Seth Rogen stars as Herschel Greenbaum and his great-grandson, Ben, in An American Pickle, directed by Brandon Trost and based on the short story by former Saturday Night Live writer Simon Rich. In an unlikely accident, Herschel, an Ashkenazi Jewish Eastern European immigrant seeking a better life in America, is locked in a container of pickle juice, miraculously emerging unscathed when he is discovered one hundred years later. He then meets up with Ben, and what follows is a story about what a culture can gain and lose over the course of a century, combined with all the comedy one would normally expect from a Seth Rogen movie.

An American Pickle is one of the first high-profile original movies for the fledgling HBO Max subscription service, and stands out as Rogen's first live-action movie to not be rated R since 2012's The Guilt Trip. Additionally, it marks the first time Rogen has played multiple characters, though the film's high-concept conceit makes this particular creative decision a natural fit for the esteemed comedic talent, who truly shines in both of his roles and prevents the dual casting from feeling like a gimmick.

Related: Screen Rant's An American Pickle Review

While promoting the release of An American Pickle, Seth Rogen spoke to Screen Rant about his work on the film, from making his first PG-13 film in nearly a decade to developing the distinct "old country" accent he uses for the Herschel character. He also discusses the movie's approach to both the cultural and religious aspects of Judaism, as well as his own relationship with the spiritual side of his ancestral culture. Finally, he explains the inherent difficulty of improvising while playing both sides of a scene.

An American Pickle is out now on HBO Max.

Herschel and Ben speak in Ben's apartment in An American Pickle

I love this movie. I love how sweet and kind-hearted it is. Don't get me wrong, I loved This is the End, and that movie definitely has heart and soul to it that makes it stand out. It's not just Jonah Hill getting ******** by a devil.

But that is also there!

Right. So, was American Pickle always going to be PG, or was that a decision made later on?

I think it was as we started filming it, that we realized it did not need any overly dirty elements. It was really about family, and so we were like, "Maybe we should make it a movie you can watch with your entire family and not be terrified of what might be coming on the screen and how uncomfortable it might make you! (Laughs) It was a realization we came to pretty early on in the process, that it was a PG-13 movie. I remember, we all looked at each other and thought, is that what's happening? And it was!

Tell me about your accent. Can you just slip in and out of it, or did you have to dial it in? Did you have a dialect coach, or did you figure it out on your own?

I had a coach at first to help me develop it. She did come to set and left eventually, maybe partially due to frustration (laughs). It is kind of a made-up accent, I guess. It was incredibly important to me that I was able to maintain comedic rhythms and not just kind of, you know, squash completely my normal patterns. I know that is part of my comedy. So that was really the balance, was, how do I make this sound real and authentic, and not like a caricature. Someone who you can emotionally invest in, but also an accent that allows me to be funny in the way I need to be.

Seth Rogen in An American Pickle

This is a very... Wait, let me preface this. I live in New York City, and most of my friends are some degree of Jewish.

Yes (laughs).

And this is a very Jewish story, both culturally and religiously. I feel you don't see that as much. Most of my friends are more culturally Jewish, you know? Can you talk about incorporating the actual religion and prayers and stuff into the film?

I think it's something that, to me, was a very interesting subject: the balance of cultural Judaism and religious Judaism, and how Jewish people are inseparable from their religion in many ways, where you're Jewish by DNA, and not a belief system exclusively. I think, as a result of that, a lot of Jews I know, myself included, tend to abandon all religious aspects of their Judaism, especially if you're raised secularly, like I was. It kind of becomes like it feels unnecessary. But as I got older, I would realize, you know, especially around things like death and birth and these kinds of big life moments, people do gravitate back towards their religion, because they have helpful tools and infrastructures build around some of these big life moments that are hard to deal with sometimes, specifically death. That was something I grew to appreciate, and was something that... Even though I don't necessarily believe in Judaism, I can now see that Jewish protocols around death are decidedly helpful and therapeutic for people. And that is purely based on the religious side, not the cultural side, you know? It's just something that started to evolve in me as I got older.

A lot of your movies are defined by what at least seems like a loose improvisational style of comedy. At least it has that kind of energy. Is that even an option when you're playing both leads?

It is at times. But it is incredibly difficult and not something that I would recommend people who are playing two roles in the same film plan to be able to do well! I've been improvising in film for around 15 years, and this was a very difficult version of that. You have to improvise both sides at once. I woud improvise as Herschel, leaving pauses for what I knew I would later improvise back to myself as Ben, and then come back, weeks or months later and improvise the other half of the conversation... Which is tricky, I would say.

Seth Rogen in An American Pickle

Was Brandon, like, "Go with it!" Or was he like, "C'mon, man, why are you doing this to me?"

No, he was like, "Go with it!" I would only do it in times when I knew it was usable. That's also part of being a good improviser, knowing when to improvise and when not to. That requires a very firm understanding of the filming and editing process.

Speaking of Brandon, did you first work with him on This is the End? What made you decide American Pickle was the right movie for him to fully take the reins?

Yeah, I worked with him on This is the End, and I literally can't count how many things I've worked with him on since then. The Interview, Neighbors, The Night Before, Disaster Artist, and he worked on our TV shows, he directed an episode of Future Man. That's honestly one of the things that really made me think it was possible. He directed what I think is the funniest episode of Future Man (Season 1, Episode 7: Pandora's Mailbox). And as someone who collaborated with him for years, I could see, as a cinematographer, how much he approached his job through the lens, no pun intended, of story and character, and the big picture, as it were, and how much he was doing to serve that. It did not seem like a crazy leap to me.

Next: An American Pickle Cast Guide: Who's In Seth Rogen's HBO Max Movie

An American Pickle is out now on HBO Max.