Seth Rogen is not known for restraint, but the comedian and actor has found himself in unexpectedly tender territory with his latest project. In a new interview, Rogen said his work on the documentary "Babies" is "reflective" of his own "experiences" exploring parenthood, adding, "It's shocking how personal it is."
The film, directed by Kate Schofield, arrives in theaters on September 1, 2026, and runs 88 minutes. It carries a rare 10/10 rating on TMDb, a reflection of the intensity of its subject matter rather than the star power of its cast.
"Babies" is not a comedy, and it is not a conventional parenting documentary. Told through the voices of the mothers and children who were separated from one another, the film documents the full scale of the United Kingdom's forced adoption scandal. Over four decades, 250,000 unmarried mothers were compelled by the British state to surrender their babies. Their first-hand accounts form the backbone of the film, which traces the machinery that tore families apart, the lasting damage it inflicted, and the campaign to unearth the truth that ultimately produced a moment of national reckoning.
The documentary features an ensemble of participants speaking as themselves, including Marion McMillan, Ann Keen, Joan Chambers, Mark Lloyd-Fox, Judy, Wes Cuell, and Marion Scott. It also draws on archive footage featuring Keir Starmer, now the sitting prime minister, whose early legal career intersected with the broader fight for accountability. The presence of that footage gives the film a political dimension that its emotional testimony might otherwise obscure.
Rogen's involvement has surprised some observers, given his filmography of stoner comedies and raunchy studio hits. But his remarks suggest that the material connected with him on a level he did not anticipate. The actor, who has been open in recent years about shifting priorities as a parent, described the film's intimacy as something that caught him off guard. His comments echo the experience many viewers have reported: the documentary's power lies not in statistics, though the 250,000 figure is staggering, but in the specific, individual voices that carry its narrative.
A scandal measured in decades, not headlines
The forced adoption scandal has been compared to other postwar injustices in Britain in which state institutions prioritized respectability over family preservation. Unmarried mothers, many of them teenagers, were pressured, coerced, or outright deceived into giving up children they wished to keep. The film's structure, built around the accounts of mothers and the children they lost, refuses to let the policy debate eclipse the human cost.
That approach aligns with a broader trend in documentary filmmaking toward first-person testimony over expert commentary. Schofield's direction keeps the camera on the people who lived the experience, and the result is a film that functions as both historical record and emotional reckoning. The participation of figures like Starmer in archival form situates the story within a larger institutional context, but the film's heart remains with McMillan, Keen, Chambers, and the others who agreed to speak.
Rogen's pivot raises questions about range
For Rogen, "Babies" represents a departure from the material that made him famous. Whether it signals a lasting shift toward more serious projects, or simply a one-off passion, remains to be seen. What is clear is that the actor is uninterested in treating the subject lightly.
"It's shocking how personal it is," he said, describing the film as reflective of his own experiences navigating parenthood. The line is simple, but it captures something about why the documentary has landed with audiences beyond the U.K.: the fear of separation, and the bond between parent and child, translate across borders.
The 10/10 TMDb rating may or may not hold as more viewers see the film, but early response suggests "Babies" is being received less as entertainment than as testimony. For a documentary about a scandal that official Britain spent decades downplaying, that distinction matters.
"Babies" is in theaters now. It runs 88 minutes and is rated for mature audiences given its subject matter.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
