Known for his performances in such contemporary comedy classics as Knocked Up and Pineapple Express, Vancouver-born comedian/actor Seth Rogen goes for the funny bone in Observe & Report, but the laughs are uncomfortable ones in this black comedy. With Rogen says he tackled one of his most demanding roles of his career in Observe & Report, and came up on the right side of the law — chalking up another hit to list on his already impressive cinematic résumé.

Directed by Eastbound & Down veteran Jody Hill, Observe & Report finds Rogen playing Ronnie Barnhardt, the head of security at a suburban mall. Ronnie is not your typical comic mall cop, although he has aspirations to become a real law enforcement officer one day. His chance to impress Brandi (Anna Faris) the make-up counter girl of his dreams and garner a chance to attend the police academy, comes in the form of a flasher. But, as the unidentified naked mall runner continues to elude Ronnie, he only becomes more driven to find the lawbreaking, fast-flying nudist and bring him to justice. The closer Ronnie gets to finding the culprit, the more sinisterly funny his persona becomes.

In one sentence, how would you describe Observe & Report?
“Wow, one sentence? I guess I would describe Observe & Report as like a comedic Taxi Driver.” [Laughs]

You’re being serious, aren’t you?
“Yeah. It’s really more of a black comedy. It’s definitely not another family-friendly film about a mall cop.”

You mean like Paul Bart: Mall Cop?
“You said that, not me. [Laughs] There’s a lot of laughs in this movie, but there is also a lot of…let’s just say darker aspects to the guy I play.”

And, you play?
“Well, I play Ronnie, a mall security guard. But, in our movie, a flasher starts attacking the mall. My character makes it his big mission to catch the flasher before the police do. Ray Liotta plays the main cop who I try to work with. So, that should give you an idea of how intense things get. Ray usually doesn’t play really light, emotionless roles. Intense is usually his character’s middle name.”

I know you like to do a lot of research for your movie roles, so what did you do for Observe & Report? Was it tough getting into the character?
“It was actually not that hard, I just recalled all the endless hours I used to spend at the mall when I was a kid. Believe me, it wasn’t a tough assignment.  More than anything, the real challenge was learning how to touch on the deeper emotions inside me and utilizing them to play the role. I mean, Ronnie is a security guard but he could have been anybody with an obsession. He’s driven by some very primal feelings. So, I used that and my love of the food court to get into his mind.”

Speaking of intense and dark, how do you deal with the shady underside of being a celebrity? How do you deal with the paparazzi and the stalkerazzi?
“Luckily, I’m not that famous, so I’m not interesting to the stalkerazzi. They don’t bother you if you let them know that’s not your thing. You have to give them an indicator that you’re the type of person who wants that kind of attention. I don’t. I don’t go to clubs, openings or premieres of movies that I’m not in. I just stay at home and play video games. Thank goodness I’m not interesting.”

Getting into your character for Funny People must have been a breeze for you, since you started out as a stand-up comedian?
“In a lot of ways, it was, but it was also very strange.”

Why?
“It was strange recalling the time I started out as a stand-up, because when I did it, I was mostly a teenager.”

Did you already know you were funny when you were that young? Did audiences always laugh at your jokes?
“It was always a challenge. I always felt like it was fight to get the audience to laugh. I mean, when you’re a drunk guy in a comedy club and you see like, a 15-year-old get up on stage, you’re pretty skeptical of whether they’ll make you laugh, so I really had to win the audience over and that was a real part of the challenge.”

Back to the original question, was it easy to play a stand-up since you were one?
“We had done a lot of stand-up shows in preparation of doing the movie — several months of it. So, I was doing stand-up for the first time in a while. It was a little difficult. Then, ultimately, to do it for months and get much more comfortable doing it, then have to start filming and act like I was totally uncomfortable doing it, it kind of took me on a little roller coaster ride. Ultimately, thought, it was all the stand-up, so I guess it was a lot easier to do than some of the other film roles I’ve tried to tackle.”

What did you think when you finally saw Funny People?
“When I saw the movie, the stand-up, to me, looked totally authentic and real, and I think it feels real. I was really pleased with how all that turned out.

You look as if you have taken off a lot of weight. You’re pretty slim and trim. Are you getting in shape for your lead role in The Green Hornet?
“No, I actually starting taking off the weight for Observe & Report and Funny People first. But I did want to get in shape to play the character of the Green Hornet, because you need to believe that physically, my character can run around and beat people up. So, I wanted to look like I had the body to do that.”

How did you take the weight off? Did you have a fitness regimen that you follow?

“I’ve just been exercising, but it’s so lame. Basically, I exercise and I eat right. Now, I don’t eat hamburgers at every meal, every single day. Just doing that, I’ve lost 40 pounds. It’s all about eating right and exercising. It can be a drag.”

I’m afraid to ask, but what kind of research did you do before filming Zack and Miri Make A Porno?
“I saw a couple of new movies. [Laughs] But, there is some porn out there that is even too weird for me. Oh man, there is a lot of shit out there, believe me. But I don’t want to limit anyone who wants to do them, just as long as it’s legal. I look at some of the weird shit and just think, ‘Oh really?’”

Did it stir of memories of the first time you saw a porno film? How old were you when you saw your first porno film?
“I was 13 when I saw my first porno. It was called The Fisherman’s Wife, and it was very wild because it was a particularly dirty one, so it really scared me. [Laughs] It was a lot more like I wasn’t ready for it at all, it was a lot more surgical looking than I imagined sex would be like. It was like something was going in, and it was a part of the body going into these internal things, and it shocked me. My best friend gave it to me, much like the same way every guy in the universe gets their first porno video.”

Okay, back to the future. Growing up, were you a big fan of the Green Hornet?
“I’ve always been a big Green Hornet fan, and I really loved the TV show, because all of the comics were that good. I once saw this funny stint were they turned Kato, his sidekick, into a movie star, I really loved the idea behind it.”

Will your take on The Green Hornet be totally different than the TV show or the comic books?
“Oh yeah, it’ll be a lot different. We’re trying to get to the heart of who the guy is. We’re trying to get back to his beginnings and explain who he is to the movie fans who never saw the TV show or read the comic books.”

After playing a Jello-like creature in Monsters Vs. Aliens, what are your feeling about Jello these days?
“If it’s nice to me, I like it. I give what I get when it comes to Jello. I will say that the notion of things floating in a Jello mold is a decidedly American invention, and as a Canadian, it’s something I’m a little disturbed by and don’t quite understand. How does it get in there? What is the point of it? What is it? What are those things? What is that? Is it food? Is it marshmallow? What is that? I don’t know. But other than that, I’m pro-Jello ultimately.

From Observe & Report, Funny People, Zack and Miri, Knocked Up to the animated family film like Monsters Vs. Aliens, how do you choose the movies you want to do? Do you have a career plan or do you just take the roles as they come?
“I just take them as they come. I look at guys who have found success, and they continue to have that success. They chose things that work for them. That’s what I want to do. That’s the reason I’ve done a lot of stuff lately, because I hate the idea of a good movie idea coming along and it gets away from me.”

Observe & Report Blu-ray Bonus Features: Audio commentary with Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, and Jody Hill, three featurettes including “Forest Ridge Mall: Security Recruitment Video,” deleted scenes/alternate jokes, gag Reel, BD- LIVE with Media Center, My Commentary, Live Community Screening and a Digital Copy of the film. (Also on DVD.)

The Paul New Collection
We lost one of the greatest actors of all time when Paul Newman passed away earlier this year. A true movie legend, Newman possessed more talent, stamina and charisma in one lock of his hair than most contemporary actors contain in their entire overly-bulky, plastic surgery-enhanced bodies. Paul Newman was, correction, will always be a star. To commemorate some of Newman’s greatest movies made during his tenure at 20th Century Fox, the legendary studio has put together (for the first time) a stunning DVD collection of 13 classics including The Long Hot Summer, The Hustler, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Hombre, The Towering Inferno, The Verdict and seven more brilliant motion pictures. Bonus Feature: An astonishing, collectible 136-page book on Paul Newman and his work.

Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past
Filled with a cast of such Hollywood heavyweights as Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner and Michael Douglas, Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past is a romantic comedy about second chances. The Mark Waters-directed film focuses on celebrity photographer and playboy bachelor, Connor Mead (McConaughey) and the apparitions of jilted girlfriends from his past, present and future who visit him to offer up one last go at true love. Sent by his late uncle (Douglas) during the wedding of his childhood friend, Jenny (Garner), if Connor doesn’t heed the warnings of his ghostly ex-gal pals, he could lose his true love forever. Bonus Features — Blu-ray: Additional scenes, two featurettes including interviews with McConaughey, Garner, Douglas, Lacey Chabert and Anne Archer, a Behind-the-Scenes featurette, Digital Copy and the BD LIVE! exclusive “A Sea Of Women.” (Also on DVD.)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season
In the second and final season of the dynamic, adrenaline-pumping tale of (wo)man-versus-machine, it’s becoming more and more difficult for Sarah (Lena Headey) and her robotic ally Cameron (Summer Glau) to protect the future leader of the resistance, John Connor (Thomas Dekker), from the Terminators sent from the future. With a new enemy possibly leading the robots (Garbage lead singer Shirley Manson), John’s days appeared to be numbered. But, as Terminator mythology has proven before, Sarah Connor is not an easy woman to take down, which we continue to find out in the brilliant, sadly short-lived series based on the classic sci-fi movies. Bonus Features – Blu-ray: Audio commentary with Headey, Dekker, Glau and Manson and producers Josh Friedman, James Middleton and John Wirth, 10 featurettes, Terminated Scenes, gag reel and the interactive “Collision with the Future: Deconstructing the Hunter Killer Attack” feature. (Also on DVD.)

Brotherhood: The Final Season
An episodic blue collar series about two the clash of two working-class Irish-American brothers (Kevin Chapman and Jason Clarke), Brotherhood focuses on the siblings’ skewed, often twisted, idealistic vision of the American dream. With an ensemble cast that also includes Ethan Embry, Fiona Erickson, Fionnula Flanagan, Annabeth Gish, Jason Isaacs and Stivi Paskoski, Brotherhood takes viewers inside the hearts and souls of an Irish family constantly torn between right and wrong as the two brothers — each searching for their destinies — while living their lives on opposite sides of the law.

30 Rock: Season 3
Quickly becoming the best sitcom on television, the outrageously funny, multiple Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning comedy — starring award-winners Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey — only seems to get more hysterical and inventive as the seasons pass. Set behind the scenes of an NBC primetime show starring Tracy Morgan and Jane Krakowski (as the temperamental Tracy and Jenna), the cast and crew often find themselves in the middle of geriatric kidnapping, sexual espionage, patricide, debates over gay lion tattoos and dealing with sasquatches as they try to their show on the airwaves each week. Bonus Features: Audio commentary with Tina Fey, Jon Hamm, Alan Alda, Jack McBrayer, Jane Krakowski and more, deleted scenes, “Behind-the-Scenes with The Muppets,” three additional featurettes and a photo gallery.

Mitch Fatel Is Magical: Live, Extended & Uncensored
A critically acclaimed one-hour Comedy Central special featuring the unique comedian Mitch Fatel, this DVD is guaranteed to have your ribs sore from uncontrollable laughter. In Mitch’s one-of-kind stand-up act, the seemingly innocent and friendly comic charms the audiences before shocking his fans with nasty talk, mischievous dialogue and off color comments about the only subject on his lewd little mind — girls. With two hit comedy CDs to his credit (Super Retardo and Miniskirts and Muffins) the mysterious comedian shows off his special powers of magical wit. Bonus Features: Interview with fans, Special Mitch Animation, photo shoot and outtakes.

Castle: The Complete First Season
Already given the green light for a second season, this collection of this original crime drama series (on 3-discs) will demonstrate why Castle was an instant ratings hit.  Nathan Fillion plays Rick Castle, an internationally famous crime novelist, who is enlisted by the NYPD to help solve a murder. After he uses his unorthodox crime-solving techniques to reveal the killer, Rick realizes he can sell more books by being on the inside. But, while his ride-alongs with Detective Beckett (Stana Katic) are helpful to the police department, his female cop partner can’t wait to get him out of the car and her life. Bonus Features: Audio commentaries, two featurettes and bloopers & outtakes.

The Mentalist: The Complete First Season
Television viewers went absolutely mental over The Mentalist and Aussie actor Simon Baker in his lead role as Patrick Jane. Jane is a former, self-professed fake mind-reader who becomes a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation when his wife and child are savagely murdered by the notorious serial killer Red John. Targeted by Red John for performing his phony paranormal act, Jane uses his astonishing skills of observation and analysis to bring killers to justice (with the help of a CBI team led by actress Robin Tunney). Bonus Features: “Evidence of a Hit Series” - interviews with the creators, directors and cast, two additional featurettes and “Surveillance Video: Gag Reel.”

Taxi: The Fourth Season
A three-time, Emmy-winner for Best Comedy, the iconic Taxi continues to entertain television viewers three decades after its debut. A sitcom about the life of a group of cabbies from the Sunshine Cab Company in New York, Taxi made stars out of its cast, which included Jeff Conaway (Bobby), Tony Danza (Tony), Danny DeVito (Louie), Christopher Lloyd (Jim), Marilu Henner (Elaine), Andy Kaufman (Latka), Carol Kane (Sitka) and Judd Hirsch (Alex). In this 1981-82 season, Alex has run-ins with his dad and ex-wife, Bobby could become a real actor, Tony might be boxing his way to the top and Latka is finally marrying longtime girlfriend Sitka, unless his alter-ego, Vic Ferrari, gets in the way. Bonus Features: Episodic Promos.

NOW ON BLU-RAY

Star Trek – The Original Series: Season 2
Boldly going where no man (or Vulcan) has gone before, in this 1968 season, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise (on a five year mission to explore the galaxy) find themselves battling Klingons, Romulans, time paradoxes, genetic supermen (led by Khan Noonian Singh) and learning the real trouble with tribbles. Bonus Features: Original and enhanced visual effects and audio and BD-LIVE/Mobile Blu exclusive special features.

Shaun Of The Dead
British funnyman, Simon Pegg and U.K. comic Nick Frost star in director Edgar Wright’s hilarious spoof of zombie movies. The bloody satire tells the story of an English slacker and his best mate who take on the flesh-eating walking dead to save their families and to cleanse the Great Britain of zombies, once and for all. Bonus Features: Uncensored audio commentary with cast & crew, “Missing Bits”- outtakes and deleted scenes, “Raw Meat” – casting tapes, Pegg’s video diary and special effects comparisons, Zombie gallery, storyboard gallery, D-Box Motion Enabled, U-Control with Zomb-O-Meter & storyboards and BD-LIVE!

Hot Fuzz: Ultimate Edition
The team behind Shaun Of The Dead take on law enforcement in the hysterical tale of small-town crime-fighting with Nicholas Angel (Pegg), the quintessential cop, and his bumbling partner (Frost). Also directed by Wright, Hot Fuzz finds Angel dispensing big city justice in his tiny English town. Bonus Features: Feature commentaries, outtakes, 22 deleted scenes, eight featurettes, “Special Effects: Before and After,” Video blogs, the behind-the-scenes documentary “The Making of Hot Fuzz,” U-Control with storyboards and Fuzz-O-Meter and BD-LIVE!