FILM · 2014 · USA
Neighbors
28 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
28 Interesting Facts About Neighbors
Interesting Facts (22)
- #001
The cast and crew became very attached to Elise and Zoey Vargas, the twin girls who played Stella; on the babies' last day, everyone came to the set to say goodbye.
- #002
In the first draft, it was Mac and his buddies who went to war with the fraternity, but Seth Rogen's wife read it and pointed out that his friends wouldn't care about a frat feud; she suggested writing in Mac's wife instead.
- #003
According to the cast and Nicholas Stoller, the twins who played Stella (Elise and Zoey Vargas) were incredibly good, always smiling and happy. The only time one of them got upset and cried was when Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne yelled at each other while shooting their argument scenes.
- #004
In the opening scene, the baby turning to watch while Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) have sex was pure luck. The scene was supposed to end with Rogen turning the baby around, but director Nicholas Stoller noticed her looking over at Rogen and Byrne and told a camera operator to film her. Stoller says that if you listen closely you can hear the two actors laughing when the baby turns to look.
- #005
Real-life couple Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally shot a cameo as Christopher Mintz-Plasse's parents, but the scene was cut.
- #006
On the day of his love scene, Dave Franco broke out in a blemish on his backside and had to ask a makeup artist he'd only met that week to cover it up.
- #007
Seth Rogen said the baby eating the condom made him laugh until he cried.
- #008
The creed the frat brothers recite is the actual creed of the Sigma Nu fraternity.
- #009
In the flashbacks to the first toga party and the invention of beer pong, the guys in togas are The Lonely Island, and the ones who discover beer pong are the Workaholics (2011) crew.
- #010
To avoid confusion with the long-running soap Neighbours (1985), the film was released as Bad Neighbours in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the Netherlands, and Universal's Facebook page posted a video of Seth Rogen singing the soap's theme song.
- #011
At the frat party, when Mac first calls Teddy to get the music turned down, the song playing is the one Sean 'Diddy' Combs hails as a "game changer" in Get Him to the Greek (2010).
- #012
When Mac and Teddy get drunk, they start doing their best Batman voices; Teddy's lines come from the interrogation scene in The Dark Knight (2008), where Batman grills the Joker about Harvey Dent's whereabouts.
- #013
At the Robert De Niro party, Zac Efron imitates De Niro's Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver (1976) and Dave Franco dresses as Jack from Meet the Parents (2000), while other frat members come as De Niro's characters from Heat (1995) and The Deer Hunter (1978). Efron later worked with De Niro on Dirty Grandpa (2016).
- #014
In several scenes Seth Rogen wears Golf Wang, the clothing line of rapper Tyler, the Creator.
- #015
Both Olmsted Drive and Officer Watkins take their names from buildings on the University of California, Riverside campus.
- #016
The original idea had Seth Rogen's character joining a fraternity, but it was dropped for being too close to Old School (2003).
- #017
Zac Efron's outfit at the Robert De Niro party copies De Niro in Taxi Driver (1976); Efron went on to co-star with De Niro in Dirty Grandpa (2016).
- #018
Jason Mantzoukas plays Dr. Theodorakis here and Frank Theodorakis in The House (2017).
- #019
When Mac and Kelly call the police during the house party, you can hear the "gonna F your S" song from the P-Diddy scene in Get Him to the Greek.
- #020
The students throw a party themed around Robert De Niro's roles; Lisa Kudrow (Dean Gladstone) co-starred with De Niro in Analyze This (1999) and Analyze That (2002).
- #021
After Kelly (Rose Byrne) clashes with Dean Carol Gladstone (Lisa Kudrow), she talks it over with Mac (Seth Rogen), and when he tells her Gladstone is the university's dean, she's stunned; she explains she thought "Dean" was Gladstone's first name, because in Australia, where she's from, a dean is called a chancellor. Yet earlier, at the frat party, telling a group of college girls how she met Mac, she says they spent a year at the same American college, so she should have known the title "Dean" and not been confused.
- #022
At one point Kelly Radner (Rose Byrne) wears neon green sunglasses much like those worn by a character in another of her films, The Place Beyond the Pines (2012).
Production Story (1)
- #023
Zac Efron broke his hand filming his fight with Dave Franco. The panicked writers and producers started working out how to fit the injury into the film and what it would do to the budget, so they were surprised to hear Efron had arranged emergency surgery and would be back on set the next day.
Behind the Scenes (1)
- #024
Mac and Teddy's final scene outside the Abercrombie & Fitch store was completely improvised; Zac Efron had no idea Seth Rogen was going to take his shirt off.
Characters & Cast (1)
- #025
Near the end, during the party, the lights in the house turn green, recalling the trips into "The Further" in the Insidious films, which also starred Rose Byrne.
Easter Eggs & References (2)
- #026
In the hazing scene where pledges walk naked in a circle wearing animal masks, "assjuice" protests to Teddy (Zac Efron), "I am not an elephant, I am a human being!", a nod to The Elephant Man (1980).
- #027
Paula suggests Mac and Kelly leave their baby at a fire station, as happened in Breaking Bad (2008), which the film references; Seth Rogen also worked with Breaking Bad's Jesse Plemons on Observe and Report (2009).
Deeper Meaning (1)
- #028
The writers wanted the frat guys to be as likable as possible, steering clear of the gross Revenge of the Nerds (1984)-style bullies. To get frat life right, they interviewed lots of friends who'd been in fraternities; many of the film's hazing rituals came from those talks, though some of what they heard was too shocking ever to put on screen.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- IMDb
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