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Seth Rogen Says Audition Tape For This Box Office Bomb Would 'End My Career' If It Got Out
Seth Rogen Says Audition Tape For This Box Office Bomb Would 'End My Career' If It Got Out
Seth Rogen
via Associated Press
Seth Rogen has admitted there are a fair few audition tapes of his from back in the day that could seriously affect his street cred if they were ever to get out.
During a recent visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live, the Knocked Up star shared his relief that some of his old auditions were filmed on VHS, meaning they're not easily accessible.
He explained: 'Thank god it was mostly physical VHS tapes and stuff like that that was being used when I was auditioning for things. Because the things I auditioned for, in retrospect, if they were out there in the world, they would end my career very, very fast, I believe.'
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One such example was for an audition for a character with a learning difficulty in the film Gigli, starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.
Seth recalled: 'I auditioned for this boy with a cognitive disability. And I don't think the script was written in what, by today's standards, would be the most sensitive portrayal of a boy with a cognitive disability.'
Justin Bartha and Ben Affleck in Gigli
Moviestore/Shutterstock
The role wound up going to Justin Bartha, who later became known for his work in the National Treasure films and Hangover trilogy, as well as the TV series The Good Fight.
Meanwhile, a year after Gigli's release, Seth appeared in a small role in Anchorman, followed by appearances in the comedies The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Zach And Miri Make A Porno and Superbad.
Gigli hit cinemas in 2003, and was not only dragged by critics (it currently holds an unenviable critical score of just 6% on the reviews aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes), but also bombed at the box office, and is still listed among the most expensive flops in cinema history.
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More than a decade on from the movie's release, Jennifer Lopez called the release of Gigli among the 'worst, lowest points' of her life.
She later told Vanity Fair in 2017: 'I was eviscerated. I lost my sense of self, questioned if I belonged in this business, thought maybe I did suck at everything.
'And my relationship [with Ben Affleck, to whom she had been engaged] self-destructed in front of the entire world. It was a two-year thing for me until I picked myself up again.'
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