The stoniest moment at the recent Oscars occurred when host Jimmy Kimmel teased Seth Rogen, who was sitting in the audience with his wife Lauren Miller, right behind director Steven Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw.
"Seth, what are you on now? Be honest"
Rogen shrugged.
"Nothing? Mushrooms, right? Did you give one to Steven? Give him one. Let's see what happens. Maybe he'll make something crazy."
Kimmel then zeroed in on Spielberg, who claims to have never smoked pot.
"I find [it] hard to believe. You mean to tell me you were sober when you made a movie about an alien who eats Reese's Pieces all day and can't remember how to phone home? You were high as a bike when you made that movie."
Two days later, Rogen visited Jimmy Kimmel Live. Spielberg came up.
"He loves me and he's in complete denial about how much weed I smoke," Rogen said. "When people make jokes I'm like..." He showed the sign for cut it out.
"Is that the only person you're self-conscious about that in front of?" Kimmel asked.
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Did you ever get him to try to try it [marijuana]?"
"No, never." Rogen replied. "He'll joke about it and stuff, but no. I don't want to be the guy who breaks Steven Spielberg's fucking brain. That's a heavy burden. That's the last thing I need. I don't need to do that."
Spiellberg casted Rogen to play family friend Bennie in The Fabelmans, which was nominated for several Oscars, including Best Picture.
There's a scene towards the end of the movie when Sam (the teenaged Spielberg played by Gabrielle LaBelle) is offered a joint by a high school student who beat him up earlier in the semester. It's a peace offering, but Sam declines. That's a pretty clear message that Spielberg is not into pot.
However, marijuana has appeared in several of his movies, such as Poltergiest, which he co-wrote. Diane (JoBeth Williams) and Steve (Craig T. Nelson) smoke a joint before all hell breaks loose.
In a 2018 interview with Kimmel, Rogen related a story about getting caught smoking a joint during an impromptu conversation with the director.
“I was like, ‘Do I stop or do I just hold it? That’s weird. I just kept smoking it in Steven Spielberg’s face as I saw, like, the look on his face where he’s just like, ‘I’m never working with this motherfucker … ever. That’s why I’m not the lead of Ready Player One.”
The Fabelmans didn't win an Oscar. Maybe Sam should've hit that joint.
