Seth Rogen explained why he’ll likely never work with James Franco again despite them previously collaborating on a number of projects.

Pineapple Express, The Interview, This Is The End – these are only a few of the movies Rogen and Franco have worked on together over the years.

The two actors first became co-stars in 1999 on the show Freaks and Geeks, and the work continued for almost 20 years before concluding with their movie Zeroville, which was released in 2019.

However, things changed for Rogen in 2018 when Franco was accused by multiple women of sexually inappropriate behavior.

Franco later reached a deal with two of his former acting students, who accused him sexual misconduct, and they agreed to drop their individual claims.

The actor also admitted on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Podcast that he had slept with some of his acting students while he was working as a teacher.

“Over the course of my teaching, I did sleep with students, and that was wrong,” he said. “But like I said, it’s not why I started the school and I wasn’t the person that selected the people to be in the class.

“So it wasn’t a ‘master plan’ on my part. But yes, there were certain instances where, you know what, I was in a consensual thing with a student and I shouldn’t have been.”

In the wake of the allegations, Rogen told The Sunday Times’ Culture magazine that he had changed his mind about working with Franco again, after having previously shared plans for future collaborations.

“What I can say is that I despise abuse and harassment and I would never cover or conceal the actions of someone doing it, or knowingly put someone in a situation where they were around someone like that,” Rogen said.

Rogen acknowledged the allegations had affected the 20-year connection he had with Franco, saying: “I look back to that interview in 2018 where I comment that I would keep working with James, and the truth is that I have not and I do not plan to right now […]

“I can say it, um, you know, it has changed many things in our relationship and our dynamic.”

For his part, Franco accepted Rogen’s response to the allegations and made clear he held no ill will against his former co-star.

He told Cagle: “I love Seth Rogen. I worked with him for 20 years. We didn’t have one fight for 20 years. Not one fight. He was my absolute closest work friend, collaborator. We just gelled.

“What he said is true. You know, we aren’t working together right now and we don’t have any plans to work together.

“Of course, it was hurtful, in context, but I get it. He had to answer for me ’cause I was silent. He had to answer for me, and I don’t want that. So that’s why, that’s one of the main reasons I wanted to talk to you today: I don’t want Seth or my brother or anyone to have to answer for me anymore.”

Seth Rogen once confirmed that Emma Watson walked off set when filming This Is the End.

The multi-hyphenated funnyman has had his fingers in many pies of late – executive producing The Boys’ spin-off Gen V, acting in Disney+’s Pam & Tommy and voicing Donkey Kong in The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Outside of his film work, he also runs the cannabis company Houseplant with his business partner Evan Goldberg and offered fans the chance to do pottery with him at his LA home earlier this year.

But before all that, there was 2013’s disaster comedy This Is The End – a film chronicling the survival of James Franco and his array of celebrity friends.

The movie stars the likes of Jonah Hill, Kevin Hart, Channing Tatum, Michael Cera and Paul Rudd – all playing exaggerated versions of themselves.

And of course, let’s not forget Harry Potter actor Emma Watson.

Following This Is The End’s release, the rumour mill claimed that she’d actually walked off set due to a scene that she felt went too far.

The scene in question was Danny Mcbride holding Tatum, 43, on a leash, with the latter wearing a full-body leather suit.

In 2021, Rogen, now 41, discussed the improvised scene in an interview with GQ and discussed Watson, 33, exiting the set.

Associate editor Stuart McGurk brought up the rumor before asking: “What happened? Had she not read the script properly?”

To which the Bad Neighbours star replied: “I mean, I don’t look back on that and think, ‘How dare she do that?’ You know?

“I think sometimes when you read something, when it comes to life it doesn’t seem to be what you thought it was.

“But it was not some terrible ending to our relationship. She came back the next day to say goodbye. She helped promote the film.”

Rogen continued to say: “She was probably right. It was probably funnier the way we ended up doing it.”

Die-hard fans of the movie will remember the embarrassing scene that This Is The End went with.

The short clip sees McBride, 47, pulling out his leashed servant, who crawls on all fours with his butt on display.

Pointing to the leather-clad victim, the antagonist says: “You see that? I’ll f**king slide right into that, I do whatever I want, this my gimp.”

In reply, the man on all fours removes his mask and reveals himself to be the Magic Mike star, who then proceeds to hump McBride’s leg before professing his love for his master.

It’s said that although the flick’s creators were unsure how they’d convince the Hollywood heartthrob to take on such a role, much to their surprise, Tatum was fully on board.

Although he did later admit he’d ‘probably had too much to drink’ when he agreed!