Seth Rogen, the comedian and actor portraying Allen the Alien in the upcoming animated adaptation of Invincible, recently noted that he is “actively trying to make less things starring white people.”
In a recent interview given to Entertainment Weekly’s Leah Greenblatt, the progressive actor discussed a wide range of topics, including his new film “An American Pickle,” social issues, and how his grandfather would have smacked him around if they met in their 30s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBC0pTh6GDM&feature=emb_title
At one point during the interview, while discussing Rogen’s Canadian origins, Greenblatt asks the actor what his thoughts on the current American sociopolitical climate after “witnessing the social and political upheaval of the last few months.”
Rogen replied, “For a long time I think I was alleviating myself from some of the responsibility that one who is making a living off the American system should be feeling, you know? Like ‘I’m Canadian! I just come here to work and make comedies!'”
He continued, “Now it’s been too long, I’m an adult, I’m fully a part of American culture and a contributor to it. I can’t pretend that this is not my culture as well, and that this is not my problem as well. I am an American citizen and this is America and I make money in America. So I no longer feel that way.”
Greenblatt then turns to the topic of diversity in the industry and asked Rogen, “What do you feel like your role in that can be?”
Rogen bluntly replied, “I mean personally, I think I am just actively trying to make less things starring white people.”
The comedian would go on to say, “And if I’m succeeding or I’m not, I’m very much looking to have a far more diverse group of writers and directors and actors that we generally work with, because that group is not incredibly diverse, you know?”
Rogen ultimately concluded, “So that’s how I’ve been trying to deal with it, is just to actively take as they would say, anti-racist measures to assure that some work is doing done to acknowledge that Black people are very marginalized in American society.”
An American Pickle is currently live on HBO Max. The film follows an immigrant worker at a pickle factory who is preserved for 100 years and wakes up in modern-day Brooklyn.
What is your take on Rogen’s views on shifting away from hiring white people in his films?