Five Questions for Seth Rogen a.k.a. B.O.B.

Seth Rogen, featured in tonight’s airing of “Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space,” features the voice cast of the original movie, including Reese Witherspoon, Hugh Laurie, Kiefer Sutherland, Will Arnett, Rainn Wilson and … Seth Rogen as B.O.B., the gelatinous blob!

The story follows Susan and the Monsters, who now work for the U.S. government. They’re sent to Susan’s hometown to stop an alien invasion in the days before Halloween. Clever as always, the aliens have adopted the guise of harmless jack-o-lanterns as they lie in wait for the perfect time to strike.

I caught up with Seth Rogen by phone:

1. Do you like Halloween and are you dressing up this year?

Unfortunately, I have to work at 6 AM the next morning, so that kind of puts a slight damper on my plans. I have a girlfriend now and I’ve entered the unfortunate world of paired costuming, which is not fun. I always end up being the lamer half of the costume. It’s like she’s a dog and I’m a fire hydrant, so maybe I’m dodging a bullet this year. As far as Halloween, I had a lot of allergies when I was a kid and I couldn’t eat sugar very often. So for me, Halloween was just a day to gorge myself, which is a tradition I carry through to this day.

More after the jump…

2. Do you get to improvise a lot doing voice work?

You can actually improvise a lot as a voice actor. The time consuming part is really creating the characters and the sets and the worlds. Aside from that, it’s not much different from shooting a live action movie; the characters’ mouths are quite easy to manipulate once all the information is built into the computer.

3. Do you have any favorite Halloween specials?

I always liked the Simpson’s Halloween specials. They were always amazing, and I always looked forward to that on Halloween. And I always watched the TGIF sitcoms because I was a nerd and had nothing to do on Friday nights. So I always enjoyed whatever the sitcoms would do for their Halloween special.

4. Did you have any input into the character of B.O.B.?

Yes, definitely. It was a collaborative process with the directors, Conrad [Vernon] and Rob [Letterman], trying to come up with the character. At first, there wasn’t a ton to work with, but then we slowly realized the joke was that he had no brain and he was very stupid, and we kind of worked from there.

5. Which do you prefer: acting or writing?

That’s a good question. Just acting is not enough; I can say that. To do a little role in something is very fun, but to be on set all day as an actor … it just seems like I’m doing an iota of what I should be doing with my day. I really enjoy writing. My most enjoyable times are when me and Evan [Goldberg] have a script to write and plenty of time to write it in and nothing else to do. But right now, we’re filming (“The Green Hornet”), and I’m one of the producers and the writer and the actor, so it’s busy, but it’s also a lot of fun. When it all comes together, that’s when it’s most creatively satisfying.

Image: Paramount Pictures