Posted 09.15.11 by Ryan The upcoming R-rated dramedy 50/50 opens at the end of the month, but recently screened in advance at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The movie follows 27-year-old Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen), who helps him beat it. From that description alone, the jokes just write themselves.
The script was written by Rogen's screenwriter friend Will Reiser, who is himself a cancer survivor. While attending the TIFF press conference for 50/50 (via the National Post), Reiser explained how he decided to turn his story of survival into a script.
The way we dealt with it was we didn’t sit around and talk about our feelings. We just made jokes and we sort of tried to make fun of the absurdity of the entire situation. One night we were at a party and someone asked me if I had made a bucket list of all I wanted to do...I was like, "I’m actually really sick. I just want to sleep. I don’t really want to go to Africa." We started talking about how there’s never been a comedy about cancer. We started talking about it, well, why don’t we do a buddy comedy.
watch the clips and read more from the cast >>