58 Fun Facts About Superbad

Who directed Superbad before making the Simon Pegg alien comedy Paul?

Greg Mottola. Superbad was his first feature in eleven years: after The Daytrippers in 1996 he moved into television, directing the college sitcom Undeclared for the same producer.

Which later comedy had Superbad's Jonah Hill, Michael Cera and Christopher Mintz-Plasse all playing themselves?

This Is the End. Superbad's writers directed it and had fun with their friends' images: the gentle Michael Cera plays himself as a leering, drug-fuelled lout.

Who produced Superbad?

Judd Apatow. He pushed the script for years while studios balked at its language; only after his own R-rated comedies became hits did one agree to make it.

What interrupts Fogell just as the liquor store cashier accepts his fake ID?

A robber knocks him down. The hold-up brings two police officers to the store, who take his statement and then, to his amazement, offer him a lift.

What name is printed on Fogell's fake ID?

McLovin. Seth and Evan are appalled that the licence carries only that single name, yet the liquor store cashier takes it and starts ringing up the sale.

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

Hawaii. Plastic copies of the licence were packed with a special-edition DVD, and Honolulu's mayor asked for sales to stop, fearing teenagers would doctor and use them.

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

Walmart. The plastic licence came in a bonus pack sold only in its stores, and the chain cleared the packs from its shelves there after city officials complained.

With no professional headshots for his Fogell audition, what did Christopher Mintz-Plasse send instead?

A photo from his camera phone. Casting director Allison Jones said the amateur snapshot sold her at a glance: he looked like a kid who 'had probably seen the inside of a locker'.

Who had to be on the Superbad set for 17-year-old Christopher Mintz-Plasse's sex scene?

His mother. For legal reasons she had to be there because he was a minor; he remembered it as awkward for him, while she, he said, had the time of her life.

Bill Hader plays which of the two police officers?

Officer Slater. Hader never auditioned: after he hit it off with the writers on another film, the producer simply told him there was a cop part and he would be playing it.

What convinced the filmmakers to cast Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fogell after his audition?

His co-star instantly disliked him. Jonah Hill complained that the newcomer talked over his lines and insulted him in improvisations, which persuaded the others he was perfect as Seth's irritating friend.

Why did Seth Rogen hand the lead role he had planned to play to Jonah Hill?

He looked too old. The part was meant for Rogen as a teenager, but about a decade passed before the film was made, and by then he was playing adults in other comedies.

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

Jules. To impress her, Seth volunteers to bring all the alcohol for the party, a promise that rests entirely on Fogell's brand-new fake ID.

Which Ivy League college has Evan got into, leaving Seth behind?

Dartmouth. Seth could not get in and is bound for a state school, and his hurt boils over when he learns Evan plans to room there with Fogell.

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

Red. She is naturally blonde, and the dye job stuck: audiences so took to her as a redhead that she kept the colour for years afterwards.

Which future Oscar winner made her feature film debut in Superbad?

Emma Stone. She first watched herself on screen sitting with her mother and Bill Hader at the back of a packed cinema, where the laughter 'blew the roof off the place'.

Superbad is loosely based on its writers' own high school days in which Canadian city?

Vancouver. The real Fogell, an old classmate who still lived there, went to a premiere and joked that his friends had made him the butt of every joke.

Seth Rogen says Sony ruled Jonah Hill's Superbad character too vile to touch which of its products on screen?

A PlayStation. Rogen, who had based the character on himself, called the studio's note very insulting but gave way, so in the video-game scene only Evan is seen playing.

Fogell asks to be dropped at 13th and Granville, where the writers' regular high-school haunt was what?

All-you-can-eat sushi restaurant. Rogen explained the line in 2019, replying to a fan who tweeted that she had once served him at a shop on that very corner.

What does the driver who hits Seth offer the boys so they won't report him?

A lift to a boozy party. The boys accept because their own plan has just collapsed, but the party's host throws their driver out soon after they arrive.

What does Seth pour stolen beer into so he can sneak it out of the first party?

Laundry detergent jugs. It was no invention: the writers had smuggled beer the same way as teenagers and put the trick straight into the script.

Superbad cost roughly $20 million to make; about how much did it gross worldwide?

$170 million. That was more than eight times its cost, for a script that had sat unmade for years because studios thought it too crude for a film about teenagers.

Which Canadian actor told Seth Rogen he had to cast Michael Cera as Evan?

Jay Baruchel. Rogen had never seen Arrested Development and took the tip on trust while the two were making Fanboys; at the auditions nobody else was as funny.

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

21 Jump Street. Five years on, Jonah Hill went back to high school as an undercover cop and beat his own record.

Roger Ebert wrote that Superbad reminded him a little of which older comedy, though it was 'more mature'?

Animal House. His punchline was 'as all movies are'; he gave Superbad three and a half stars and heard a 'deep, sad yearning' beneath its foul language.

Fogell says his fake ID was a toss-up between the name he chose and which other name?

Muhammad. Asked why he didn't pick something ordinary, Fogell snaps that it is the most commonly used name on Earth and tells Seth to read a book.

In Superbad, which classmate takes Fogell upstairs before the police burst in?

Nicola. Fogell had been admiring her at school that morning; after a night riding with two policemen he finds the nerve to charm her, until they kick the door in.

In Superbad, how does the last party's host end up with a black eye?

Seth passes out and headbutts her. She has just gently refused to kiss him while he is drunk, and he keels over convinced he has ruined his chance.

Which 1960s hit does a terrified Evan sing for a room of strangers at the first party?

These Eyes. Michael Cera sings The Guess Who's ballad himself; he also filmed a take of the 'Thong Song', which he had hoped would make the final cut.

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

Dave Franco. James Franco's younger sibling is credited as 'Greg the Soccer Player', the classmate Seth taunts over a primary-school accident with the line 'People don't forget'.

Laura Marano, who plays young Becca in a Superbad flashback, later starred in which Disney Channel series?

Austin & Ally. In Superbad she is the girl who picks up one of young Seth's secret drawings, the reason he still can't stand Becca; four years later she was a Disney lead.

What do the two officers finally admit to Fogell at the end of the night?

They knew he was underage. They had played along from the start, they tell him, because they wanted to show a kid that police officers can have fun too.

Though inspired by its writers' Canadian school days, Superbad was filmed mainly in which US city?

Los Angeles. The boys' small-town night out quietly spans the whole city: their school is El Segundo High, by the airport, while the liquor store they reach by bus is on the far side of town.

Where are Seth and Evan lying when they drunkenly declare their love for each other after the party?

In sleeping bags. The scene on Evan's basement floor was added late: early drafts ended with the boys simply walking away from the party, until the producer asked for an emotional payoff.

Seth is hit by a car twice in one night; what is the second vehicle?

A police cruiser. Evan shoves him into the road mid-argument just as the two officers, distracted at the wheel, come round the corner with Fogell in the back.

Which funk bassist plays on Superbad's original score alongside drummers Clyde Stubblefield and Jabo Starks?

Bootsy Collins. The joke of the score is that two awkward suburban boys get theme music played by real 1970s funk royalty; his is the first voice on the album, welcoming you to the party.

Seth Rogen first worked with Superbad's producer as a teenage actor on which cult TV series?

Freaks and Geeks. Rogen was cast at 16; when the show was cancelled, the same producer hired him to act in and write for Undeclared, which was cancelled just as quickly.

Superbad's end-credit doodles were drawn by which relative of one of its writers, a law student at the time?

Brother. He drew every one of them while studying for law school, a job that came his way because he had been the family's artist as a child.

Why does Fogell's fake ID make him 25, well over the legal drinking age?

Everyone else claims to be 21. Fogell calls it strategy: hundreds of kids try the liquor store with fake IDs every day, he says, so a 25-year-old looks like the real thing.

Which 1970s film did Michael Cera call an obvious inspiration for Superbad?

American Graffiti. Cera pointed to its underage boys trying to buy liquor and its whole story unfolding in a single night as the pattern Superbad follows.

What pushed Superbad's writers, still young teenagers, to start the script?

A terrible movie they watched. Deciding they could do better, they went straight upstairs to the family computer and began what one of them calls an awful first draft.

Which other 2007 film gave Michael Cera a second hit in the same year as Superbad?

Juno. Having played a boy desperate to lose his virginity, Cera returned that December as Paulie Bleeker, a shy teenager who has got his best friend pregnant.

Bill Hader landed his Superbad role after hitting it off with Seth Rogen on which 2006 comedy?

You, Me and Dupree. The two shared scenes in the Owen Wilson comedy, and Rogen came away sure they would be funny together as a double act.

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

George Michael Bluth. Superbad's writers had never seen the show; they auditioned Cera on a friend's say-so and found that nobody else came close.

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

Role Models. He called Augie nerdy, 'but not like Superbad': his character there, he said, 'didn't know he was a nerd'.

After raiding the party, how do the cops make Fogell look good to his classmates?

They fake his arrest. Marching him out in handcuffs past the whole party turns the school's biggest nerd into an outlaw; then the three of them go off to wreck the patrol car.

Where do Superbad's two friends run into their love interests the morning after the party?

The mall. The scene was written late to finish the friendship story: on the escalators the boys part ways, each leaving with a girl instead of with each other.

Which future Brooklyn Nine-Nine star plays Francis, the driver who knocks Seth down outside the liquor store?

Joe Lo Truglio. Evan finds his jittery stranger creepy from the first minute, and the man is soon at the centre of a fight; Lo Truglio later played Detective Boyle for the show's whole run.

Which acronym, picked up from Jonah Hill's school friends, did Superbad help turn into everyday slang?

DTF. Hill borrowed the name of a graffiti crew he knew and dropped it into a scene; his friends were thrilled, then furious when a reality-TV star turned it into T-shirts.

City officials were so alarmed by the Superbad DVD's replica fake ID that they alerted which federal department?

Homeland Security. City officials feared the plastic card could be altered with a printer to pass as a real licence, so they also warned the police and the liquor commission.

How did the filmmakers find Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who had never acted in a film?

Flyers at local high schools. Hunting for an unknown, the casting director papered schools across the region; he went to the open audition with friends from drama class and was the only one called back.

Fogell's friends mock the name on his fake ID by asking if he wants to be what?

An Irish R&B singer. Fogell is unbothered: the forger let him pick any name he wanted, he explains, as if that settled the matter.

One newspaper review of Superbad said Jonah Hill and Michael Cera physically recalled which classic comedy duo?

Laurel and Hardy. Critic Carina Chocano added Abbott and Costello and Aykroyd and Belushi to the comparison, then called the film, for all its smut, 'supercute'.

What does Seth's crush reveal when he finally tries to kiss her at her party?

She doesn't drink. Seth is stunned: he had spent the whole night chasing alcohol in the belief that she had to be drunk to want him, and she only wanted it for her party guests.

When police raid the last party, how does a drunken Evan get away?

Seth carries him out. Earlier that night Evan had accused his best friend of holding him back; now Seth hauls him clear of the police, and before the night is over the two have made up.

A staged 2007 video shows Michael Cera losing his temper with the director of which comedy?

Knocked Up. The spoof outtake casts Cera as the film's original star, who clashes with the director on set and is fired from the picture.

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

The Writers Guild strike. With the show off the air, the cast and Cera performed it anyway on the stage of a small New York improv theatre, for the few who could get a ticket.

Evan tells Seth that peaking too early with girls makes him like which film director?

Orson Welles. Welles was 25 when he made his first feature, Citizen Kane, now counted among the greatest films ever made, and Seth agrees that his own high point came way too early.