"The Interview" co-directors Evan Goldberg, left, and Seth Rogen visit Popsugar studios to promote their new movie on Nov. 18, 2014 in San Francisco. (Steve Jennings, Getty Images for Popsugar)

No weed, plenty of tequila at ‘The Interview’ in Denver with Seth Rogen

There was one thing everyone could smell Monday night at the Denver screening of “The Interview”: tequila.

After actor Seth Rogen tried in vain to throw a cannabis-friendly cinematic experience, Rogen and co-director Evan Goldberg were left roaming the crowd with a bottle of tequila, pouring shots into the mouths of anyone within arm’s length. The scene at the Oriental Theater was more “Superbad” and less “Pineapple Express.”

UPDATE: Sony Pictures Entertainment announced Dec. 17 it has canceled the Dec. 25 national release of “The Interview.” In light of this news, we’d like to hear from those who attended the Denver screening. What did you think of the movie? Tell us in the comments below.

When I ran into Rogen on the top floor of the theater in northwest Denver, he was adamant that this was not how he imagined the Dec. 8 event, which had been hyped by Rogen on social media as a 420-friendly affair. “The city said they’d shut us down if there was smoking,” he said, with a bottle of Juarez tequila in hand. “But I can’t control what you guys do.”

Rogen couldn’t, maybe, but the cadre of Secret Service-esque security personnel definitely enforced the “Colorado Clean Indoor Air” rules, asking several people in my section to leave during the screening for using vape pens. There were also rumored to be a number of undercover police officers in the crowd in case there was any smoking taking place.

This left comedian and “Parks and Recreation” writer Joe Mande with the unenviable position of informing the audience they couldn’t smoke or vape to a chorus of boos. “There is plenty of free alcohol, which is a much more dangerous drug,” Mande noted to applause before beginning a Q&A session with “Interview” co-directors Rogen and Goldberg, who are promoting the movie ahead of its official release on Christmas Day.


Change of plan: The Denver Film Society was the original host for ‘The Interview’ screening on Dec. 8, but then word got out about Rogen’s plan to have audience ‘light up inside the theater’


As the duo took the stage, Rogen started things off by saying, “Fuck the police!” which elicited big cheers from the pro-pot crowd. Audience questions ranged from the actual threats by North Korea over the film (Rogen: “Having North Korea threaten nuclear war is not ideal”) to celebrity foodie Guy Fieri (Rogen: “He looks like a Troll doll”) to marijuana use (Goldberg: “I just take drops of tincture”).

Rogen made sure to correct a question about smoking bowls (“First, I smoke joints. Five to seven a day”), but on a night that was light on both joints and bowls, most were left simply handing him various pot products for later.

In the state that famously “legalized it,” most of the weed smoking surreptitiously took place in a side alley next to the theater.

“Maybe next year!” Rogen exclaimed.

The way things are trending with pot consumption enforcement, perhaps next year looks worse.


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What came first? ‘There was no Pineapple Express weed before the movie,’ Rogen says. Believe it?

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