Judd Apatow Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Interview: Judd Apatow (Part Two)
Filed under: Universal », Fandom », Home Entertainment », Interviews »
Read Part One of this interview right here
When Judd Apatow's latest film, Funny People, was announced, many critics and audiences hailed it – even before they saw it – not only as an evolution of the filmmaker's style, but a return to the kind of drama-laced comedy that flourished in the 1980s and early '90s thanks to folks like Cameron Crowe and James L. Brooks. When it was released, the film more than satisfied those expectations, offering an unflinching but frequently hilarious portrait of an A-list comedian rediscovering himself, but there seemed to be a sense that audiences knew themselves less well than they felt like they knew the film's main character, resulting in a less enthusiastic response than perhaps even they expected.
The film arrives on Blu-ray this week, offering what is indisputably the most complete and comprehensive look behind the scenes at a comedy ever produced, and offers audiences a second chance to check out Apatow's most meaningful and resonant work to date. Cinematical got a chance to catch up with the writer-director via telephone to discuss the contents of the expansive, 2-Disc Collector's Edition; in the second part of our chat, Apatow talks about precisely what made the movie so personal for him, and offers a few insights about its place in his growing body of work, and its potential influence on his future films (including a Harry Potter movie, maybe?).
Cinematical: With or without talking to you at the time of the film's release, people seemed to assume that this was a very personal film, I think because it was more serious than your previous work. Was it really personal, and if so in what way or why?
Interview: Judd Apatow (Part One)
Filed under: Universal », Fandom », Home Entertainment », Interviews »
Funny People was the latest in Judd Apatow's ongoing series of summer comedies, but it was anything but a typical summer comedy: following a successful comedian (played by Apatow's longtime friend Adam Sandler) who reflects on his life after discovering he's going to die, the film offered lots of humor but with decidedly heavier themes lurking beneath the yuks. The film debuts on Blu-ray in a 2-Disc Collector's Edition next week, and the contents are amazing, showing how Apatow combined lighthearted fare with more serious ideas in the service of exploring something substantive.
Cinematical was lucky enough to catch up with Apatow via telephone one recent morning to discuss the process of putting together the film's home video iteration. In addition to discussing the bonus materials, extras, featurettes, and a documentary that's the most thorough and thoughtful ever produced about a comedy production, Apatow talked about finding the right ending for his magnum opus, discovering and deconstructing the process of producing laughs, and front-loading the film's universe with outside content about the supporting characters.
Cinematical: One of the ideas highlighted in the Blu-ray bonus materials was the fact that you knew this was going in a different direction than your previous films. Even knowing that while you were making it, were you surprised by the reactions of audiences and critics when it was released? Or does it matter?
Blu-ray Review: Funny People
Filed under: Universal », DVD Reviews », Home Entertainment »
These days it's common practice for filmmakers to document every single aspect of a movie's creation for its eventual home video release – examining previsualization, creature development, fight choreography, set and costume design, effects rendering, and so on. When you're making a comedy, however, there seems to be less of interest in the different aspects of production (not the least of which because many of those above aren't even a factor), leaving only outtakes, gaffes, and alternate line readings to fill out the bonus features for a forthcoming Blu-ray or DVD.
Judd Apatow's Blu-ray for Funny People, however, runs contrary to expectations; indeed, it's by far the most complete and comprehensive portrait of a comedy production ever assembled. Featuring not only the requisite slate of alternate takes, film flubs, and extra scenes, but two different versions of the film, multiple featurettes, archive footage, and a feature-length documentary about the film's origins, development and production, the two-disc set takes the art of being funny very seriously.
Monday Night Poll: 'Funny People' Gender Divide?
Filed under: Comedy », Universal », Fandom », Moviefone Feedback », Polls »
Are you a man or a woman? That may be the essential reason why you either loved or hated Judd Apatow's Funny People, starring Adam Sandler as a comedian facing a mid-life crisis. Marketing research firm CinemaScore says that men graded the movie B+ but women only granted it C+. As reported by Los Angeles Times, that translates into: "men generally liked it ... most women did not."
Which is puzzling to me, because, as I was watching it (alone again, naturally), it didn't strike me as the kind of movie that might polarize the sexes. Now, I can understand the overall audience being smaller than something like the latest Harry Potter. Our own Eugene Novikov surmised as much in his box office summary, pointing out that attempting to market the film "as a typical Adam Sandler comedy was quixotic, and as another laugh riot from the Apatow factory only marginally less so." Yet, I would have anticipated that men and women who had seen Apatow's earlier directorial efforts, The 40-Year Old-Virgin and Knocked Up -- or any of the films of Adam Sandler -- would have a good idea what to expect, as far as the level of raunch and a view of women as generally cranky and more than a little scary. Did Funny People go too far?
Enlighten us, please. Take our poll of the sexes and let us know: Why did you like Funny People? Why didn't you like Funny People? And did you fight about it on the way home? Feel free to elaborate in the comments section.
Rogen & Apatow Speak Out on Heigl v. 'Knocked Up'
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy »
This week has been all about drama behind the scenes in Hollywood, so why not kick off the weekend with a little more? Well before Summit fought a sh*tstorm over recasting Victoria, Katherine Heigl was irking fans with her comments on Knocked Up. Although she tried to smooth things over, the damage was done. For a while, I saw where she was coming from ... until she decided to produce and star in a little project called The Ugly Truth. And it looks like I wasn't the only one to note the hypocrisy. While making the rounds for Funny People, Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow stopped by Howard Stern, as US Magazine reports. They were asked about Heigl's comments, and Rogen noted that Truth "looks like it really puts women on a pedestal in a beautiful way." Meanwhile, Apatow tried to be a bit diplomatic, noting potential fatigue from working the circuit. Rogen, however, would have none of it. "I didn't slip and I was doing f****** interviews all day too ... I didn't say s***!"
Apatow wrapped up his thoughts on the matter with: "[You think] at some point I'll get a call saying 'Sorry, I was tired...' and then the call never comes."
Maybe it'll come once every bridge in Hollywood's been burned.
Review: Funny People
Filed under: Comedy », Theatrical Reviews »
In the new film Funny People, Ira Wright, the character played by Seth Rogen, reveals more or less inadvertently that the reason he became a stand-up comedian was because he was ridiculed by his classmates as a boy. This is probably one of the film's most profound moments, although it hardly treats it as such; but there's a long and illustrious history of comedy serving the purpose of concealing people's feelings, both on and off screen. And filtered through the meta-movie stardom of Adam Sandler's ailing A-lister, Funny People is precisely about the walls people put up in one way or another to protect themselves from emotional harm – which, as the film observes, almost always become a prison for the person who builds them.
Sandler plays George Simmons, a mega-comedian and movie star who decides to "return to his roots" in stand-up after a doctor diagnoses him with a rare and inoperable disease that gives him only a limited time to live. After a disastrous appearance at a local club, George meets Rogen's Ira, an aspiring comedian who mines a few laughs out of his performance, and he hires Ira to write jokes for him, and eventually, to work as his personal assistant. But when George reconnects with his ex-girlfriend Laura (Leslie Mann), who is now married to a daffy Australian huckster named Clarke (Eric Bana), he begins to truly reconsider his affluent but empty lifestyle.
The Fake Films You Won't See in 'Funny People'
Filed under: Comedy », Fandom », Trailers and Clips »
Unfortunately I cannot yet share my opinion on Judd Apatow's new flick Funny People, which I watched recently at an undisclosed location in a city that will not be named. But, I can tell you that within the film there are clips from a bunch of fake films (we've already shared some of them with you), and they were created to decorate the past of George Simmons (Adam Sandler), a big-time actor who's made loads of money off a slew of craptacular comedies. Early on in the film, Simmons finds out he's living with a rare disease that will most likely kill him -- and it's that fact that sets this sort of life-adventure flick in motion.Apatow has been writing these little blogs for MTV leading up to the release of Funny People on July 31, and the latest one reveals a longer version of the Merman scene that's actually in the film, as well as two fake movie scenes that just couldn't be squeezed in. One is called Sayonara Davey, which Apatow calls their "politically incorrect foreign exchange student movie," and the other is the obligatory dog-cop drama Dog's Best Friend (see the poster to the right). Check out all three clips after the jump, and learn more about Simmons' real-fake career (some of it is actually based on Sandler's early days) over on the fictional character's real website.
Watch the clips after the jump
'Funny People': New Trailer and Adam Sandler's Prank Call, Circa 1991
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Fandom », Movie Marketing », Trailers and Clips »
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The summer movie season has already past its half-way point, but my two most anticipated films still haven't arrived: District 9 and Judd Apatow's Funny People. We talked about the former yesterday, and now today it's time to plug a film that looks to bring it all: laughs, tears, Australian accents, Seth Rogen's weird cough-laugh, sarcastic Australian accents, Jason Schwartzman looking stoned, Jonah Hill being a d*ck, tons of stand-up comedy -- seriously, what more could you want from a movie?
Two new pieces of Funny People marketing have arrived today. We have a red-band trailer that premiered over at MySpace and a piece of viral awesomeness that premiered over at Moviefone. The red-band (or restricted ... which sounds so mean, doesn't it) trailer isn't all too bad (with the exception of an oral sex joke), and it definitely shines a light on the finer aspects of Apatow's films, which include real, human moments, or, as some would say, the little stuff.
Meanwhile, the viral piece is something pretty unique. Back in the early '90s, Judd Apatow and Adam Sandler were actual roommates, who, apparently, filmed ridiculous things like prank calls. So ... this video is Apatow filming a very young-looking Sandler prank-calling the local deli as an old lady to complain about a sandwich while wearing underwear on his head. Check out both the trailer and the viral video after the jump.
Funny People hits theaters on July 31.
Quick List: Romance for Boys
Filed under: Comedy », Romance », Fandom », Lists »
It's funny, but I've been watching Kevin Smith movies for a long time now, but it was only as I was reading through Total Film's list of the Best & Worst: Kevin Smith, that I realized something that I never really thought all that much about before -- and what was my big epiphany? Well, I finally discovered that Smith's films in the end are just rom-coms with poop jokes. Smith may have been considered a foul-mouthed stoner for most of his career, but now that I've looked beyond his shtick, I've finally come to the conclusion that the guy is a big old softy. Which got me thinking: Is there such a thing as romance for boys?
Now if you're the observant type, you've probably noticed I'm not a dude, so what do I know, right? But I've been told time and again that I'm not the 'average girl' (whatever that means) when it comes to my movie tastes, so I'm going to put that theory to the test, and get in touch with my masculine side to create a list of romantic movies for men.
After the jump; My 5 picks for boy-friendly romance...
'The Zookeeper' Snares a Slew of Big Voices
Filed under: Comedy », Casting »
In February, Kevin James signed on to play The Zookeeper in MGM's upcoming live action comedy. At the time, the plot was described as the story of a zookeeper who decides to leave the zoo because he's having trouble meeting a girl ... but the animals intervene. Now we know what that intervention is. The guy wants to win back the woman of his dreams, so the animals teach him their methods of dating and mating. I hate to say it, but this sounds cute.The instructors of ze love, according to Variety, will be Adam Sandler as a capuchin monkey, Cher as a giraffe, Jon Favreau as a bear, Sylvester Stallone as a lion, and Judd Apatow as an elephant. I think they missed an opportunity by not making Sly a stallion, but otherwise, those voices could make for an interesting set of mating rituals.
Jim Breuer, Faizon Love, and Bas Rutten are rounding out the voice cast, but there's also one other name on the roster -- Rosario Dawson. Yes, she will play the woman of his dreams. Oh, men must love the fantasies that Hollywood provides.
The idea of anthropomorphized animals teaching a lonely sap mating rituals could make for a lot of comedy -- if they're allowed to really dip into the mating rituals. Do you think this James laffer will live up to the promise, or pale in comparison to projects like Green Porno?
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