Actors are chameleons and some go further than most to change for a role. Some, like Robert De Niro and Christian Bale, have gained or lost a whole mess of weight. For The Fabelmans, Seth Rogen shaved back his hair line a bit so he looked like he was going balder than he was. It’s no big deal, but what was a bit worrying was when his friends assumed it was real.
In the film, loosely based upon director Steven Spielberg’s youth, Rogen plays his father’s (Paul Dano) best friend, who develops a close bond with his mother (Michelle Williams). When Spielberg asked him to adjust his hairline, Rogen couldn’t tell the legendary filmmaker no. After doing what he was told, he found the change “drastic.”
“I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, it’s all everyone’s going to talk about.’ I’m going to see everyone and they’ll be like, ‘Oh, my God,’” Rogen said during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Unfortunately, few noticed, which was not a good sign. “Instead, I kept running into people I know and seeing them, and no one said anything and that made me realize, to them, I’m balding!” he recalled. “I was already balding! It wasn’t a shift.”
Eventually he was able to make peace with it. “I work with a lot of actors who, now in their career, they have more hair than when they started,” Rogen said. “It’s a stressful double life they have as a balding actor who is pretending not to be balding.”
The Fabelmans is now playing select theaters. It opens wide on November 23. You can watch Rogen’s Fallon appearance below.
(Via IndieWire)