Danny McBride on Those Many, Many ‘Pineapple Express’ Injuries: I ‘Split Open My Skull’ on a Bong

Samantha Bergeson
·2 min read

The stoner action-comedy film “Pineapple Express” set needed more aspirin on its set than weed.

Each of the principal actors got seriously hurt on the shoot, Danny McBride says — otherwise, it was a total “blast.” In a recent interview with GQ (video below), the “Foot Fist Way” alum rattled off his injuries from the shoot — as well as the ones suffered by leads Seth Rogen and James Franco.

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A central fight scene between the trio of actors in the 2008 film led to broken bones, at least one concussion, and two split skulls.

“That fight scene was crazy. We were going for it, so everybody got injured,” McBride said. “I think Seth broke his hand or his finger or something and Franco had split his forehead open. Like that’s why he has a bandana for most of the movie with sweatbands because he had actually split his forehead open. He had a big scar there, so they put that there.”

McBride added of his own ailments, “And then, not to be left out, when I get hit with the bong in the back of the head, that definitely split open my skull. I had a concussion and filmed for the rest of the day and knew all my lines still, even with my head split open.”

“Pineapple Express” was directed by McBride’s collaborator and future “Halloween”-trilogy helmer David Gordon Green. The buddy comedy was co-written by Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and followed a man (Rogen), his drug dealer (Franco), and the dealer’s supplier (McBride) as they get caught up in a cartel shoot-out.

You’d have to be a true sicko to want to return to a world that dangerous. Well, this is Danny McBride.

On a potential sequel, the “Tropic Thunder” alum said: “I would go back to that in a heartbeat. That was a lot of fun, but I don’t know. It feels like maybe the time has passed, we’ll see.”

Danny already overstayed his intended welcome. As Rogen previously tweeted, McBride’s character Red was actually supposed to exit the film much earlier on. After casting McBride, he and Goldberg rewrote the script to keep Red as a central figure in the film.

“Red was originally supposed to die the first time he was shot when he was tied up in his apartment, but we thought Danny Mcbride was so funny that we just kept bringing him back to life,” Rogen tweeted in 2018 for the film’s 10-year anniversary.

Rogen also touched on all the injuries. It was a finger that he broke, and McBride definitely “cracked open” his skull — but Franco’s stitches were actually the result of hitting his head on a tree.

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