- Goon. Director: Michael Dowse. Cast: Seann William Scott, Jay Baruchel and Alison Pill. Writers: Jay Baruchel and Evan Goldberg.
EVAN Goldberg always knew he wanted to be a writer.
"When I was young people asked me what I wanted to do and I said I wanted to be writer," says the 30-year-old Vancouver native.
"I always pictured myself writing short stories or novels until I realized there is a way easier way of writing called movies."
The co-writer of Superbad, Pineapple Express and The Green Hornet was back in Vancouver last week for the launch of his film Goon starring Seann William Scott, Liev Schreiber, Jay Baruchel and Eugene Levy.
The story is about a nice but unintelligent American bouncer (Seann William Scott) who ends up becoming an enforcer on a semi-pro hockey team in Canada. The movie, based on the book Goon: The True Story of an Unlikely Journey into Minor League Hockey by Adam Frattasio and Dough Smith, was filmed in Manitoba.
The film, co-written by Jay Baruchel with Goldberg, was shown at last year's Toronto International Film Festival. It has already been released in the U.K. and is scheduled for release in Canada on Feb. 24, and March 30 in the States.
"There is no way I could have written that script in any capacity without Jay Baruchel," says Goldberg. "He was the primary driving force behind it because he lives and breathes hockey. I said let's do this together and we did and it was great."
A graduate of Point Grey secondary school, Goldberg says he originally wanted to write novels and short stories before he began scriptwriting.
"I tried to write a book and it is unbelievably hard. I have the utmost respect for anyone who can pull that off."
He began writing Superbad with childhood friend Seth Rogen when they were just 13 years old.
"Seth and I met each other in bar mitzvah class. We were watching some crappy movie and we said we could do better than this," Goldberg says. "Then we were like we should . . . . and we walked upstairs and wrote the first scene to Superbad."
Their debut as writers concerns Seth Rogen and Goldberg's high school experiences at Point Grey. They had planned to work during the summer and invest $10,000 into making the film using Goldberg's parent's camcorder.
"Every Sunday, and a day or two during the week after school, we would go to my house and write it," he says. "We didn't put much thought into what is going to happen with it. We just said let's just finish it and then we will talk."
Writing Superbad wasn't difficult for Goldberg or Seth Rogen because they had no expectations.
"It wasn't hard, I was just a kid and I wasn't getting paid, there were no deadlines, no consequences if I failed," he says. "Nothing is going to go wrong if it doesn't happen. If I wasn't writing Superbad it wasn't like I was going to be getting laid."
After high school Goldberg attended McGill University in Montreal studying history and language. He also continued working on Superbad with Seth Rogen.
"McGill is massive and unforgiving and it forces you to grow up a lot. I was living in downtown Montreal and it really jump-started life," he says. "It was an incredible learning experience. I don't think I could have gotten that anywhere (else) in the world."
It took eight long years for the Superbad script to be fully completed. The duo caught a big break when Seth Rogen's acting career began to pick up in the United States. Producer/director Judd Apatow got a hold of the script and loved what he read.
"We kept trying and trying and trying and most people thought we were stupid and wasting our time," Goldberg says. "Things turned out better than we thought thanks to Seth's acting career.
Judd Apatow fell in love with the script when he and Rogen were working on the TV series Undeclared."
While Goldberg was still in school Apatow invited him to Los Angeles to work on another project. He spent seven weeks in an apartment with Rogan writing the script for Pineapple Express.
"I remember Judd Apatow saying to us come up with a hundred movie ideas. We tried and we got 50 which I think is impressive enough," Goldberg says. "Judd looked at all the ideas and said you guys should write a movie about a processor who is involved with weed. We thought it was the stupidest thing we ever heard. But he urged us to write it and it did well."
Originally Superbad and Pineapple Express were set in Vancouver but when the studio bought the scripts for both movies they told Goldberg the films could no longer be set in Canada. For example, the the liquor store in Superbad is the one at 41st and Oak Street. He says it bothers him that the movies didn't keep their Canadian connections but understands why.
"Americans want to hear stories about other Americans." Goldberg says. "They don't want to hear a story about a Canadian. We tried to put in a lot of Canadian jokes but they usually tank because it takes the American out of it for a split second. That's why Goon feels like such a victory in so many ways."
He says there are some writers who can work well alone and there are some who must work with their writing team. He prefers to write with someone and compares it to drinking.
"It's not ideal but it's not difficult," Goldberg says. "I would
compare it to drinking alone or drinking with a friend. It's the same activity but it's really sad when you're drinking alone but it's super awesome when you are drinking with a friend."
Working on the script for Goon was different from Goldberg's previous experiences because he and Baruchel were rarely writing together.
"He was in Montreal and I was in Vancouver," Goldberg says. "Most of the time I would do a scene and send it to him and then he would do a scene and send it back."
Goldberg admits he has never been a huge hockey fan and learned to skate when he was in university. Writing Goon was something he wanted to do largely because he never got into hockey when he was younger.
"I wanted to play hockey when I was kid but my mom wouldn't wake up early enough so I played baseball," he says. "So I thought it would be cool to do something I wouldn't normally do."
