Seth Rogen may play Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in the new biopic “Steve Jobs,” but the actor had no idea who the tech icon was prior to landing the part.
“I’d seen him on that Kathy Griffin reality show. I can’t honestly tell you that I knew there was a co-founder of Apple. I think I thought it was just Steve Jobs,” Rogen told GQ.
But even though he plays him in the film, Rogen wasn’t worried about getting Wozniak’s approval of his portrayal.
“I think first and foremost I was anxious about Danny and Aaron’s approval,” he said. “Honestly I didn’t even think about whether Wozniak would like it or approve of it. I met with him a bunch of times and I talked with him a lot, but in my head those were all tools to make Danny happy.
Rogen sure knows who Wozniak is now, though, thanks to a “marathon hang session” at Los Angeles’ famed Magic Castle before filming the biopic being praised by critics.
“[Me] and my wife went with Wozniak and his wife, and we were there for, like, seven hours,” he said. “It was truly a marathon hang session. I assume when someone is playing you in a movie there’s probably a certain spiel they want you to have, but fortunately I hung out with him for four hours beyond that spiel.”
And when the night was over, The Wizard of Woz left in true geek fashion. “He and his wife got on [Segways], and they don’t have headlights so he was literally holding a flashlight in one hand and operating a Segway in the other, and they just zipped off into the night,” Rogen said.