me afraid … when you start one-upping the fraternity. I have this quick crazy vendetta where literally we almost kill each other. [laughs]

Seth: But, it’s true because I’m ruining his perfect moment.

Zac: Like, this is mine, this is my moment.

Seth: This is his moment in his life where there are no repercussions, really at all, because I’m kind of jealous and resentful. I try to destroy that.

HEAVY: Has your character had that moment?

Seth: My character had his moment years ago. My character is married, has a baby, a new house and responsibility. My character is grappling and in denial over the fact that he can’t do all the fun shit that Zac does on a regular basis. It starts out that we might be friends and get along really well because my instinct are like, “Oh, I can do this!” And his instinct is “Oh, that guy seems cool!” We both realize, “Oh, this just can’t work.” We can’t co-exist.

Zac: It starts out that Seth’s character is the coolest guy I’ve ever met that’s his age, and then he just becomes immortal.

HEAVY: When did you guys know that you had chemistry?

Seth: We met each other for the first time a few years ago. When we did the first table read, we knew we would get along in a way much greater than we expected. The first time we read the script out loud, one of the overwhelming responses we got from our friends who are writers, was it was clear and seems like you guys would get along. And that was a beat that we extended. It was kind of like our honeymoon period. Me partying with them, and me thinking he’s cool, and him thinking I’m cool, and us enjoying each other before we realize that it’s just like an explosive situation. Even beyond that we maintained this … like it could have gone well, but it didn’t. In another reality we would have been best friends maybe, but we just are not at that right time in our lives.

Zac: It’s what makes the movie more interesting, watching two people that are so similar, but keep going back and forth.

Seth: The first time when we read it out loud and it seemed liked we would like each other. It didn’t seem like we would hate each other, at least not right away.

Zac: It’s exciting because in the first draft it was like an anti-semite? It was horrible.

HEAVY: This being your first time working together, what will you both take away from this when you’re done working with each other? Can you see yourselves working together again?

Seth: Yeah!

Zac: Dude, absolutely. Seth’s going to be a killer director. Well, he is a killer director. It’s amazing … the team of friends that he’s built up. The first thing he said to me on set was, “Do you stay or do you go home?” I said, “Why would I want to go home? All of my friends are here.” I was like, “That is how I want to make movies.” I’ve been totally solo and it’s always sort of been me against everyone. I feel like I’m a part of a family. It’s really nice.

HEAVY: Will you be doing more roles like this, playing in more comedies?

Zac: I may never work again after this! I sure as hell hope so. I f*cking love you, dog …

Neighbors is set for a release date of May 9, 2014.