Seth Rogen is imploring anyone who has access to his audition tape for Gigli to either burn it or sell it to him.
Prior to becoming an A-list star, Rogen auditioned for a supporting role in the critically derided 2003 romcom Gigli, which starred Ben Affleck as a hitman hired to kidnap the brother of an influential federal prosecutor who has a “cognitive disability”. Jennifer Lopez plays Ricki, the woman that his employer hires to track him.
Rogen, 43, auditioned for the part of the brother, which ultimately went to Justin Bartha (The Hangover; Failure to Launch).
The subject arose during the actor’s recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live as he and the TV host discussed the last time that Rogen auditioned for a part.
“It has been a long time,” he said. “And 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.”
The Pineapple Express star went on to recall Gigli as an example, stating: “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.”
Rogen had been so keen to make an impression on the film’s “great director” Martin Brest that he went above and beyond for his audition.
“I don’t think I wore a helmet in to the audition itself, but it was at play,” he said. “And I’m tempted to do an impression of what I did, but I can’t even do it. I can’t. That’s how bad it was. It’s so bad. I dare not even portray what I did in this audition. Because I went for it. I saw myself at the Oscars.”
Reiterating how terrible the audition was, he added: “Truthfully, if that tape was out [in] the world today, this would be the last interview you ever saw me do. Other than, like, my apology tour. Please, if you have it, burn it. Please sell it to me. I will buy it.”
It seems that Rogen dodged a bullet by losing the part to Bartha. Despite the publicity afforded to the film when its stars, Lopez and Affleck, began dating, Gigli was a huge failure.
The film grossed just over $7m against its $75.6m budget, making it one of the most expensive box office bombs in history. Critically slated by critics and viewers, Gigli currently holds a paltry 6 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It is the last film that Brest ever directed.
Most recently, Rogen has been earning rave reviews for his lead role in AppleTV’s The Studio, in which he plays the newly appointed head of a movie studio as he struggles to juggle corporate demands with creative ambitions.
The Hollywood satire has been praised by critics, with The Independent’s Nick Hilton calling it “laugh-out-loud funny”.
