Canadian-American actor Seth Rogen appeared on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and revealed how legendary director, Steven Spielberg played a role, in making him realise he’s balding. Apart from this, the Freak and Geeks actor also dished his role in “The Fabelmans” and got a call from Steven who wanted him to play this role.
Balding For The Role Wasn’t A Shift…
Seth Rogen, who recently starred as Bennie Loewy, in Steven Spielberg’s movie, “The Falblemans” appeared on “The Tonight Show” and dished on the character, inspired by the legendary director’s uncle. About his “balding”, the Primetime Award nominee revealed that the character had a receding hairline, “like pretty far back”.
“So, I went to set a few days before I started shooting, and Steven was like: “I want you to cut back your hairline so it looks like you’re going much more bald than you already do,” he explained. Even though he didn’t want to, Seth didn’t know how to say “no” to Steven. So he went back and did it.
“To me, it was very drastic, and I am like Oh, my god: ‘It’s all anyone’s going to talk about,” he said. On the contrary, he started running into people and no one said anything, and that made him realise that, to them, he’s actually balding.” For him, it wasn’t a shift but he was already balding.
“I was already a balding guy, I am a balding guy, and then you got to ask yourself, ‘Are you gonna do something about it because a lot of actors do something about it,” he explained. He revealed that a lot of actors in the industry “have more hair now than they had when they started, which is a real thing”.
“It’s a stressful double life they have, it’s too much work as a balding actor who is pretending to not be balding,” he emphasised. However, he confessed that he doesn’t know if he could even bear that weight. He gave a reference, go watch “Avengers” and then watch “Avengers: Endgame”, they all have more hair.
“The Fabelmans”, A Deeply Personal Film…
When asked about getting a role in a Steven Spielberg movie, “The Fabelmans”, Seth stated, “His parents, who have always been supportive, were really excited about the role.” Jimmy Fallon then asked, “What is it like getting a call from Steven Spielberg?” The “Knocked Up” actor responded, “It was crazy. At first, I was nervous. I thought I was in trouble for something.”
Seth confessed that he has made some bad jokes over the years about Steven, and probably he might have been offended by some of them, but then, Steven Spielberg called him and he was the first person he thought of for a role in his new movie.
“He had a script and he wanted me to read it, and he didn’t tell me what it was about, but he was gonna offer me a role in it, which actually made me nervous because I knew no matter what the role was, I had to take it. Even if it was a terrible one,” Seth revealed.
Rogen revealed that he didn’t know what kind of movie was offered to him at first, but then it came out that “Fabelmans” turned out to be a deeply personal film, and he wanted Seth to play someone inspired by his uncle. He stated the character behind the film is “Benny”.
“Do you get nervous when you’re acting in a Steve Spielberg movie? Jimmy asked. The 40-year-old actor said with a pause, “Yea, a little bit.” He revealed that the movie was shot during the Covid-19 pandemic, so he was wearing a mask the entire time we were shooting so he didn’t look like Steven.
“He just looked like a short Jewish guy in a mask,” Seth once again racked a joke on the legendary director. He added, “One thing that I am very comfortable around is a short Jewish guy. That’s my bread and butter right there.” He continued that now that they’re promoting the movie, he gets to see Steven without the mask, and now he’s getting the real chills.
As for being a deeply personal movie, Jimmy added, “You said this movie is very personal and it tugs at the heartstrings, and it’s getting great reviews. Everyone top to bottom is getting great reviews on this film.” He then asked Seth, “Can we set it up in any way?”
Seth explained, “This is a scene where Sammy is the character who is kind of representative of the young Steven Spielberg and he is debating whether or not to give up filmmaking and Seth’s character is trying to convince him not to give up filmmaking. Jimmy then played a clip from “The Fabelmans”, which was released on November 11, 2022.
If you aren’t aware, the recent movie is an American coming-of-age drama, directed by Steven Speilberg, who is a recipient of three Academy Awards and several other accolades. The movie is also written by Steven and produced by Tony Kushner.
The semi-autobiographical story is based on Steven’s adolescence and first years as a director. The fictional character behind Steven’s role is “Sammy Fabelman”, a young filmmaker who “explores how the power of movies can help him see the truth about his dysfunctional family and those around him.”
The movie’s stellar cast includes Gabriel LaBelle (Sammy), with Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Judd Hirsch and Michelle Williams in supporting roles. The film is dedicated to Steven’s parents Arnold Spielberg and Leah Adler. Have you watched it already?
Actors with two Jewish parents: Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman, Paul Rudd, Logan Lerman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bar Refaeli, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Adam Brody, Kat Dennings, Gabriel Macht, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Erin Heatherton, Lisa Kudrow, Lizzy Caplan, Gal Gadot, Debra Messing, Gregg Sulkin, Jason Isaacs, Jon Bernthal, Robert Kazinsky, Melanie Laurent, Esti Ginzburg, Shiri Appleby, Justin Bartha, Margarita Levieva, James Wolk, Elizabeth Berkley, Halston Sage, Seth Gabel, Corey Stoll, Michael Vartan, Mia Kirshner, Alden Ehrenreich, Julian Morris, Asher Angel, Debra Winger, Eric Balfour, Dan Hedaya, Emory Cohen, Corey Haim, Scott Mechlowicz, Harvey Keitel, Robby Benson, Odeya Rush, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson is Jewish, too (though I don’t know if both of his parents are).
Actors with Jewish mothers and non-Jewish fathers: Timothée Chalamet, Jake Gyllenhaal, Dave Franco, James Franco, Scarlett Johansson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Daniel Radcliffe, Alison Brie, Joaquin Phoenix, River Phoenix, Emmy Rossum, Ryan Potter, Rashida Jones, Jennifer Connelly, Sofia Black D’Elia, Nora Arnezeder, Goldie Hawn, Kristen Stewart, Ginnifer Goodwin, Judah Lewis, Amanda Peet, Eric Dane, Jeremy Jordan, Joel Kinnaman, Ben Barnes, Patricia Arquette, Aidan Gallagher, Kyra Sedgwick, Ali MacGraw, Ryan O’Neal, Dave Annable, and Harrison Ford (whose maternal grandparents were both Jewish, despite those Hanukkah Song lyrics).
Actors with Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers, who themselves were either raised as Jewish and/or identify as Jewish: Ezra Miller, Zac Efron, David Corenswet, Alexa Davalos, Nat Wolff, Tiffany Haddish, James Maslow, Josh Bowman, Andrew Garfield, Winona Ryder, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Douglas, Ben Foster, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nikki Reed, Jonathan Keltz, Paul Newman.
Oh, and Ansel Elgort’s father is Jewish, though I don’t know how Ansel was raised. Robert Downey, Jr., Sean Penn, and Ed Skrein were also born to Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers. Armie Hammer, Chris Pine, Emily Ratajkowski, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and Finn Wolfhard are part Jewish.
Actors with one Jewish-born parent and one parent who converted to Judaism: Dianna Agron, Sara Paxton (whose father converted, not her mother), Alicia Silverstone, Jamie-Lynn Sigler.