‘An American Pickle’: Sean Whalen as scientist ad-libbed theories about how Seth Rogen’s character survived
Sean Whalen, who was instantly memorable as Roach in Wes Craven’s cult horror-comedy 'The People Under The Stairs', has a small but memorable part in 'An American Pickle'. In an exclusive interview with MEA WorldWide (MEAWW), Whalen explains why his role as 'The Scientist' is a pivotal character who moves the plot forward. "People said, 'Oh, did you know you were going to be in the trailer?' And I said, 'well, I thought I would be' because how else do we get him [Herschel Greenbaum] out of a pickle bath and back into society? You need some sort of transition and that's where my character comes in," said Whalen.
"When we find out that Herschel has been preserved, he's obviously first sent to a hospital and then sent to my lab so I can study him to see how he's acclimating, and then we try and figure out how he was able to be preserved for that long. They asked me to improvise some theories and I was able to come up with a few comedic ones, and it was a blast to try to kind of justify it but I don't know which one they used," said Whalen.
He added that he enjoyed improvising his lines during the press conference where the world is told about how Herschel (played by Seth Rogen), the 1920s Jewish immigrant is still alive without aging. With his background performing at the famed Groundling Theater, Whalen relished the chance to ad-lib on the film's sets. "All my scenes are with Herschel. In one instance, we had to do a scene where he [Seth Rogen] was strapped on a table. And he and I just kept coming up with funny Frankenstein jokes... we were just making fun of the 'old guy tied to a table' [trope]. So we were making puns, riffing back and forth trying to top each other. So, that was fun."
But jokes apart, Whalen was impressed by how Rogen inhabited his character. "I will tell you that Seth as Herschel was so impressive. The way he took it on and could transform himself into the character was really cool. It was really fun and made it fun to act with him. See, he doesn't really interact with the whole world while he's with me. He's basically in like a lab environment when he's with me. He hasn't experienced that much of the [modern] world. The fun of it is that I'm a scientist so I just find him a fascinating thing and [to me] Hershel is like a [lab] rat with a thing on his head. I am more fascinated by what happened to him than him as a person."
"But he's obviously extremely confused and upset because he actually liked his life in the '20s. That's why towards the end, I do what I can to help him. That's why I find his great-grandson, his only living relative, to help him a little bit with his readjustment into society. [My part] is about helping this Jewish immigrant from the 1920s get with life right now," he added.
When asked if Herschel is a Jewish superhero, given his origin story, Whalen is not entirely convinced. "It's not like he emerges with a special power or anything. Really the only superhero trope part of it is that he survived. It's almost like one of the origin stories of the Joker [in 'Batman'], right? Where he fell into the radioactive vat and then came out and that's why he looked that way. But Herschel just fell into the vat and came out as himself. He just happened to live a hundred years."
Instead, Whalen says the film only used the magical premise to show how the mindset of "a 1920s hardworking immigrant" clashes with the modern mindset of someone who has been in America since birth with roots going back generations. "We see this when first-generation immigrants have kids, right? And they're always struggling with how much heritage and stuff do we keep from our old country and how much do we assimilate? That always seems to be a struggle, right?" But Whalen points out that Herschel follows the American dream "to come, and be something and make something of yourself" and is disappointed when he meets Ben because "he doesn't feel like he's got the work ethic that he thought his bloodline would have".
Part of chasing that American Dream, Whalen adds is realizing that "change always happens, so how do you pivot? How do you adapt?" He gives his own example, saying, "I used to do a lot of stuff [before the pandemic] -- obviously act and go to a lot of auditions. Well, now I'm creating a lot of my own stuff at home and putting them online and working on my social media. Creating little short films and putting them on social media and doing my own conventions. I used to do conventions and sign autographs. Now I'm doing them at home, but actually doing better selling merch than when I used to travel to conventions. So it's always about when change happens, how do we adapt? This country's always changing. The question is how do you adapt?"
'An American Pickle' airs on August 6 on HBO Max.