Seth Rogen talks about an unsuccessful audition for Eminem’s “8 Mile”.
Seth Rogen had a shot at playing Eminem’s sidekick in the 2002 film “8 Mile,” but let’s just say the audition didn’t go as planned. To this day, Rogen describes the encounter as “the craziest audition I ever performed.”
In his new book, “Yearbook,” a compilation of tales from the actor’s Canadian background as well as his follies in Hollywood, Rogen discusses the ill-fated audition. When he was invited to read for the role of Cheddar Bob, a friend of Eminem’s character Rabbit, he was told that the casting director was so concerned with the “rappery” tone of the language that candidates competing for the part would have to bring a friend to run lines with them.
In one of the chapters of his new memoir “Yearbook“, the actor/producer Seth Rogen revealed that he auditioned for Eminem‘s rap movie “8 Mile“, for the role of B-Rabbit’s friend Cheddar Bob. He reveals that he gave an audition for it twice after the casting director didn’t like how “rappery it was“. For his second attempt, Seth Rogen brought his friend Jason Segel, who also gave an audition for the same role.
“We asked our agents if our auditions could be scheduled one right after the other, so that one of us could audition for Cheddar, with the other reading the Rabbit part, and then we’d switch,” Rogen told Insider. “We had a sleepover at my apartment the night before the auditions so we could rehearse and then carpooled to the audition together.”
“Auditioning is embarrassing in the best of times,” said Rogen. “Add the fact that one of my best friends is watching me do it and that we’re both reading for rappers from Detroit, which we could NOT have been less right for.”
“Yo, yo, mothaf—a! It’s Chedda! What up, b—-!” Segal said, according to Rogen.
“I started laughing hysterically,” Rogen said. “And so did Jason. We literally couldn’t make it through the auditions. As soon as one of us started the scene, the other would lose it.”
“Yo, yo, Rabbit!,” Rogen responded, as Cheddar. “You gotta record your s— at Paisley Park, yo!”
“Where, yo?” Segal asked, as Rabbit.
“Paisley Park, mothaf—a!” Rogen said.
“It was so silly, we couldn’t finish,” reveals Seth. “We just excused ourselves and saw ourselves out, tears streaming down our faces.”
Unsurprisingly, neither actor was cast. Evan Jones would later take over the role of Cheddar Bob. “8 Mile” was a financial and critical success, earning Eminem an Oscar for Best Original Song for “Lose Yourself.” Rogen, on the other hand, has no regrets.
Evan Jones was cast in the part of Cheddar Bob in the end. Rogen and Eminem would subsequently cross paths in the comedy Funny People, which was released in 2009.
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