Seth Rogen appeared on the A24 Podcast with The Invite director and co-star Olivia Wilde and recalled when Anne Hathaway left Judd Apatow’s classic 2007 comedy Knocked Up, in which Rogen and Katherine Heigl played an ill-matched couple having a baby. Wilde auditioned for the female lead role but did not get the role.
“It was Anne Hathaway who left the movie,” Rogen said, and Wilde asked a bit about industry lore: “For the right to glory? Is that true?”
“Yeah, I mean… it could have been a million things. That’s what I remember being told,” Rogen replied. “Coronations are difficult. She didn’t want her baby’s coronation to be represented visually, even though it wasn’t supposed to be hers… That’s obviously not real. But she didn’t even want it… She felt like it wasn’t her brand. Part of me too… We were starting to rehearse the movie… Maybe she was just like, ‘I don’t know if this is for me.’ I don’t understand. I’m going to take her words at face value, and that was for the best. ”
“She had the sense to know that it wasn’t for her,” Rogen continued. . “And history will tell… She was right about more things than I was over the years. So I think she was probably right.[Heigl]knew what was right for her, yeah. And Heigl was great. Katie Heigl was great.”
Variety has reached out to Hathaway’s representatives for comment.
“Knocked Up” was released in the summer of 2007 and was a critical and commercial success. The comedy reportedly cost $25 million to make and grossed $219 million worldwide, a major win for Apatow and Universal Pictures. A semi-sequel, This Is 40, was released in December 2012.
Watch Wilde and Rogen’s complete discussion on the “A24 Podcast” in the video below.
