6 friends face the apocalypse together in 'This Is The End'

MANILA, Philippines - “What if you were stuck in a house with your friends as the world was ending outside?” says Seth Rogen, who, with his writing and directing partner Evan Goldberg, answers that question in Columbia Pictures' new comedy “This Is The End.”

“It was intriguing to us. We’ve made a lot of movies about two or three guys, but what about a whole group of friends? How do they interact with one another?” says Goldberg.

So even as the pair approached writing and directing a wild, outrageous comedy about the world coming to an end, they never lost sight of the core idea – six buddies and the craziness that happens when they are stuck in a house together. “That’s what this movie is really about: friendship and group dynamics, how people deal with each other in extreme circumstances. But it’s also about growing up and figuring out how your old, childhood world fits in with your new, adult world.”

The film would also mark Rogen and Goldberg’s directorial debut, and they found a way to make the venture as comfortable as possible: they surrounded themselves with their own best friends. In “This Is The End,” six friends – who just happen to be James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, and Craig Robinson – are trapped in Franco’s house as the end of the world begins outside.

And we’re not talking about any old California-slides-into-the-ocean earthquake… we’re talking the fire-and-brimstone Apocalypse – the real Biblical deal.

It’s fertile ground for comedy, because there’s nothing like an Apocalypse to tear people apart. “The guys are all boarded up and trying to survive, but their relationships start to deteriorate,” says producer James Weaver. “Seth and Jay are trying to figure out what their friendship is going to be like. Franco can’t stand Danny being so crazy. Jonah tries to befriend Jay, but in a way that Jay finds very patronizing. Jay and Craig bond a bit. And Seth is acting like a referee at the center of it all.”

There’s only one way to survive an Apocalypse, and Goldberg says it’s not immediately clear if these six characters have what it takes. “Can these guys learn how to be good people?” says Goldberg. “Good people are getting Raptured around them, and they’re in denial about the fact that they were left behind. They have to figure out if they can still be redeemed, and what it will take for that to happen.”

Opening soon across the Philippines, “This Is The End” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.