Though still known primarily as an actor in comedy and some drama, Seth Rogen is also a producing powerhouse in recent years.
Both he and Evan Goldberg have written and/or produced various films starring Rogen like “Sausage Party,” “The Interview,” “Blockers,” and both “Neighbors” films.
They’ve also had their hands in several comics adaptations, including AMC’s “Preacher” series, Amazon’s smash hit “The Boys,” the animated “Invincible” series – all of which are from smaller labels or imprints (Vertigo, Dynamite, Image).
They’re now bringing the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” back to life with next week’s ‘Mutant Mayhem’ film which has been receiving rave reviews. Rogen has a story credit on the film, produces it and voices mutant warthog Bebop alongside John Cena’s mutant rhinoceros Rocksteady.
Speaking with Polygon ahead of the film’s release, Rogen was asked why has kept him and Goldberg from tackling larger franchises like Marvel and DC:
“Honestly, probably fear. We really have a pretty specific way we work; me and Evan [Goldberg] have been writers for 20 years at this point. It’s a fear of the process, honestly. And I say that knowing nothing about the process. There are a lot of Marvel things I love.
It’s mostly a fear of how would we plug into the system they have in place, which seems like a very good system and a system that serves them very well. But is it a system that we would ultimately get really frustrated with?
And what’s nice about [‘Mutant Mayhem’] is that we’re the producers of this. So we dictated the system, and we dictated the process in a lot of ways. We are creating the infrastructure and process for them, not plugging into someone else’s infrastructure and process. We’re control freaks!”
Rogen and the team already have big plans for the ‘Turtles’ with a sequel film as well as a bridging Paramount+ television series in development.
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” opens in theaters on August 2nd.
