judd apatow (11 posts)
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Jason Segel Shows Us His Serious Side
Donato Sardella/Getty Images
Jason Segel may be known for making people laugh, but the funnyman also has a serious side.
Segel told us last night that a male friend of his is battling breast cancer. Although rare, about 1 percent of all U.S. breast cancer cases occur in men.
"I think the key is to keep treating him normally and not change the way you would normally talk to someone just because they have cancer," Segel said at the launch of Lacoste's 2009 Pink Croc collection, which benefits the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Director Judd Apatow also opened up about how the disease has affected his life...
Comic-Con: Apatow and Rogen Share Stash of Scoop
The crew from Pineapple Express dropped by Comic-Con in San Diego over the weekend, and they shared scoop about the business of being funny. Comedy superproducer Judd Apatow told me how Brad Pitt inspired his doped-up action flick, James Franco talked about his mug on the billboards, and Seth Rogen invited me to party. Check out the clip for the full story.
Bana, Schwartzman, Hill Bring the Funny
Frederic Injimbert/ZUMAPress.com, Serge Thomann/APL/WireImage.com, Lester Cohen/WireImage.com
Team Apatow has enlisted three more recruits.
Eric Bana, Jason Schwartzman and compulsory comic player Jonah Hill have joined Funny People, the latest big-screen offering to be directed by Judd Apatow.
The threesome makes the film even more star-studded, joining the already-cast comedy trio of Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann.
Movie details are being kept under wraps, but per Variety, it is set in the world of stand-up and follows a comedian who has a near-death experience.
Cameras roll in L.A. this September.
Remembering Jackie Chan and Jet Li
Chan Kam Chuen/Lionsgate
Forget Sarah Marshall. The weekend box office was about Jackie Chan and Jet Li.
The Forbidden Kingdom, the first movie with the sense and presumably insurance to pair up the two martial arts greats, opened with $20.9 million, per estimates compiled Sunday by Exhibitor Relations.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the heavily promoted comedy written and starring Judd Apatow pupil Jason Segel and Kristen Bell, placed second, with $17.3 million.
The latter debut wasn't terrible. It was, in fact, better than Walk Hard's and Drillbit Taylor's, to name two other recent Apatow productions. It just wasn't necessarily a debut befitting a heavily promoted comedy.
Can Sarah Marshall Bag Some Funny Money?
Glen Wilson/Universal Pictures
Yes, yes. You've all heard it by now. Superproducer Judd Apatow is the current king of comedy. Last year he had big hits with Knocked Up and Superbad, and he has a long list of films on the horizon, as writer or producer (You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Pineapple Express, Step Brothers—and that's just this summer).
Don't let the funny face fool you. Judd needs a hit. His last two projects, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Drillbit Taylor, were flops. (I do love that Dewey Cox, though. Give it a try on DVD).
Luckily, he has Forgetting Sarah Marshall opening this weekend. Written by its star and longtime Apatow regular Jason Segel, it's a heartfelt romantic comedy that will appeal to both male and female audiences.
Look for Sarah Marshall to open at $26.7 million. That's great for a film featuring a bunch of actors best known for their TV work.
What do you think? Is Judd back on top? Sound off in the comments.
Seth Rogen Is High on Huey Lewis
AP Photo/Jennifer Graylock, Dale Robinette/Columbia Pictures
Huey Lewis & the News has a new drug.
And Seth Rogen is the one who got them hooked on it.The “I Want a New Drug” hit makers from the ’80s have recorded the theme song for Pineapple Express, Rogen’s upcoming summer comedy that he wrote and costars in. Rogen plays a stoner and James Franco is his dealer. The two find themselves on the run from some really bad dudes after Rogen’s character witnesses a murder. Pineapple Express is the name of the fictional strain weed that Franco’s character sells.
Rogen's filmmaking funnyman pal Judd Apatow coproduced Pineapple.
“We were in the editing room one day when me and Seth were geeking out about the tone of the movie and how we think it captures what we love about '80s movies,” director David Gordon Green tells me. “We thought, what would be the icing on the cake, and Seth came up with Huey Lewis and the News.”
Before they knew it, Lewis screened the movie and sent them some lyrics. “We told him that we wanted a theme song that told the plot of the movie and said the title a lot,” Green said. “It’s very '80s-inspired and very Back to the Future-esque.”
Kristen Bell: Hula Girl
Went to Hawaii to hang out with the very hilarious cast of the new Judd Apatow-branded comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Talked with SNL's Bill Hader, funniest dude ever. Hula danced with Kristen Bell. Got some major Hollywood secrets out of star Jason Segel. (Wanna star in a movie? Write it yourself.) Oh, and look: Me in a helicopter!
Hit the clip to see how it all went down, and for more, check out fellow E! columnist Kristin Dos Santos' report from the same trip.
Browns Down Drillbit
The Judd Apatow brand is something. The Tyler Perry brand is something else.
The Perry-labeled comedy-drama Meet the Browns, starring Angela Bassett, was the Easter weekend's biggest hit, theater for theater, grossing $20 million off about 2,000 screens, per estimates compiled Sunday by Exhibitor Relations.
Overall, the film placed second. Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!, playing on nearly twice as many screens, retained the No. 1 spot with a strong second weekend take of $24.6 million.
Drillbit Taylor, the latest comedy from the Apatow factory, meanwhile, sputtered to the weakest start of any of the major new releases: a $10.3 million take, and a fourth place debut.
At least Drillbit Taylor—a Freaks and Geeks meets The Bodyguard, starring Owen Wilson—was a few steps up the economic ladder from Apatow's last producing effort, Walk Hard, the rock-biopic satire that basically did what satires are said to do: Close on Saturday night.
The prolific Apatow has now gone about seven months without a No. 1 hit, it was noted ironically.
The just as busy Perry has himself gone five months without a box-office topper. But Perry has been arguably more consistent than Apatow of late.
Of Perry's five feature films, four of the five have opened with at least $20 million. Apatow's last five features as producer have either debuted super big (Superbad, Knocked Up, Talledega Nights) or not so much (Walk Hard, Drillbit Taylor). Either label probably would have done Semi-Pro's bell-bottoms some good.
Elsewhere:
- After 12 weekends—nearly 25 percent of the year—Hollywood still doesn't have a $100 million hit. Horton, now standing at $86 million overall, should end the drought by next weekend.
- Shutter (third place, $10.4 million), the latest redo of a Japanese horror hit, wasn't The Ring or The Grudge. Frankly, it wasn't even One Missed Call. On the upside, though, it wasn't Dark Water, either.
- Under the Same Moon (10th place, $2.8 million), the story of a boy trying to find his illegal-immigrant mother in Los Angeles, cracked the top 10 on the strength of only 266 theaters. Among the weekend's biggest films, its per-screen average was second only to Meet the Browns.
- Adam Carolla's movie career is showing more promise than his dancing one. His new Rocky-esque comedy, The Hammer, did all right at 20 theaters, grossing $97,137.
- Well, it was close but Will Ferrell's Semi-Pro ($1.1 million; $32.3 million overall, per Box Office Mojo) ended up making more money than A Night at the Roxbury. Barely.
- Saying goodbye to the top 10 were Doomsday ($2.2 million; $8.9 million overall); The Other Boleyn Girl ($2 million; $22.5 million overall); The Spiderwick Chronicles ($1.2 million; $67.8 million, per Box Office Mojo); and, the dearly departed Semi-Pro.
Here's a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
- Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!, $24.6 million
- Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns, $20.1 million
- Shutter, $10.4 million
- Drillbit Taylor, $10.3 million
- 10,000 B.C., $8.9 million
- Never Back Down, $4.8 million
- College Road Trip, $4.7 million
- The Bank Job, $4.2 million
- Vantage Point, $3.8 million
- Under the Same Moon, $2.8 million
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