Seth Rogen and his writing partner Evan Goldberg have been behind some of the biggest comedy hits of the past decade, including "Superbad," "Pineapple Express" and "This is the End." Now, the comedy duo is almost ready to unveil their latest project, the animated film "Sausage Party." Rogen and Goldberg brought the movie to the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, and, while the movie looks like Pixar film, it is rated R.
The NSFW cartoon is not finished, but was still screened for the SXSW crowd. The film, which starts off in a grocery store, stars Rogen as a sausage named Frank who has a crush on a bun voiced by Kristen Wiig. The two star-crossed lovers are both picked by the same shopper and brought to her home together where they soon realize their death is impending. The movie also features the voices of many of Rogen's frequent collaborators, including Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, James Franco, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson, as well as Nick Kroll, Edward Norton and Salma Hayek.
While the animated flick was still not fully complete, it received "the most rapturous applause and laughter at this year's SXSW." After the viewing in Austin, the first profanity-laced red band trailer was released on the Internet.
"People project emotions on things around them - onto their toys, onto their cars, onto their pets. That's what Pixar has done for the last 20 years," Rogen told the SXSW crowd in a Q-and-A after the screening. "We thought what would it be like if our food had feelings. We very quickly realized that would be f--ked up because we eat it."
Rogen also revealed that he and Goldberg had been trying to make the film for eight years now, but said no studio was willing to take on the project. They finally got the project off the ground when directors Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon signed on and Annapurna Pictures' Megan Ellison agreed to finance it.
This was not the first time Rogen had premiered one of his comedies at SXSW. He previously brought both "Neighbors" and "Knocked Up" to the festival and said it was worth it to show "Sausage Party" even though it was not complete yet.
"It's the only festival that treats comedy even remotely equal to the other genres," Rogen said. "I'm thrilled to be showing it to you guys."
"Sausage Party" is expected to hit theaters Aug. 12 and will be released by Sony Pictures Entertainment.