| Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jason Stone |
| Produced by | Rachel Robb Kondrath Jason Stone |
| Written by | Seth Rogen Evan Goldberg Jason Stone |
| Starring | Seth Rogen Jay Baruchel |
| Music by | Mark Petrie |
| Cinematography | Jay Visit |
| Editing by | Neel Upadhye |
| Studio | Catastrophic Films |
| Distributed by | Mandate Films |
| Release date(s) | June 4, 2007 |
| Running time | 9 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3000 |
Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse is a 2007 short comedy film written by Canadian comedy writers Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Jason Stone. The film stars Canadian actors Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel.
While most disaster films chronicle the adventures of survivors, Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse follows two of the least likely men to survive the end of the world. In the eight-and-a-half minute short film, two friends who have shut themselves in their apartment argue over potential escape plans. When the water-collection system they've built on their roof gets clogged, one of them must face whatever monsters or elements may be outside in order to fix it.[1] Their room is in shambles, which could either be the result of the apocalypse, or just a messy bachelor pad. A sardonic jibe at the room's condition is heard when one character refers to how bad everything is by saying, "it's not that much worse than our old apartment".[2]
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Immediately after wrapping production on Knocked Up, Stone and Goldberg worked to turn around the short's script in only three weeks. As a result, the haircuts and body types that Jay Baruchel and Seth Rogen sport in The Apocalypse are the same as those in Knocked Up.
Principal photography lasted for two days in September 2006, with one day of pick-ups in January 2007. An entire apartment set was built on a sound stage near downtown Los Angeles in four days with crew on a 24-hour rotation. With a total budget of $3000, the production could not afford more preparation time.
The crew shot over three hours of footage with two cameras that was pared down to the final 8.5-minute short. By the time the film was picture-locked, the property had already been optioned by Mandate Films.[3] Only one screening of the completed short was ever held, only being seen in its entirety by a handful of people. As a result, fans often mistakenly report that the trailer on YouTube was a fake, or that it was originally developed only to raise interest in a feature.
After the trailer they put up on YouTube in June 2007 got over 50,000 hits in the first two weeks, Stone and Goldberg began shopping the project around. Variety reports that several production companies vied for the rights for production.[4] MovieCritic reports that the interest can be attributed to Seth Rogen's "player power" in Hollywood.[5]
Joblo reports that Rogen and Baruchel are expected to star in a feature film.[6] However, /Film reports that Rogen and Baruchel have definitely signed on to star.[7] Mandate Films purchased the short from Stone and Goldberg.[8][9] The longer script expands on the men's post-apocalyptic problems as they deal with the massive ramifications of the apocalypse. Mandate president Nathan Kahane is slated to be executive producer alongside Stone and Baruchel. The feature is projected to go into production in 2010 or 2011.[10][11] It is reported that Mandate has given Rogen and Goldberg major control on the project and a $30 million budget.[12]
The clip on YouTube, which is the only publicly available footage from the film, bills itself as a trailer because when it was first posted, the filmmakers intended to publicly screen the short at festivals.[13] However, when the film was picked up by Mandate, the short was shelved from festival consideration. This frustrated many fans, who expected to see a feature closer to the 2007 release of the trailer online.[14] The trailer had over 200,000 views in the first 14 months since its release, and has received much more popular acclaim than the filmmakers ever imagined. Critic Novikov predicts the YouTube trailer will disappear as potential filming nears.[15]
Moviefone originally gave a countdown to a January 2009 premiere, but the date was probably based on the original 2007 trailer.[16][17][18]