Zac Efron Drives Shirtless and Seth Rogen Feels Old in New 'Neighbors' Goodness
The more we find out about Seth Rogen’s upcoming comedy “Neighbors,” the more we wish its May release date would get moved up. Exhibit A is the intriguing trailer; exhibits B and C we’re bringing you today in the form of a brand new clip and a SXSW Q&A with Rogen, director Nick Stoller, and co-stars Dave Franco and Ike Barinholtz.
This new clip features the first meet and greet of married couple Mac (Rogen) and Kelly Radner (Rose Byrne) and their baby Stella, with their noisy neighbors Teddy (Zac Efron) and Pete (Dave Franco), members of the fraternity Delta Psi. The meeting is mostly pleasant, Mac and Kelly want the college kids to think they’re “cool adults,” but since they also want to be able to complain about the frat’s constant noise, something tells us things won’t stay so pleasant between them for long.
[Related: Watch The “Neighbors” Trailer]
No matter what happens onscreen, it’s obvious from the cast interactions during Yahoo’s live Q&A from SXSW Film Festival that everyone had a good time making the movie, even Rogen, 31, who confessed he had a few grandpa moments wearing his “adult” hat on set as he was both an actor and a producer on the film.
"Not only do I play the responsible one in the movie, I have to be the responsible one on set in some ways which is a major bummer," Rogen said of graduating from playing hapless onscreen stoners to this slightly more grown up character. "It’s weird, it made me feel old. I felt old a lot, I would refer to these guys as ‘the kids’ a lot. ‘The kids’ are coming in to work. But I recently realized in life that I’m much more likely to be the one calling the cops on the kids then being the guy getting the cops called on him."
Another case of playing against type in “Neighbors” is Zac Efron, who was eager to mock himself and shed his Disney darling skin as much as possible. Also, apparently he drives shirtless?
"The writers came to me and [producer] Evan Goldberg with the idea for the movie and wanted me and Zac to be in it," Rogen explained of how the 26-year-old came on board. "I had met him a few times and he seemed like a nice kid and we invited him to the set of the movie we were filming and I remember he drove up in his car with no shirt on and I thought that was psychotic, like isn’t the seat belt uncomfortable against your tummy?
"We met with him and told him the idea for the movie and he was really psyched about it, very eager to shed his ‘High School Musical’ persona and I’m still shocked at the jokes he’s willing to make at his own expense. We make fun of him a lot and he’s totally cool with it, he doesn’t care. He’s totally cool and nice and I want to f—k him."
"Neighbors" opens everywhere May 9.
