Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the guys behind the Superbad screenplay, wrote the script for Pineapple Express but according to the writing duo it was Judd Apatow who came up with the idea for the film. "Judd Apatow was watching, I think, True Romance," said Goldberg. "Brad Pitt plays this like lazy stoner in it. He kind of had the idea, 'Well, what would have happened if that guy was the center of the story instead of the action star guy?' So, he told me and Seth and we thought it was the sh-ttiest idea we ever heard.

And then eventually we discussed it and realized if it was good, it would be great."

The film centers around Rogen as a process server who witnesses a murder and has to go on the run. James Franco makes his return to the comedy genre playing Rogen's pot dealer, a sensitive guy who considers Rogen not just a client, but a real friend.

At the Los Angeles press conference in support of the film's August 6, 2008 release, Rogen, Franco, and Goldberg joined director David Gordon Green, Danny McBride (one of Franco's suppliers) and Amber Heard (Rogen's character's 18 year old high school senior girlfriend) to talk about working on the pot-centric action comedy.

Pineapple Express Press Conference

What was the idea behind writing this?

Seth Rogen: "The original idea came from Judd [Apatow] actually. He just kind of had the loose notion of like, 'What about a weed action movie?' Me and Evan thought that could be rad. And, basically, we started thinking about making a movie that was kind of a weed movie and action movie and had a real kind of friendship story to it, then that would be our favorite movie ever.

We originally actually wrote Franco's part for me and the part I ultimately played just for someone else in general. Then when we got Franco involved we thought it was a good idea to switch the roles. I think it worked really well."

James, this isn't something we'd normally expect to see you do. How did this come to you and why did you say yes?

James Franco: "I hadn't done a comedy for a while. I had directed a very low budget movie called The Ape and it was playing at a festival in Austin. Judd was there and he came and saw it and it's kind of funny."

Seth Rogen: "I think it's funny."

James Franco: "Thank you. After he saw it he said, 'I miss the funny Franco.' I hadn't really done a comedy other than The Ape since Freaks and Geeks. S o then we started talking about ideas and he said, 'Well, I'm going to do this movie Knocked Up with Seth, but after that you guys should do a movie together.' I read it and thought that it was very funny. But I said, 'Oh, Seth, you get to play the good role, or the role that I want – Saul.' They were like, 'Nah. You can play Saul.' I think around that time I met David [Gordon Green] or, well, we all met at Superbad and Judd said, 'I'm thinking about having him direct.' Sounded like a good idea."

Your character in Knocked Up in some ways is pretty similar - with all the pot smoking…

Seth Rogen: "Yes."

Is this method acting for you?

Seth Rogen: [Laughing] "I guess so. I mean, no. I don't smoke weed on set all day. I just want to say that, you know, not all day. After lunch you get tired. What can you do? To me, the fact that a character smokes weed isn't really what I hang my hat on necessarily. To me Arthur and James Bond aren't the same because they both drink. So I would kind of equate it to that. They're different guys who both have a similar habit. To me they're very different guys though."

When you guys were filming the scenes where you're getting high, what were you actually smoking?

Seth Rogen: "It's this s--t called Wizard Smoke. I didn't like it. Franco didn't have that hard of a time with it. Franco will smoke anything."

James Franco: "Whatever. Any plant."

Seth Rogen: "One thing about this guy, if you put it in front of him he'll smoke it."

James Franco: "It tastes like near beer for weird."

Seth Rogen: "It is. It's like non-alcoholic weed. It's like the O'Doul's of weed."

Seth, can you talk about the action scenes which aren't what we really expect from you? Did you fracture your finger?

Seth Rogen: "Yeah. We really wanted it to be an action movie. Those are the movies that we love. We're big fans of like Shane Black movies, when we were younger – me and Evan. Die Hard and Paul Verhoeven movies. S--t like that. So those are the movies that we always wanted to make. Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, the kind of movies where violence and comedy and characters kind of work together really well."

"It was a great time. We did hurt ourselves. Franco cracked his face open. McBride cracked the back of his head open. I punched Amber in the face just to get her in the mood for things. 'Welcome to the set!' But it was a lot of fun. I loved it."

Amber, how was it working with this group of guys? Was it ladylike on the set?

Amber Heard: "I would say that it was exactly as it seems it might be. I mean, look at them."

Did they tease you?

Amber Heard: "Well, they thought of this brilliant pot, or whatever, movie, an action movie and I guess they figured in a small role for a blonde. And they say that I did my part well. I added tears to the movie."

Seth Rogen: "It's true."

Amber Heard: "But it was really fun. I mean, how could I not have fun? It was exactly what you think it would be."

James, your outfit was amazingly accurate. How do clothes affect your performance and did you base this guy on anyone that you know or have known?

James Franco: "I guess that it was originally based on someone that I wasn't allowed to meet."

Seth Rogen: "We were trying to keep a distance. There were set boundaries."

James Franco: "We don't have any changes in the movie and so picking the right outfit was fairly important. So I wasn't a fan of the Guatemalan pants, but I was convinced that I should wear that. Then the T-shirt is a special creation by David Gordon Green. It's a kitten sitting in a shark's mouth, but he's happy about it."

Seth Rogen: "A kitten getting eaten by a shark."

David Gordon Green: "No. The shark is rescuing the kitten."

Seth Rogen: [Laughing] "In its mouth!"

Page 2:Stoner Characters, High School Girls, and Action Scenes