Anne Hathaway dropped out of hit comedy “Knocked Up” because she wasn’t comfortable with a graphic birthing scene, according to Seth Rogen.
The actor recalled Hathaway’s departure from the classic 2007 movie during an appearance on “The A24 Podcast” alongside his “The Invite” director and co-star Olivia Wilde.
Wilde had also auditioned for the female lead before Katherine Heigl was ultimately cast as Alison, the woman whose one-night stand with Rogen’s character leads to an unexpected pregnancy.
“It was Anne Hathaway who quit the movie,” Rogen said.
“Because of the crowning right? Is that real?” Wilde asked.
“Yeah, I mean … it could have been a hundred million things,” Rogen replied. “That was what I remember being told. Crowning is a tough one.
“She didn’t want the crowning of the baby to be visually representative. Even though it wasn’t going to be hers … It’s obviously not real. But she didn’t even want … she felt that it was not her brand.”
The scene features a graphic crowning shot of a baby’s head emerging during delivery, created with a prosthetic after California labor laws prevented director Judd Apatow from filming a real birth.
Rogen said he believes there may have been more to Hathaway’s decision than just the scene itself.
“Part of me also … we had started rehearsing the movie … maybe she was just like, ‘I don’t know if this is for me.’ I don’t know,” he said. “I will take what she said at face value, which was the crowning.”
He added that Hathaway ultimately made the right decision for herself.
“She had a sense, and she knew it was not for her,” Rogen said. “And history will tell … she has been right about a lot more things than I have over the years. So I think she was probably right.”
“Katie Heigl was great,” Rogen added.
“Knocked Up” became one of Apatow’s biggest hits, earning more than $219 million at the worldwide box office.
The ensemble cast also included Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel and Martin Starr.
Heigl later made headlines for criticizing the movie during a 2008 interview with Vanity Fair, calling it “a little sexist.”
“It paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys,” she said at the time.
“It exaggerated the characters, and I had a hard time with it, on some days.”
Rogen admitted years later that the comments stung.
“I thought she hated us,” he said during a 2016 interview with Howard Stern.
“We just heard she didn’t like it and that it seemed like she didn’t have a good experience making it and that she didn’t feel the product was reflective of how she thought she should be portrayed. And when that happens, as someone who’s an egomaniac, I just get hurt by that.”
Despite the fallout, Heigl later said there were no hard feelings.
“I think that he’s handled that so beautifully and I just feel nothing but love and respect,” she told Entertainment Tonight in 2016. “It’s so long ago at this point, I just wish him so much goodness and I felt that from him too.”
