‘Tangles’ Cast Members Seth Rogen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus & Bryan Cranston On Animated Film’s Rare Back Story

An animated film takes time to make. An animated film based on a funny-but-deeply-moving graphic memoir about a family’s experience with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease can take a bit longer. Lauren Miller Rogen, wife of Seth Rogen and one of the producers of the film Tangles, told the crowd at Monday night’s special screening of the film in New York that work began on the adaptation back in 2016. It was acquired earlier this year by IFC, which will release it for a qualifying run later this month ahead of a wider bow in early 2027. “I saw so much of my own story in [author] Sarah Levitt’s family story,” Rogen said. “I have a feeling a lot of you will see your own stories in it as well.” The regrettable ubiquity of dementia and Alzheimer’s, along with the potency of Levitt’s work, drew a crowd of A-listers to the project. The voice cast includes Seth Rogen, Bryan Cranston, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Abbi Jacobson and Beanie Feldstein. Producers include Louis-Dreyfus; Rogen via his company, Point Grey; Monarch Media, Giant Ant; and LYLAS Pictures. Watch on Deadline During a Q&A after the screening, Louis-Dreyfus said the black-and-white, 2-D film “took advantage of the art form in an unusual and whatever-the-opposite-of-derivative-is way was very appealing to me. I think it’s very funny and very devastating. I related to it from a personal point of view, having Alzheimer’s in my own family, not once but twice. So, I felt like I understood it and the story needed to be told, and I was honored to be a part of it.” Cranston observed, “It’s not always the case when you get contacted by people you know and friends saying, ‘We’d like you to be in our movie’ that it’s good.” As the audience laughed, Seth Rogen cut in: “Almost never!” Cranson, with half-joking affirmation from Louis-Dreyfus, continued, “You go, ‘Whoa, how do I get out of this?!’ And then you say something like, ‘You know, I didn’t connect with the character as much as, someone else is going to really, uh …’ But I didn’t have to do any of that. I read the script and I thought, ‘Wow, this is beautiful.'” Jacobson voices the lead role of Sarah, who at the time the story starts in 1999 is a young artist living in San Francisco, 3,000 miles from her family, exploring a new relationship with a character voiced by Samira Wiley. “I’m playing a real person, who I got to meet. And I read her book, and so that carried a lot of weight for me,” Jacobson Said. A “rarity,” she added, were voice recording sessions that involved multiple cast members performing together. “To get to be in a room doing the voiceover with them is such a different experience. You get to look the other actor in the eye and you get to act and be present. And with a story that’s really important. There’s a lot going on, and it felt so connected, same as the comedic moments. It’s always better when you’re in the room.” Monday’s event at Regal Union Square was presented by Hilarity for Charity, a not-for-profit founded by the Rogens to support families affected by Alzheimer’s. Joining cast members were Leah Nelson, the film’s director, producer and co-writer; and Levitt, who co-wrote the screenplay. Guests also included former AMC Global Media CEO Josh Sapan, whose company, Sapan Studios, teamed with IFC on the acquisition. (Sapan knows plenty about lengthy film productions, having fostered the Oscar-winning Boyhood during his AMC tenure.) Current AMC Global execs were also out in force, among them CEO Kristin Dolan, Chief Content Officer Dan McDermott; and IFC Entertainment Group chief Scott Shooman.