Seth Rogen is starting to spread himself out from the Judd Apatow comedies, though he is very much staying in the same genre those movies existed in.

He’s currently filming a movie with Kevin Smith, a director who shares a lot of similarities with Apatow and now word has come from Variety that Rogen will star in Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures mall security guard comedy Observe and Report for a newcomer to the scene, writer/director Jody Hill.

Hill’s movie The Foot Fist Way got people buzzing at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and has won a theatrical release from Paramount Vantage at the end of May in New York and Los Angeles, before going wide in June.

“Observe and Report” centers on Ronnie Barnhardt, a deluded, self-important head of mall security who squares off in a turf war against the local cops. Hill penned the screenplay.

Surprisingly it’s not the only mall security guard comedy in production. We heard back in September that Kevin James was writing, producing and leading his own comedy movie Mall Cop, about a mild-mannered security guard who must take down an organised attempt from robbers to take over his mall.

Who would have thought we would have dueling security guard movies?

I really like the goofy title Observe and Report and I’m far more interested in seeing what Seth Rogen can do with this kind of comedy over Kevin James. I’m guessing Rogen will basically be playing an extension of his Superbad cop character - a role I previously wondered if Apatow would spin-off to his own flick.

source - variety