60 Fun Facts About Superbad

Who directed Superbad?

Mottola went on to direct Adventureland and Paul, both also featuring Bill Hader.

Which writing duo wrote the Superbad screenplay, starting when they were teenagers?

They gave the two lead characters their own first names.

Who produced Superbad?

It came out just two months after Knocked Up, prompting one critic to call 2007 the year Apatow and Rogen saved movie comedy.

The two lead characters share their first names with the two screenwriters. What are they called?

The pair also based the loner Steven Glanzberg on a real classmate at their school.

What name is printed on Fogell's fake ID?

The one-word name is what makes the liquor store clerk suspicious in the first place.

Fogell's fake ID is a driver's licence from which US state?

A replica in the special-edition DVD looked so much like the real thing that it caused a controversy in that state.

Which retailer pulled the special-edition DVD in one state because of its replica fake ID?

The DVD, UMD and Blu-ray all came out on December 4, 2007.

Christopher Mintz-Plasse had no professional headshots when he auditioned for Fogell. What did he use instead?

It was his film debut, and he earned an MTV Movie Award nomination for Best Breakthrough Performance.

How old was Christopher Mintz-Plasse during filming, requiring his mother on set for his sex scene?

Because he was legally a minor, California law required a parent present.

Bill Hader plays which of the two police officers?

Hader was an SNL cast member at the time; the role got him booked on TRL and The Tonight Show.

Seth Rogen appears on screen as which character?

He was originally meant to play the teenage lead, but was judged too old and too big by the time it was made.

Rogen was originally slated to play the role that went to Jonah Hill. Why was he recast?

The script took seven years to reach the screen, and Rogen was pushing 25 by the time cameras rolled.

Which character, Seth's crush, invites him to a party at her house?

Stone dyed her hair red to play the part.

Martha MacIsaac plays which character, Evan's love interest?

A future Disney Channel star plays her younger self in a flashback.

The actress playing Seth's love interest dyed her hair what colour for the role?

She was a natural blonde; the film earned her a Young Hollywood Award for Exciting New Face.

Superbad was the feature film debut of Mintz-Plasse and which future two-time Oscar winner?

She had unsuccessfully auditioned for Heroes shortly before, later calling that her rock-bottom moment.

The script is loosely based on the writers' Grade 12 year at Point Grey Secondary School in which city?

Fogell's request to be dropped at 13th and Granville is a nod to a real Vancouver sushi joint.

In which US state is the film's high school set?

Filming actually took place around Los Angeles, with a South Bay high school standing in for the school.

Fogell asks the cops to drop him at '13th and Granville', a nod to the writers' favourite hometown what?

Fogell himself was reportedly based on a real friend of Rogen and Goldberg.

Where did Superbad hold its premiere on August 13, 2007?

It went into wide release four days later.

Superbad topped the US box office for how many weeks in a row?

It opened with about $33 million from 2,948 theaters and held on to number one the following weekend.

Roughly how much did Superbad gross worldwide?

Against a budget under $20 million, that made it the top-grossing high school comedy of its day.

Superbad's production budget was roughly how much?

It opened at number one with about $33 million in its first weekend alone.

Which 2012 Jonah Hill film overtook Superbad as the highest-grossing US high school comedy?

Hill co-wrote the story for that one as well as starring in it.

What was the headline of Roger Ebert's three-star review of Superbad?

He compared it to Animal House, 'except that it's more mature, as all movies are.'

Superbad's approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes is roughly what?

Metacritic gave it 76/100 and audiences graded it A− on CinemaScore.

Which classmate takes Fogell upstairs at the party before the cops burst in?

She runs off when the cops kick the door in.

At the first party, Seth dances with a drunk guest who turns out to be the host's fiancée. What is her name?

The dance leaves a stain on his jeans and starts the brawl that gets the police called.

Which actress plays the drunk fiancée Seth dances with at the first party?

Gallo was a regular in the Apatow orbit, appearing in Undeclared and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Which actor, sibling of a bigger star, plays classmate Greg?

It was one of his earliest screen roles, well before Now You See Me and Neighbors.

Which comedian appears uncredited as 'Buddy at Party'?

Clark Duke, later of Hot Tub Time Machine, also turns up as a party teenager.

Who plays the younger version of Evan's love interest in the flashback?

Casey Margolis plays the young Seth in the same flashback.

The scene of the cops doing donuts in their cruiser was filmed in a parking lot on which campus?

The bar where the cops take Fogell for a drink was shot next to LAX.

The high school exteriors were filmed at a real school in which South Bay town?

Torrance High is the one you have seen in Beverly Hills, 90210 and Buffy.

The mall scenes were shot at Fox Hills Mall. Where is that?

The liquor store where Fogell gets IDed is in Glendale.

Who composed the film's score?

Workman was a guitarist for Frank Black and Beck before scoring comedies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

Which funk bassist co-wrote the soundtrack's original music with a reunited J.B.'s rhythm section?

Clyde Stubblefield and Jabo Starks, James Brown's legendary drummers, played on it.

The Superbad soundtrack was released on which label?

It came out on August 7, 2007, ten days before the film.

How is David Goldberg, who drew Superbad's end-credit 'phallographic' art, related to co-writer Evan Goldberg?

The gift book collects 82 of them and came out on Valentine's Day 2008.

Where did Superbad place on The New York Times' 2025 list of the 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century?

Readers voted it higher, at number 53 on the Readers' Choice edition.

Which of these 1970s films was cited as an inspiration for Superbad?

Dazed and Confused and Fast Times at Ridgemont High were the other touchstones.

How many years did Superbad take from early scripting in 2000 to completion?

Filming finally happened in the fall of 2006, mostly around Los Angeles.

Michael Cera's other big 2007 film cast him as Paulie Bleeker opposite Elliot Page. Which film?

The two films together won him Breakthrough Artist from the Austin Film Critics.

Fresh off Superbad, Jonah Hill hosted Saturday Night Live in March 2008 with which musical guest?

Cera had hosted a live staged SNL the previous November that never aired because of the writers' strike.

Before Superbad, Cera was best known as which character on Arrested Development?

The film's director had helmed episodes of Arrested Development before making it.

Mintz-Plasse played Augie, a teen obsessed with medieval LARPing, in which 2008 film?

He then played a comic version of the biblical Isaac in Year One.

After busting the party, how do the cops make it up to Fogell in front of his classmates?

They then destroy the already-damaged police cruiser together.

Where do the two boys run into their love interests the morning after the party?

The boys head off in separate directions with their respective love interests, the story's quiet ending.

Which SNL and Apatow regular plays Francis, the host of the first party?

Lo Truglio later spent eight seasons as Boyle on Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Superbad's loner Steven Glanzberg was based on a real peer at which Vancouver institution?

Fogell, too, was said at a 2009 panel to be a real friend of Rogen and Goldberg.

In which California city was the liquor store where 'McLovin' gets carded filmed?

The convenience store at the start was in Culver City, and the cops' bar sits next to LAX.

How much did Superbad gross on its opening weekend, topping the US box office?

It stayed at number one the next week with another $18 million from 2,948 theatres.

What grade did CinemaScore audiences give Superbad?

Metacritic scored it 76 out of 100, and Rotten Tomatoes 88%.

Which critic compared Hill and Cera to Laurel and Hardy and called the film 'supercute'?

Her Los Angeles Times review also likened the pair to Abbott and Costello and Aykroyd and Belushi.

Where did Superbad rank on Empire's list of the 500 greatest films of all time?

The Writers Guild of America named its screenplay the 68th funniest ever written.

Which publisher released the two Superbad tie-in books, including 'Superbad: The Drawings'?

The art book collects 82 'phallographic' drawings by David Goldberg.

On what date did Superbad arrive on DVD, UMD and Blu-ray?

The same day saw the release of Superbad: The Illustrated Moviebook with the full script.

Which director's film did a staged 2007 video show Michael Cera being 'fired' from before Superbad?

The sketch mocked the leaked David O. Russell on-set meltdown.

Why was Michael Cera's November 2007 hosting of Saturday Night Live never broadcast?

The live, staged show went ahead anyway without airing during the 2007 walkout.

What was Michael Cera's first, unpaid acting job?

It led to the Pillsbury commercial in which he poked the Doughboy and spoke his first lines.