Seth Rogen said he has no bad blood with Katherine Heigl's comments about sexism in their successful comedy Knocked Up. He is shocked by her comments.
Rogen addressed his co-star's remarks from a Vanity Fair piece in 2008 on The Howard Stern Show on Monday. Heigl told the magazine that the movie was "a little sexist" and "paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight" compared to the "lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys." Rogen was confused.
"As we were making the movie, honestly, I was like, ‘I would make a dozen movies with her. I would be whatever the shi**y version of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan is,’” Rogen said. “I thought we had a great dynamic."
The energy on a Judd Apatow set allows for open feedback, which made Rogan feel even more hurt by the comments.
"I think when that happens, also your trust feels somewhat betrayed," Rogen said. "We have a very open process. We’re like, 'You have the ability to say anything at any moment. I don’t like how I’m coming across here.'"
Later, Heigl shared the character being so uptight is what made her upset, and said she regrets the comments.
"I liked the movie a lot. I just didn't like me," Heigl said on The Howard Stern Show back in April. "[My character] was kind of like, she was so judgmental and kind of uptight and controlling and all these things and I really went with it while we were doing it, and a lot of it - Judd allows everyone to be very free and improvise and whatever - and afterwards I was like, 'Why is that where I went with this? What an a--hole she is.'"
Apatow wrote and directed the 2007 comedy. It is about a TV personality (Heigl) who gets pregnant from a one-night stand with a pot-smoking slacker (Rogan, shock!). It's Rogen's third highest-grossing live-action movie after Neighbors and The Green Hornet and remains number one for Heigl and Apatow.