‘It’s Almost A Shame to Smoke It’: 15 Trivia Tidbits About ‘Pineapple Express’ on Its 15th Anniversary

15 Brad Pitt’s Stoner Character in ‘True Romance’ Inspired the Film

Apatow, Rogen and Goldberg had been struggling to sell Superbad to a studio for years. During this period, Apatow tried to come up with something different for the trio to sink their teeth in. “I always had this idea about a pothead action movie because I love True Romance,” Apatow told Vanity Fair, “and there was that scene with Brad Pitt where all the assassins come in, and he’s really high, and it was one of my favorite scenes. I thought, ‘I wish that was the whole movie. I wish that you followed Brad Pitt out and he was on the run from the assassins.’”

14 Danny McBride Sat Taped to That Chair for a Really Long Time

Rogen said McBride ended up taped to a chair for an entire day because it would’ve taken too long to get him in and out of that ridiculously elaborate duct-tape trap.

Rogen also added that McBride’s character Red was originally going to die immediately after getting shot, but that everyone enjoyed his performance so much that they kept bringing him back to life.

13 The Film Brought M.I.A.’s Music to a Mainstream Audience

Entertainment Weekly once stated that, before Pineapple Express, the Sri Lankan Brit “was getting more good reviews than she was selling records.” The inclusion of her single, “Paper Planes,” in the movie’s trailer changed all of that. The artist told EW that had they asked her to put the song in the actual film, she might’ve declined, explaining that trailers “just come and go. But if it was in the movie, I would have had to scrutinize what scene they were using it in and stuff like that.”

12 James Franco’s Part Was Initially Written for Rogen

Franco once said that after seeing him star in his 2005 directorial debut comedy, The Ape, Apatow told the actor that he missed “funny Franco.” The Dale role was originally meant for Rogen, but during the movie’s early readings, they gave it to Franco instead to give him a “switch of persona.”

11 The Weed Strain Was Invented By the Movie

Pineapple Express as an officially titled marijuana strain didn’t exist before the movie, with Rogen and Goldberg making it up when they wrote the screenplay. “There’s Pineapple Express weed that’s named after our movie,” Rogen told Everyday Show host Chris Parente. “We created it. There was no Pineapple Express weed before the movie.” 

10 They Had a Smoking Billboard on Sunset Boulevard (That Got Shut Down)

A billboard with the two leads and a giant pineapple billowing smoke from its crown was placed on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard to promote the movie. Rogen confirmed that the fire department shut it down “because people kept thinking it was on fire.”

9 The Script Left a Lot of Room for Improvisation

“We wrote the script, and it’s structurally very similar to how the movie is — they go here, they go there, but what we say was kind of always up for grabs,” Rogen once explained. “We always just want to have it seem as natural as possible, and we don’t pretend that we can write exactly how people speak to one another at all times. We just love to have people kind of do what they want.”

8 The Movie’s Shoutout to Its Practical FX Supervisor

In the movie, Franco’s character Saul calls his shitty weed “Snicklefritz.” On the movie’s 10th anniversary, Rogen tweeted and explained that it was a reference to their practical FX supervisor who would call his second-in-command a “snicklefritz” whenever “he didn’t like what he was doing.”

7 It Was Director David Gordon Green’s First Comedy

Until Pineapple Express, David Gordon Green mainly did dramas like George Washington and All the Real Girls. The film was his transition into comedic films like Your Highness, The Sitter and iconic sitcoms like Eastbound & Down, Vice Principals and The Righteous Gemstones.

6 The Daewoo Lanos Kill Was Going to Be a Ford Instead

It turns out that the joke about getting killed by a Daewoo Lanos was supposed to involve a Ford Fiesta instead, but Ford didn’t want their car involved in a movie murder scene.

5 The Director Couldn’t Help Himself From Laughing During the Shoot

“I had to leave the set a few times,” Green said during a 2008 Comic-Con panel. “Particularly the scene where Seth, James and Danny are talking over the counter at Red’s house, I ruined enough takes where I was asked to leave. I liked to be there to yell ‘Action!’ — and especially when you’re watching improv, and it’s such a fun energy to be there right beside the camera — and that was one instance where I was like, ‘Alright, I’m going to go sit by the monitor. Try to be civil about this.’”

4 The Production Had a Case for the Movie’s ‘Hundreds of Joints’

When asked how many “fake” joints they had to smoke for the movie, the guys said it was a gigantic number. Goldberg said he had pain in his hands from rolling so many joints (and cross joints).

3 The Reason Why Franco Wears That Headband

Franco wasn’t supposed to sport that headband in the movie. The fashion choice was the result of an injury on set. Rogen explained that, during the scene where the two of them are running in the woods, Franco knocked his head while running into a tree. It turns out that there was actually a screw holding a pad in place right at the spot where his head connected, and he ended up getting stitches.

2 Rogen Asked Huey Lewis to Write and Perform the Movie’s Theme Song

Rogen was reportedly looking for a theme song that could match Huey Lewis and the News’ 1985 hit, “Power of Love,” featured in Back to the Future. Lewis was game and provided the movie with its titular theme song.

1 The Entire Final Scene Was Improvised

According to Rogen, they improvised “the whole last scene. It’s in a diner, and it’s just us recapping the whole movie, basically. It’s the ending!” 

Classic stoner move.