BOYS WILL BE GOOD

TWEEN LADS FACING THE CHALLENGE OF GROWING UP IS AWKWARDLY FUNNY

After writing about their own awkward experiences in high school in the hit film Superbad, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are turning their attention to the tween experience.

The Emmy-nominated duo produced the MA 15+ rated comedy Good Boys.

Good Boys is the directorial debut of comedy writers Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg (The Office, Bad Teacher). It follows three 12-year-old boys as they ditch school and embark on an epic journey while carrying accidentally stolen drugs, being hunted by teenage girls and trying to make their way home in time for a long-awaited party.

Q: How would you explain what Good Boys is about?

Evan: My elevator pitch would be that it is about three boys getting invited to their first kissing party. And if I could expand that I would say that it’s also about them realising that just because they’ve been friends through elementary school doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to stay friends as adults.

Q: What appealed to you about this story that made you want to produce the film?

Seth: The panic and stress involved in being that age was relatable, and we hadn’t seen a lot of it in movies.

Q: The film is not set in a specific place?

Seth: Both Superbad and Good Boys are set in nameless American towns that could be

anywhere, precisely because we didn’t want to tie them to anywhere specific, as the idea was to make them feel as universal and relatable as possible.

Q: How do you see the three main kids of the story?

Seth: They are very different. Max is a little more mature and feels like he is coming into his own as an adult. Thor is not a complete child, but his interests have nothing to do with dating or things like that. And then Lucas is just a kid, whose only interests are childish. This is a film about friendship and innocence.

Q: Could you relate to these characters?

Evan: Yes, I would say that I was halfway between Thor and Lucas at that age, even though I wasn’t quite as nerdy as him.

Seth: And I was sort of between Max and Thor, because I was a bit of a loudmouth, while also being a little more interested in grown-up stuff than my friends. I think most people will see themselves in some combination of these characters.

Q: And you put them through some awkward moments…

Seth: Yes, but the good thing about humour is that it always helps alleviate any awkwardness.

Evan: And the kids approach those moments with such innocence that it just makes the jokes even funnier.

Q: You have an extraordinary young talent in Jacob Tremblay, who plays Max. What can you say about him?

Seth: Jacob is a serious actor, and he added a lot of gravitas to Good Boys. When you are making a movie about 12-year-olds and you have Jacob Tremblay, it’s almost like getting Daniel Day-Lewis in the sense that you feel like you got the one. He is a huge asset, and he really helps anchor the film emotionally.

Q: Why did you choose to have two teenage girls as their main antagonists?

Seth: Because there is nothing scarier to a 12-year-old than a teenage girl. They were the perfect villains.

Evan: We love that duo, because at the end of the day they are just trying to have a fun night, but these stupid boys are getting in the way and that’s relatable too

Good Boys opens on Thursday.