At the Freaks And Geeks/Undeclared reunion at PaleyFest on Sunday, topics ranged from John Francis Daley’s pubescent wiener (“First onscreen erection too, but no one talks about that,†Daley joked about his first onscreen kiss. “I also didn’t have pubic hairâ€) to James Franco’s early intensity. In addition to lugging around texts like Proust and Dante’s Inferno on set, Franco had invented a back story for his character Daniel that involved him maybe being abused by his father, unbeknownst to some of his cast mates. During a scene where he was grabbed by Busy Philipps, she recalls how Franco unexpectedly snarled, “Don’t you f—ing touch me! And threw me to the ground.†That Franco! Mused Apatow, “[Franco] is method. He is the only one among all of you to be nominated for an Academy Award.†Franco stopped in via a loving pre-recorded video, which you can see below, with his co-star, a photo Anne Hathaway. “Love And Other Drugs is now out on DVD,†Franco-Hathaway squeaks. Thanks for the tip, girl!
Other tidbits include Jay Baruchel almost losing his Undeclared role to Colin from the Real World: Hawaii (“Thank God you beat that guy,†Seth Rogen said. “Yeah. The show never would have made it,†cracked Jason Segel) and Rogen’s incredibly convincing anti-smoking ads (“That’s why we did an episode where you were sick — you just looked sick,†Apatow explained). “A lot of us have no higher education because of you,†Segel joked with Apatow. Then again, for a lot of them Apatow meant they didn’t need to.