Nicholas E. LauerRogen Confirms Doctoring "Dolittle"
Updated: Aug 2, 2020
The numerous production problems both during and after production of Dolittle (Which hit theaters earlier this year in January before quarantine happened) have already almost become equal to the madness of the production history of Justice League. Not only did it see director Stephen Gaghan’s first cut completely thrown out, but it became a fiasco in bringing in various creative forces to help get the film to what Universal Pictures wanted.
First, Seth Rogen was approached as a script doctor, but he passed due to a busy schedule. Then, LEGO Batman Movie filmmaker Chris McKay was involved briefly before leaving the project and then filmmaker Jonathan Liebesman came onboard and helped finish the film. As it turns out, despite the biggest complaint of Gaghan's first cut was it not being considered “family-friendly enough” by the studio, Rogen has confirmed today that he did in fact serve as a script doctor for the film.
An interesting choice given Rogen's noted appeal being mature stoner comedies, but this past week on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM show as he promoted his new HBO Max film An American Pickle, Rogen confirmed his involvement:
"I will only say this because it’s been reported, and I’m gonna tread lightly because I am close with many of the people involved, but I did that on the Dr. Dolittle film a little bit. In the grand scale of positions to be in as a writer, it’s a cushy position to be in [laughs]. Stakes are low for you, personally. Which is nice. But it’s also like, you want to help. I like movies and I like the actors in that movie. I don’t want anyone to not be happy with a movie. Universal, who made that movie, has been very supportive of me in my career and made a lot of our movies. I like the people who were there, so I genuinely want to make things better if I can."
Despite all this good intention, the film went on to bomb at the box office, carrying a final budget of $175 million and only making $231 million at the global box office, along with abysmal critical reception (Currently holding a 14% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 26% on Metacritic). Stay tuned!