The long awaited movie, Pineapple Express, the new stoner comedy with Seth Rogen and James Franco, will be released tomorrow, August 6, 2008. According to producer Judd Apatow, the source of inspiration for making Pineapple Express was Brad Pitt's character in True Romance, a stoner named Floyd. Apatow thought it would be funny to make a movie in which "you follow that character out of his apartment and watch him get chased by bad guys."

The Plot: Dale Denton (Rogen), a lazy stoner, visits his equally lazy dealer, Saul Silver (Franco), to purchase marijuana, specifically a rare new strain called, you guessed it, Pineapple Express. By accident, Dale witnesses a murder by a crooked police officer (Rosie Perez) and the city's most dangerous drug lord, Ted Jones (Gary Cole). In a panic, Denton flees the scene and accidentally drops his roach of Pineapple Express. Dale speedily drives back to Saul to find out if the strain of marijuana is so rare that it could be traced back to him. The two are forced to run for their lives and quickly discover they are not just suffering from paranoia from the marijuana--the bad guys are hot on their tracks trying to kill them.

Stoner Facts:

According to Rogen, the ideal production budget was $40 million, but "because it's a weed movie," Sony Pictures allotted $25 million.

Gordon cited The Blues Brothers, Midnight Run, Running Scared, and Stir Crazy as sources of inspiration and influence on directing the film.

Rogen was originally going to play the "stoner buddy" character of Saul Silver, but Apatow suggested that Franco should play Saul. After a table read, Rogen agreed, thus casting himself in the role of Dale Denton.

Seth Rogen spoke with musician Huey Lewis, of Huey Lewis and the News, on writing and performing the film's theme song.

» Get on the Express.