¬ìPineapple Express” uses comedy to say that nothing good comes from getting high. All these guys¬í lives are a mess, they are going nowhere and, hopefully, almost getting murdered makes them rethink their current way of life. I always want the movies we make to be hilarious and thoughtful. I want to feel good about what we are saying–Producer Judd Apathow

Like most people, I struggled through my own high school years, and I wanted to make a film that explored the very real and very intense pressures of being 17, of trying to figure out who you are while pushed by your peers to be a certain way, pressured by your parents as to who you should become, and face the mounting pressure to make crucial decisions–inevitably, poorly-informed ones–about your future. But I wanted to explore the theme of struggling to find your identity, not with actors, but with real teenagers–Nanette Burstein

From the minute I cracked the unpublished manuscript, the story struck me as both startlingly truthful and cinematic. I read it over a weekend and fell in love with the world and the characters. I found so many things about it compelling. It took me to so many places I didn‚Äôt expect. By turns, I thought it was horrifying, hilarious, touching, ugly and at the same time, wonderful and liberating. It was everything I look for in a story. I was drawn to the political aspects and the humor of the book, which was so real and keenly observed–First-time director Alan Ball.

Their world might be lacking sight but it can be richer in spirituality on the other hand. And maybe its they who understand the essence of happiness–

The film began in Sweden. The country itself was an important component for me. I had already made two shorts there. I wanted to shoot my first feature in a world I know well, albeit a world in which I don't fully grasp all the social codes. My mother is Swedish and every summer when I return to the family homestead on an island in the Gothenburg archipelago, I have the sensation that my view of the island and the country is new and fresh–Director Anna Novion