Judd Apatow knows that in casting his real life wife and children in his latest film, the seriocomic Knocked Up spin-off/sequel This Is 40, he's inadvertently invited the world to peek into his own life, marriage, issues, and neuroses. Still, despite the many parallels one might draw between Paul Rudd's Pete (now a struggling indie record label owner) and Leslie Mann's Debbie (whose own small business and marital woes are nothing compared to impending big 4-0), Apatow insists most of This is 40 is fictionalized. Okay, much of it. Well, he doesn't escape to the bathroom to play games on his iPad like Pete does. "I’m more about reading the Huffington Post," Apatow joked.
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Movieline would like to welcome Pete Hammond to the pages of this site with a new column that we're calling Hammond on Film. If you love movies, then you're probably familiar with Pete's byline. He's the Awards columnist for our sister site, Deadline Hollywood, as well as a veteran movie critic who has written more than 600 reviews for the best-selling Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide and, most recently, was the film critic for Boxoffice Magazine and Boxoffice.com. He has also reviewed features for CNN. For his first column, Pete takes a close look at Judd Apatow's This Is 40, which opens Dec. 21.
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Judd Apatow has conquered comedy. Will Broadway be next? In an interview with GQ magazine that appears in the January issue, the This Is 40 director tells writer Amy Wallace that he's writing his first play. And it may not be funny. more »
This is 40 ends with a title card saying that it's "Based on characters created by Judd Apatow." While this is true — the film's about Debbie (Leslie Mann) and Pete (Paul Rudd), who were supporting figures in Apatow's 2007 hit Knocked Up — it also feels like it might be more accurate for it to declare "Based on Judd Apatow." It doesn't just star his wife Mann, it features their daughters Maude and Iris as her children, and it's not hard to read Rudd's character as an Apatow proxy who's struggling through the world of music instead of, these days, riding high in comedy.
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Orwa Nyrabia is free. The Syrian filmmaker, whose Aug. 23 abduction by military security there prompted a long list of filmmakers to call for his release, was freed on Wednesday in "strong and good spirits," according to his family.
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Clint Eastwood made Twitter's Day — or at least its night. The veteran actor and filmmaker's bizarre, aimless speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa on Thursday night — to a chair that purportedly contained an invisible President Obama — brought out plenty of celebrity tweeters on the social media site. more »
Considering its relatively mundane subject matter -- Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann's Knocked Up characters, Pete and Debbie, go into mid-life crisis mode when age 40 approaches -- there's a deceptive amount of classic signatures in Judd Apatow's This is 40. Yes, I'm talking about dick jokes. And boners and nipples and vagina tree rings and whatever it is that Rudd is gazing at through a mirror without his pants on. In other words: Comedy gold! Right?
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The first full day of Tribeca 2012 yielded at least one major highlight, as festival co-founder Robert De Niro and comedy mogul Judd Apatow joined Deadline's Mike Fleming for a discussion commemorating the 100th anniversary of Universal Pictures. (Fellow Universal blockbustress Meryl Streep, alas, backed out at the last minute due to illness.) At least, that was the plan; what ensued was a wide-ranging, freewheeling chat about the pair's work for the studio, the natures of their comedy, varying sequel statuses, and much more. As per Tribeca custom, read on for this years revelations from from De Niro and Co.
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Each year SXSW plays host to a slate of risk-taking fare of all kinds, from true indie offerings to upcoming studio releases geared to a slightly more open crowd, and the 2012 film line-up features no shortage of movies poised to earn that precious film festival commodity: Positive buzz. But some projects have more at stake than others -- say, Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard's long-awaited Cabin in the Woods, Will Ferrell's Spanish-language comedy Casa de mi Padre, or the directorial debut of actor Matthew Lillard. On the eve of SXSW 2012 (which runs March 9-17 in Austin, Texas), check out the ten SXSW titles with the most to prove going into their festival debuts.
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It's awfully simplistic to say so but with Lena Dunham's forthcoming HBO dramedy series GIRLS, which marks the latest milestone in her rapidly ascending career, the comparisons draw themselves -- comparisons to Dunham's own prior work and to all that's come before in attempting to mine the modern single female experience for insights and laughs in film and television. But whether you're a fan or a Dunham skeptic, it's worth taking a look at the show's first trailer to see for yourself what to expect from the developing filmmaker, especially with folks like Judd Apatow shepherding her post-Tiny Furniture.
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After debuting to geek enthusiasm at Butt-Numb-a-Thon in December, Joss Whedon's long-awaited Cabin in the Woods will have its official world premiere at SXSW 2012 this March, the festival announced today. Also on deck to headline the film portion of the annual Austin conference are Jonas Akerlund's Small Apartments, Kevin MacDonald's music documentary Marley, and Lena Dunham's post-Tiny Furniture, Judd Apatow-produced HBO series GIRLS, which will preview its first three episodes. More details after the jump.
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This week's new feature Anonymous is alluring for two reasons: It explores the possibility that Shakespeare didn't write his masterworks, and it looks unintentionally hilarious. If I could dress up for Halloween as Vanessa Redgrave's line-reading of "None of your plays will ever carry your name," I would. In tribute to this dubious drama, let's explore what the Bard's plays would sound like if they were written or retooled by current auteurs. Ready for Why Did I Get Jealous Too?
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This weekend on Twitter, most of our tweeting luminaries avoided addressing the obvious (Paranormal Activity 3) and instead talked about Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Three Musketeers, and -- my word -- Johnny English Reborn. To the tweet machine!
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After contributing scene-stealing but all-too-brief supporting turns in films like Observe & Report, I Love You, Man, and Funny People ("Raaaaandy!"), Aziz Ansari finally gets a full-on leading role in this week's 30 Minutes or Less as Jesse Eisenberg's straitlaced BFF/partner in crime, Chet. What took Hollywood so long to give Ansari, who's currently between seasons stealing yet more scenes on Parks & Recreation, the screen time he deserves? According to Ansari, he's just been paying his dues.
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When Movieline grabbed a few minutes with star Aziz Ansari at Comic-Con to discuss his upcoming comedy 30 Minutes or Less (more to come), the Parks & Recreation funny man described the two-man comedy he's developing with Funny People director Judd Apatow. Hit the jump to hear more about Spacemen.
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