So you know how Judd Apatow is slowly but surely becoming the next Jesus Christ Superstar and all? Well, what about you? Yes, you -- the guy who recycles the same three pairs of sweatpants and screams bloody murder when he forgets to DVR Beauty and the Geek. Here's an idea: What if you were able to create your own Judd Apatow movie? Not only would it make lots of money and be hella funny, but I bet you'd be able to score dates with Kristina, Leticia and Amanda once they're finished with the show (oh yes, I watch too). Luckily for us, Cracked came up with a list of easy-to-follow instructions that way you (and we won't tell everyone you know) can make your own Judd Apatow movie. Here's a brief sample of what you'll need (via Cracked):

Difficulty: Can be tricky the first time, but once you've got the hang of it, you can pump them out yearly.

Time: 6 months (4 hours for scripting and casting, a weekend for shooting, and 5 months and 28 days for editing, advertising and "make 'em wait" time).

Things You Will Need:
1. A beloved failed TV show from which to pull your cast
2. A thorough knowledge of basic sexual slang (for help with this, see my other manual, "From Pearl Necklaces to Donkey Punches: the Eight Comedic Sexual Maneuvers")
3. A disdain for continuity
4. An old High School yearbook from which to pull ideas and characters
5. A shitload of film to allow actors time to improvise (ie, "write the script")
6. An understanding of improvisational comedy that entails two guys speaking in unconnected one-liners
7. Paul Rudd's phone number
8. A giant bag of weed (usually Paul Rudd can provide this)

Head over to Cracked to read the rest -- and definitely let us know the name of your Judd Apatow movie when it's done, as well as how to find it. (Oh, and don't thank us -- thank comedy.)

Most conversations about Forgetting Sarah Marshall -- the new Judd Apatow-produced comedy about a devastating breakup -- are going to start with the penis shot. Sure, there have been willies in the movies before -- hell, there have been dongs in Apatow productions before (see Walk Hard). But a johnson this prominently featured, and in a mainstream romantic comedy? It breaks new ground. And not only is it funny, it's the perfect visual representation of what a guy goes through when he gets dumped. The film's star, Jason Segel, is stripped bare literally and figuratively -- exposed, embarrassed, emasculated. It's a comedy moment for the history books. I just wish I could say the rest of the film is as bold, as brave, as ... ballsy as that penis.

Oh, don't get me wrong. Sarah Marshall is a very funny movie. But its faults -- its sagginess, its tendency to let improvisation roll past the point of laughter, its relationships that often don't ring true -- are what separate this Judd Apatow production from a Judd Apatow film.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall finds Jason Segel vacationing in Hawaii to forget the girl (Kristen Bell) who just dumped him. Alas, she's at the same resort with her new beau! It's the latest comedy from the Apatow camp, and it hits theaters this weekend. Cinematical spoke one-on-one with the film's director, Nicholas Stoller, regarding the movie, his upcoming Muppet project, and how much onscreen penis is too much onscreen penis.

Cinematical: Is it intimidating for you knowing that every movie associated with Apatow these days is such a comedy event? Does that put pressure on you as the director to live up to that standard?

Nicholas Stoller: Not really, I'm still excited I got to make a movie, so I'm not really thinking in terms of if it's going to be a big event. Our movie was cheap so we don't have to make up that much money. It amuses me, and I hope that it amuses more people.

Cinematical: It amused me, so there's one extra person anyway.

NS: We have you and me and we just need 30 million more Americans.

Aside from scoring himself the lead in I Love You Man, Paul Rudd is scoring himself a woman with some impressive genes. Variety reports that Rashida Jones has signed on to play his fiance in the upcoming comedy. You might remember Jones from her work in The Office, or going back a bit more, Boston Public, but she's also the daughter of Quincy Jones and Peggy Lipton. Nice job, Paul!

The film focuses on Rudd as a man who, for some reason, decides that he needs to hunt down a stranger (Jason Segal) to be his best man. I can't think of any reason why that would be necessary. Do all of his friends die in a plane crash? I don't get it. At the very least, the guy could share some of his wife's friends. But really, as long as we get a wedding with some Rudd dancing, I'll be happy.

Keeping busy, this isn't the only project Rashida has signed on for. She's also going to co-star with Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. in Chilled in Miami. In the never-before-seen premise, a big-city woman gets transferred to rural Minnesota and "re-evaluates her big-city values." Jones will be her best friend in the film, but they're not saying whether this is her big-city best friend or someone she bonds with up north. This one, I'm not so keen on, but kudos to Rashida for picking up two big roles.

As much as I like Judd Apatow, there is just something that isn't doing it for me when it comes to Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Luckily, it looks like the new Red Band trailer just released on Empire will help those of you out there like me who just are not completely sold on the romantic comedy. It's nothing I can put my finger on, but I think most audiences will be sold on the "Apatow Brand" more than anything else.

Marshall stars Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother) as Peter Bretter; a lovelorn guy who has just been dumped by his newly-successful girlfriend (as played by TV's Kristen Bell). When advised to take a vacation by his friends, he runs into his ex and her new rock-star boyfriend. Mila Kunis (That 70's Show) also co-stars as the fun-loving girl who helps Peter over his heartache. Along with the first-timer's, some of the usual Apaptow crew are there including Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, and Bill Heder.

Erik had brought us the first trailer back in December, and the new red band version contains a lot of the same jokes. So while it doesn't include much new footage, at least this time they don't have to worry about those pesky FCC rules and they can show you the jokes in their entirety -- and believe me when I tell you that they are way funnier when they don't have to worry about offending people in the prime-time hour. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (with all the crudeness intact) will arrive in theaters on April 18, 2008.

The parody subgenre once gave us comedy classics like Young Frankenstein, Airplane!, Top Secret!, and The Naked Gun. This glorious tradition has been disgracefully violated in recent years by the likes of the cleverly titled Epic Movie and Date Movie. (As for the latter -- a spoof of comedies? Outstanding idea!) Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, a parody of musical biopics like Walk the Line and Ray, marks the pretty damn triumphant return of the spoof film. The movie also marks the return of Judd Apatow, and I'm pleased to report that Walk Hard completes a 2007 hat trick for the man. It easily joins Knocked Up and Superbad to form the unholy trinity of the year's superior comedies.

Starting in fictional rock star Dewey Cox's boyhood Tennessee home and ending some sixty years later after his bouts with women, booze, and pills, the film traces the blood pumping rise...of Cox. (First and last Cox joke, I promise.) The script gets Cox making music quickly, and good thing. I'm not sure why the first ten minutes of Walk Hard were released online as part of the marketing plan, they're easily the weakest scenes of the film. But once John C. Reilly enters the picture, portraying Cox at age fourteen despite being 25 years older (a dig at Kevin Spacey in Beyond the Sea?), it's pretty much smooth sailing.

Access Hollywood premiered the first trailer for the next Judd Apatow-produced comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and while it doesn't quite look like an Apatow film right now (with the exception of his regulars all showing up), remember that this is the made-for-TV trailer that probably can't include the film's greatest bits. This time Jason Segel (who wrote the script) is in the lead, and he plays a guy who's having one heckuva hard time forgetting his ex-girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). When he's advised to take a trip to Hawaii to help mend his open wounds, he accidentally winds up staying at the same hotel as Sarah and her new wacked-out celebrity boyfriend.

Based on the trailer, it looks to be Apatow's most cookie-cutter of all his films, but like I said before, they'll come out with a red-band trailer and this will look like a completely different movie. Regardless, you still have performances from the reliable Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, Bill Hader and adorable Mila Kunis -- not to mention the flick is directed by Nicholas Stoller (Undeclared) -- so hopes are still pretty high. Forgetting Sarah Marshall arrives in theaters on May 30, and you can watch the trailer above. Let us know what you think.

There are some actors who need to stick to playing supporting roles. Paul Rudd is not one of them -- he is good-looking and perfectly capable of being a lead -- but that doesn't mean I can't prefer him as the leading man's buddy, or as the romantic opposition, or as a member of an hilarious ensemble. But as goofy as the guy is, we have to remember that he was once just that love interest/step-brother for Alicia Silverstone in Clueless. Fortunately, as Rudd appears to grow in Hollywood status, starring in his own vehicles, he seems to be choosing movies that relate more to his work with Judd Apatow, Adam McKay and the Stella guys than to run of the mill romantic comedies.

His latest to be announced is called I Love You, Man, which makes one think of the joke in Wayne's World about platonic love between two grown men (" I LOVE you, man"). And, what do you know? I Love You, Man is in fact about platonic love between two grown men. According to Variety, the movie is about a guy (Rudd), who is about to get married, but who doesn't have a male friend who can serve as his best man. So, he seeks one out and eventually finds gangly Jason Segal of TV's How I Met Your Mother (and Knocked Up, which co-starred Rudd).

All the way back in July of 2006, Cinematical first mentioned the romantic comedy How I Met My Boyfriend's Dead Fiancee, which has since become the briefer, easier-to-say Over Her Dead Body. Starring Eva Longoria, the flick is about a female psychic (Lake Bell) who falls for a skeptic (Paul Rudd), and then has to deal with his dead ex-fiance (Longoria) -- a pissy ghost who doesn't want them getting together. (Yes, this is very similar to Ghost Town, which I told you about the other day.) The romcom was written by John Tucker Must Die scribe Jeff Lowell, and is the writer's directorial debut.

Now Variety reports that the comedy has been picked up by New Line, and we'll get to see it on February 1st. I'm pretty psyched -- while Rudd gets a lot of roles these days, they're almost always in that darned supporting realm. He pops on, throws out some highly-quotable lines, whips up some memorable moments, and then backs away while the stars take over. Hopefully this will be a notable lead for him, or the gateway to more leading work. Isn't it about time? He's come a long way since Overnight Delivery, so it's time he gets some love!

But that's not all New Line has picked up. The company has also nabbed Kevin Costner and Ivana Banquero's The New Daughter. However, that hasn't even begun production yet, so we won't be seeing it for a while.

I was talking to my friend about stars who did commercials before they became well-known, and we happened upon two doozies. But how could I choose which ones to pick for Stars in Rewind? The fact of the matter is that I couldn't, so I'm going to present both of them for your viewing pleasure, and let you pick which one you like better. I imagine there will be a clear winner here, but there's just something about the other that makes me want to give it a chance. Perhaps it's because of my love of ridiculous dancing performed on the hood of old, beaten-down trucks. Whatever the case may be, let the showdown begin!

In one corner, we have Paul Rudd. It's storming; he's at the drive in; and he's ready to wreak havoc with his itching gamer fingers. F-Zero is slammed into the SNES, and off he goes! The sheer awesomeness of games from Zelda to Sim City makes gameboy after gameboy (the humans, not the hand-held system) gather to watch the amazing graphics much, much larger-than-life. Rudd just.... he really just gets the gaming experience, you know?



In the other corner, there's Simon Pegg ready to take him down with a helping of Buttercup. No, it isn't the lover of Dread Pirate Roberts, but rather a cough medicine. He decides to call in sick to work, while camping out under a bridge with his fishing equipment, as well as his dog and a...cow? But just in case you didn't think there were enough animals, there is even one more in the mix as he talks with his boss on his mobile. Between this and Rudd going gamer, I'm really, really itching for a comedy headlining both of them. But for now, I'll just have to settle for these commercials.

Big Brother was supposed to start production in January of this year, at least, according to early reports when Seann William Scott was cast. But what movie ever sticks to a schedule? When Paul Rudd joined in December, production was pushed back to April. But as of September, McLovin -aka- Christopher Mintz-Plasse signed on and production still hadn't started. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Elizabeth Banks has also signed on, to play Rudd's girlfriend who gets him into the Big Brother program -- and, it's finally into production.

Unfortunately, it's still having name issues. First, it was Big Brother; then, it became Little Big Men, which wasn't so good as it sounds like some sort of orphan drama or something; now, it's currently an "untitled mentor project." I have to admit, I'm pretty psyched about this flick, mainly because it was written by The Ten's David Wain (who is also directing) and Ken Marino, along with Rudd. Between Marino's work as Vinnie Van Lowe, Rudd's involvement, and James Rocchi's great interview with Wain and Marino back in August, you couldn't keep me away from this picture. Now that they've finally begun shooting, maybe we can see this sucker some time in the new year.

Cinematical has just received the first official poster for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (click on the image above for a larger version), the upcoming comedy written by Judd Apatow and Jake Kasdan. Do I need to say more, or are you already sold? I mean, if John C. Reilly in a Jim Morrison-like pose doesn't do it for ya, we've got issues to discuss. Essentially, the film will be spoofing all those popular musical biopics, like Walk the Line, etc ..., but I take it the flick will be a major step up from the silly spoofs like Scary Movie and Not Another Teen Movie, etc .. It'll be silly, sure, but check out some of this cast: John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Paul Rudd, Justin Long, Jason Schwartzman, Jack Black, just about every popular SNL cast member in recent years and White Striper Jack White as Elvis Presley.

Walk Hard follows the life and times of fictional music legend Dewey Cox (Reilly) who, throughout his turbulent (yet awe-inspiring) career, fathers 22 kids, 14 step-kids, becomes addicted and subsequently kicks every drug known to man, and falls in love with his longtime backup singer Darlene (Fischer). Somewhere along the way, he also makes friends with everyone from The Beatles to Elvis -- and stars in his own 70s Variety Show. As a big fan of everyone involved, I know this movie is going to kick major ass -- how can it not? Directed by Jake Kasdan (who also helmed the very funny Orange County and comes from the same Freaks and Geeks world as Apatow), Walk Hard is set to sing its way into theaters on December 21.

He will always be "McLovin", but at least newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plasse has found another role to follow-up his hilarious debut in Superbad. The actor told Moviehole in an interview hat he has been cast in Little Big Men alongside comedy vets Paul Rudd and Sean William Scott. This is apparently the movie formerly known as Big Brothers, which was written by Timothy Dowling (George Lucas in Love) and which was to be directed by Luke Greenfield (The Girl Next Door). According to Mintz-Plasse, though, Little Big Men will now be helmed by Wet Hot American Summer and The Ten director David Wain. The movie's plot involves two wild and crazy guys who end up sentenced to community service in the form of the Big Brothers mentoring program. Why a judge would think a couple of party boys would be suitable mentors to kids is beyond me (the program does have very strict guidelines against drug users, and I'm sure these guys are probably potheads), but it should at least make for some funny situations.

It isn't clear what kind of role Mintz-Plasse will have (the mentored kid, perhaps?), but I see him having difficulty shedding his persona as Fogel/McLovin, which was so perfect I almost found the guy funnier than Michael Cera. The actor may end up like Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder, who similarly came on the scene with a quirky, imitable character and has had trouble finding another movie that audiences accept him in (he succeeded marginally by co-starring with Will Ferrell in Blades of Glory). Interestingly enough, Heder even played a Big Brother in School for Scoundrels -- at least, his character was in the program until being let go for being too much of a loser. If Mintz-Plasse can join the ranks of Wain's usual crop of collaborators -- which spans the State/Stella/Reno 911! crowd and the Apatow/Stiller "Frat Pack" group -- then he should be able to make a decent career for himself.

The Ten, an anthology comedy comprised of ten vignettes inspired by the ten commandments, is a bit of a throwback to scatter-shot comedies of the past like The Groove Tube and Amazon Women on the Moon; at the same time, it's possessed of an ultra-modern deadpan sensibility, with highbrow ideas sharing screen time with lowbrow cheap laughs. The Ten was co-written by Ken Marino and David Wain; Wain was also the director. The two have collaborated on other films (most notably Wet Hot American Summer) and also worked together in the comedy collaborative "The State." Wain and Marino spoke with Cinematical via telephone about the challenges of making The Ten, how you fake 40 CAT scan machines on a low budget, method mustache acting and cute-yet-terrifying animated animal orgies.

Ken Marino: (Singing) "... Band on the run! Band on the run!"

Cinematical: Is there nothing like Wings to cut the strain of the all-day, conducted-by-telephone promotional tour?

KM: You took the words right out of my mouth.

Cinematical: So let's start by just getting our praise of Krzysztof Kieslowski and his hard-to-pronounce name out of the way. Was The Decalogue really an inspiration for The Ten?

David Wain: Well, insomuch as it's exactly the same premise, yes.

Cinematical: But you guys didn't actually think ... Was the actual starting point "Let's do the Ten Commandments ..."?

KM: The starting point was 'Let's steal Kieslowski's idea and do our own funny version of it. ..."

Cinematical: Which you certainly succeeded in doing, but: Do you feel like maybe he's stolen the ten commandments and no one else can do them?

KM : I feel like he stole the ten commandments from some other book -- some other, dare I say, good book. ...

I first rented Overnight Delivery one evening years ago because that girl from Man in the Moon was in it. I popped the video in, half watching it and half surfing the Internet. After maybe 10 minutes, I'd logged off and turned all of my attention to the movie because it kept making me laugh in spite of myself, and in spite of the questionable story. Really, it's a simple formula: Guy thinks the world of girl, finds out she's cheating on him, goes nuts and sends off a scathing package, finds out it isn't true and then goes on zany adventures to try and stop the package and save his relationship.

Paul Rudd plays Wyatt Trips, a young man who is so sexually pent up that he has become this strange, stiff romantic caricature who knows how to shmooze his girl, but not seal the deal for something more carnal. His relationship has become so by-the-book that he can't even notice the lack of passion behind it. He is, at times, completely ridiculous, something which often makes him seem unbelievable. However, it's Rudd's performance that really sold me on this film. I used to know someone just like him. In fact, the two are so similar, down to the way they say "oh, awesome," that it feels like someone found my old friend and studied him for a few days.