Why Seth Rogen got a kick out of playing two roles in An American Pickle, and understanding the importance of his Jewish heritage
- Rogen plays a 100-year-old Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe and his great-great grandson from New York in new comedy
- The actor says he was ‘up for the challenge’ and relished delving into his Jewish ancestry while making the film
Seth Rogen relished playing two characters in An American Pickle.
The funnyman stars in the new comedy as both Herschel Greenbaum – a Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe who wakes up 100 years after being preserved in a pickle vat – and Ben Greenbaum, his Brooklyn-based great-grandson who struggles to teach his ancestor about modern times.
“It was very complicated, but I was up for the challenge,” Rogen says of his dual roles. “I knew what I was getting into. I’d directed things where people play two characters before, so I understood how complicated and technical it could be.
“I longed for it in some ways. Some of the movies we make are so loose that this idea of making something that was pretty regimented and had a pretty specific blueprint it had to follow was actually appealing to me.”
To make the movie, which is available on HBO Max, Rogen and the filmmakers shot all of the scenes featuring the bearded Herschel first, with a stand-in sometimes filling in to give the actor someone to interact with.