Seth Rogen has recalled the awkward conversation he had with Meat Loaf ahead of the making of Sausage Party, his raunchy 2016 animation film that anthropomorphised food and famously contained a snack-based orgy scene.
In a new interview with US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, the actor/Sausage Party creator reminiscences about the time he invited the legendary musician to be a part of his project, revealing that his initial pitch did not go according to plan.
“I made this movie Sausage Party years ago,” Rogen explains, “In it, there is a scene where [Meat Loaf’s hit] I’d Do Anything for Love is playing. And we realise, ‘Oh! The meatloaf sings I’d Do Anything for Love, it’s a movie about food that talks. We should have a meatloaf you cut to singing I’d Do Anything for Love.”
Rogen explains that in order to pull off this idea he knew that he would require legal permission from the man himself: in other words "we had to get the legal sign-off of Meat Loaf, the guy, to do a cartoon representation of him as a meatloaf."
"So, the question became, ‘How are we going to pitch this to Meat Loaf?’ I was like, ‘I’ll just call Meat Loaf and explain it to him.’”
After being given the musician's number, Rogen was told to call at precisely 2:30pm on a Friday, which is what he did.
“I called him,” the actor says. “The phone’s ringing, ringing, and ringing. I call like 10 times because I’m supposed to call it. Finally, Meat Loaf answers. He’s like, ‘Huh!? What? Huh?’ I’m like, ‘Meat Loaf! It’s Seth Rogen.’ He goes, ‘You woke me up from a nap!’ So, I’m like, ‘Bad start!’”.
Rogen also recalls how he was taken aback by Meat Loaf's request for him to be addressed as "Meat", which he says was "a weird thing to be commanded".
He continues, “So, I explained, ‘Look, Meat. I have this film called Sausage Party, and in it, food talks, and there is a scene where we’re using one of your songs, and we thought it’d be funny if we cut to a meatloaf singing this song as your name is Meat Loaf. The food meatloaf is also called meatloaf.’ Then, there was like 30 seconds of silence, and then, he just goes, ‘Yeah, I get it!’ And he hung up.”
Sounds like Meat was a little cranky there post-nap. Nevertheless, he took part in the eyebrow-arching movie, in the scene you can watch below:
