Movie News
Judd Apatow Developing New Apatow Movie
Posted by Cole Abaius (cole.abaius@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 23, 2008
It’s a dark day for me. A tragic, listless day that makes me want to watch Bloodrayne to remind myself that life isn’t that bad. But it is, because today’s the first day in my life that I’ve read about a new Judd Apatow movie and groaned instead of jumping for joy.
Maybe it’s because the market seems saturated with Apatow. Every month he’s either releasing a film he directed, produced, or announcing a new project. Or maybe I just fear his being prolific will make his movie career go the way of his television career.
Variety has the scoop on the latest incarnation of the Apatow recipe - a movie called Get Him to the Greek he’s producing with Forgetting Sarah Marshall writer/director Nick Stoller that features Jonah Hill and Russell Brand. The two play an odd-couple, buddy comedy pair; Hill is an insurance claims adjuster accompanying Brand’s wild rock star to a gig at the Greek Theater in L.A.
Our esteemed editor who won’t let me anywhere near the news desk usually wants positivity when it comes to movies, but I just can’t get happy about this one even with the Apatow name on it.
I fear that at some point, Apatow will go the way of Will Ferrell after the eighth straight announcement that he’s teaming up with Stoller, Segel, Johan Hill, Michael Cera and Universal Pictures to make a comedy about wacky antics taking place in a pedestrian or totally ridiculous set of circumstances.
Or perhaps it’s just necessary for Apatow to get back in the director’s seat to steer things the right way. Forgetting Sarah Marshall was decently funny, but tanked at the box office. Perhaps if Apatow straps on the headset and yells, “Action!”, he’ll make it commercially viable again for people to wet themselves in a public movie theater from laughing too much like he did (as Producer) with Superbad.
I hate to be cynical or sarcastic, but I’m a little surprised by my own reaction. I never thought there would come a day when I’d see “Apatow” in a news brief and roll my eyes and shrug my shoulders. Plus, the premise for this movie seems double plus bad, the title is unmarketable, and the movie demands Russell Brand to carry a lot of weight that I don’t think he can handle.
I swear I’ll be more optimistic in the next post even if I’m writing about Uwe Boll. What do you think? Am I wrong on this one? Does this movie excite anyone?
Read more articles by Cole Abaius
11 Comments
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Apatow did not direct superbad - Greg Mottola (my brother!) was the director, the man responsible for helming the film that drove you to laugh-induced public urination
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Cole… You will be reprimanded for that error.
As well, I will be reprimanding myself for not catching said error.
Our apologies to the Mattola family — Superbad rocked our world.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Sorry guys this guy does nothing for me.
IMO his films are all remakes of classic flms, he just changes the titles and calls it brillant.
The guys a hack and allways will be. (IMO).
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:52 pm
I know quite a few people who have watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall this week, or will be watching it in the coming weeks. Word of mouth for that movie will, IMO, keep it from being labeleed a bomb.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:59 pm
That’s a bit broad, because It’s not just Apatow. It’s the industry. I think it will be good if it has a gimmick that is held in check by lots of realism. Superbad, Knocked Up, 40-Year Old Virgin and Anchorman had this. From Variety’s synopsis, I see a Ben Stiller/Jack Black movie that’s very Pre-Apatow(P.A.).
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
I was tired of Apatow like 2 months ago. And part of the reason I am tired of it is related to what Tom Motolla brought up and the above confusion: When someone gets all the name attention just for producing, or presenting, it bothers me. Here Greg Motolla made us all bust out laughing (I did enjoy Superbad very much) but everyone thinks “Apatow.” Just like when people hear Cloverfield they think “JJ Abrams” when it should be “Matt Reeves.” Quentin Tarantino also does this BS a lot where his name towers over all others.
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:30 pm
tom, just so you know. he said that Apatow produced Superbad, not directed
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:33 pm
WTF IS WRONG WITH AMERICA???!!! WHY DO YOU LIKE RUSSELL BRAND?? Stop giving him the fame and attention he does not deserve!!!!
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:56 pm
just because Forgetting is number 2 at the box office does not mean that it bombed.
what the hell is wrong with people?!
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Yeah, Barry, because there is no way someone could have edited the piece in three hours.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:34 am
My apologies to the entire Mottola family. I’ve sent them all Edible Arrangements to make up for the error. For posterity’s sake, I originally implied that Apatow directed Superbad, and I was wrong.
But Neil has no ammo to punish me with since I’m already not allowed in the editorial office. Although, Neil already reprimands himself on a twice-daily basis.
It’s a pretty good point, although it was un-handsomely raised by Fure, that his name is much larger than his movies. Your proof should be in the fact that I thought he directed Superbad.
And Nish, I hate Russell Brand. You’re welcome.