Trivia / This Is the End

• Actor-Inspired Element: The bright, colorful windbreaker that Michael Cera wears in the movie was his idea. According to Seth Rogen, this was the only condition Cera had before agreeing to be in the movie. This shocked Rogen, who thought that he would complain, or be unsure about the inappropriate behavior that was in the script.
• All-Star Cast: With almost everybody playing themselves.
• And Starring: "with Michael Cera and Emma Watson"
• Cameo Prop: The list of items left in James Franco's house include Franco's camcorder from 127 Hours and a revolver from his film Flyboys.
• The Cast Showoff: Most of the paintings that can be seen hanging in the background were painted by James Franco.
• Corpsing: If you look closely, you can catch Seth Rogen cracking up during Danny McBride's and James Franco's argument about the former ejaculating everywhere, prior to a Jump Cut.
• Deleted Scene: In a deleted scene, Danny says that he's Muslim. This was likely cut due to potential offensiveness, but it would have been a hilariously random gag.
• Directed by Cast Member: Seth Rogen's directorial debut.
• Distanced from Current Events: Originally, there was going to be a joke where one of the characters said that they had smoked crack with Whitney Houston. When Houston died, the joke was cut, out of respect, and a different joke was used. In addition, while making the film, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg were in the process of convincing Prince to let them use the song "Purple Rain", for when Rogen and Jay Baruchel make their way to Heaven. After Houston passed away, Rogen and Goldberg dropped negotiations with Prince, and instead decided to use Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You" in those scenes, as a tribute to her.
• Dueling Movies: 2013 saw three movies about the end of the world. This one, Rapture-Palooza, with a similar theme (and co-starring Craig Robinson), and The World's End (natch), that is more sci-fi in nature.
• Enforced Method Acting: Michael Cera asked Rihanna if he could grope her behind, which she allowed if she got to slap him in return. She slapped him so hard in the six takes they did, that he couldn't take it anymore and had to lie down from the dizziness. Jason Segel's reaction is genuine.
• Hostility on the Set: Seth Rogen said that he was shocked by how much the actors would insult each other. According to him, Jonah Hill and James Franco, in particular, seemed to go at each other the hardest. At one point, he felt like he had to intervene and remind them that they are actually friends, and like each other.
  • Jay Baruchel admitted that despite all of the hilarity and the over-the-top nature, making the movie was actually therapeutic, because he felt that some of the arguments and confrontations in the movie were, on some level, things that the actors have actually wanted to say to each other at some point. In a 2023 interview, Jay revealed that he and Jonah Hill didn't get along with each other while working on the film (which certainly helped to sell the animosity between their fictional selves).
• Irony As They Are Cast: This Is the End is about a group of Hollywood celebrities As Themselves in a comedy about the Book of Revelation. Four of the six main cast members (Baruchel, Rogen, Franco, and Hill) are Jewish, which doesn't feature New Testament texts at all.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Emma Watson. Plenty of Harry Potter fans were undoubtedly shocked to hear Hermione say the F-word several times. Bonus points for being called "Hermione" after robbing a group of men.
  • Michael Cera plays an arrogant, self-absorbed cokehead instead of the awkward virgin that he is usually typecast as. The best part is that he literally is playing Michael Cera.
• Production Posse: Most of Judd Apatow's go-to-guys (and one writer) feature in this in one way or another, and it's a minor plot point that they know each other.
• Surprisingly Lenient Censor: The writers put lots of censor decoy material into their original script... and it was accepted without comment, much to their shock.
• Throw It In!: Craig Robinson revealed that Jonah Hill improvised asking for a bite of the Milky Way. The other actors improvised the following conversation regarding who gets to eat the Milky Way.
• What Could Have Been: Quite a few.
  • In an early version of the script, Daniel Radcliffe was the Harry Potter celebrity at the party. He turned them down. Doubles as an "Eureka!" Moment, as Rogen said later that it made him and Goldberg realize that the role wasn't as funny as they wanted, and rewrote it.
  • According to Evan Goldberg, the original ending was Morgan Freeman would greet the guys upon entering Heaven, saying he is God, with the real God coming out and saying it's a joke.
  • There was also another scene in which Danny McBride and James would smoke weed in Hell with Adolf Hitler but Seth and Evan deemed that it would have been too much.
  • Additionally, Rogen and Goldberg decided not to include any relatives or loved ones in the film to keep it from getting too dark. James Franco suggested including his brother Dave, but Rogen said he would've gotten killed off and it would have been too depressing.
  • Emma Watson's role was supposed to go to Mila Kunis.
  • More cameos would have included Cameron Diaz, Edward Norton and Elizabeth Banks. Norton made up for his absence three years later.
  • Emma Watson was set to appear during Channing Tatum's cameo as Danny McBride's gimp, but the sight of Tatum in a thong freaked her out so much that she refused to be in the scene.
  • An early idea for the story had the film taking place at a studio, where a Busta Rhymes music video shoot was taking place, with the main characters present when the apocalypse begins.
• Working Title: This Is the End of the Word.

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