I’m a Judd Apatow junkie, always looking for my next fix as soon as the high from seeing his latest movie wears off. Luckily, he’s a busy guy, with loads of projects that he’s producing, writing or directing in the pipeline, so it’s never too far between the releases of movies he’s been involved with. Now that Bridesmaids is a certified hit, both with critics and the general public, let’s take a look at what Judd Apatow and his production company have coming down the pipeline next.
Awaiting release:
Wanderlust — coming to theaters October 7
Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston star in this Apatow-produced comedy from the writing team of David Wain and Ken Marino, also directed by Wain. In Wanderlust, Rudd and Aniston play an couple who abandons their urban lifestyle in favor of free-spirited living in a commune. The supporting cast is a mix of David Wain regulars and talented comic actors outside of the World of Wain, including Justin Theroux, Alan Alda, Kerri Kenney, Joe Lo Truglio, Malin Akerman, Ray Liotta, and Ron Donald himself: Ken Marino. Wain’s last movie, Role Models, which was also written by he and Marino and starred Paul Rudd, was his first mainstream success after two decades in alternative comedy. It was a nice effort by Wain to make his material a little more accessible, while still retaining the offbeat spirit of his past work. Role Models already felt like a marriage between Wain and Apatow’s styles, so it’s only fitting for the two to work together now. With all of these great comedy minds coming together, Wanderlust should make for an entertaining film.
Currently in production:
Girls (TV series) — coming to HBO in January
Judd Apatow’s grand return to television after the cancellation of Undeclared almost a decade ago will be with the upcoming HBO series Girls, which he is producing. Girls is created by and stars Lena Dunham, whose independent film Tiny Furniture was a South by Southwest favorite when it premiered last year. Apatow’s had success with female-driven comedy very recently with Bridesmaids, and Girls will see if this trend continues. HBO tends to value critical praise and awards over ratings, so as long as the reviews are good, this looks like it’ll be the one Judd Apatow series to last beyond season one. If Girls is a hit, it could bring about more Judd Apatow-produced television. I’m hoping for him to create another series sometime soon, but with his movie career booming, this doesn’t seem likely.
Five-Year Engagement — coming to theaters in 2012
Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller have been working together since Judd Apatow’s short-lived Fox series Undeclared, and they’ve continued this partnership into the feature film realm. They’ve worked together on Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and the upcoming Muppets movie due out later this year. Five-Year Engagement is a script they wrote together that Stoller is directing, and the project’s currently filming in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Jason Segel and Emily Blunt are starring in the movie, which follows “a couple who gets engaged in their early 20s and follows them through five years of cross country moves and fighting and break ups and dating other people and getting back together and seeing if they can ultimately pull it together to get married.†Segel, Stoller, and Apatow have recruited an ace supporting cast as back-up, including Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Rhys Ifans, Mindy Kaling, Chris Parnell, and Oscar nominees David Paymer and Jacki Weaver. This is definitely one to look forward to, as Jason Segel and Nick Stoller have a strong track record of creating worthwhile and enjoyable comedies. They’re aiming high for this one too. Segel recently told the press:
“Our goal is Annie Hall or When Harry Met Sally and if we get within their stratosphere of substance, we will be happy. It really dissects relationships and aims to show how complicated they are over a long period of time.â€
Pre-production:
This is Forty — coming to theaters June 1, 2012
The title of Judd Apatow’s fourth film as a director hasn’t officially been announced, but it’s rumored to be called This is Forty. This film spins off Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann’s characters, Pete and Debbie, from Knocked Up to be the title characters in their own movie, in much the same way Russell Brand’s rocker Aldous Snow was pulled out of Forgetting Sarah Marshall for Get Him to the Greek. Comedy legend Albert Brooks and um, attractive lady Megan Fox also star, with Brooks playing Rudd’s father and Fox taking an undisclosed role. I don’t think it’s too big a stretch to presume that Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann’s kids, Maude and Iris, will be reprising their roles as Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann’s daughters. Plot details are still under wraps and Apatow has said this about if anybody else from Knocked Up will be coming back for this one.
In development:
Three Aziz Ansari projects
Judd Apatow’s turned supporting players Steve Carell, Seth Rogen, and most recently, Kristen Wiig into lead actors, and Aziz Ansari is poised to be his next star. Apatow has three films in development with Ansari and his writing partner Jason Woliner. Since film development is a long and arduous process and Ansari, Stoller, and Apatow are all busy with other projects, it’s possible that none of these movies will make it past the script stage, but these three are currently in the works at Apatow Productions:
Jason Woliner directed a short, which can be viewed here, following Randy on the road, and he’s also worked with Aziz Ansari extensively on Human Giant. He would most likely be the director of any of these prospective films if one got off the ground. It doesn’t look like production is taking place this summer for any of these projects, so Ansari and Woliner will most likely have to wait until Parks and Recreation’s 2012 summer hiatus at the earliest to start filming.
Pure Imagination
This one’s been in development for quite a while now, but Jonah Hill assured the press last year that it was still on his agenda. Hill sold Pure Imagination to Judd Apatow back in 2007, but this one’s still in the planning stages. Here’s how Hill described the plot:
“It’s about a guy who basically has an imaginary friend. His girlfriend breaks up with him and then his life kinda goes crazy and he goes through a bit of a meltdown. And his life picks back up when he meets this guy and in the midst of this breakdown, he realizes he’s best friends with someone who doesn’t exist. And then in the middle of all this he starts dating this girl and isn’t quite sure if she exists or not, but then decides he doesn’t want to know, because he likes her so much.â€
Jonah Hill’s schedule seems pretty full these days. He’s busy with a variety of writing, producing, and acting projects, so it looks like Pure Imagination will have stay on the backburner for a little while longer.
Business Trip
Apatow Productions bought this script from writer Stacey Harman back in 2009 as a vehicle for Leslie Mann. Business Trip is about the misadventures of a group of women on a corporate trip, and like Bridesmaids before it, it has already been described as “The Hangover for women.†“Hangover for women†is some new Hollywood code for female-driven comedies to let audiences know that effort actually went into them, distancing the projects from the Kate Hudson movies and their ilk, which have been the main type of female-centric comedies in theaters in recent years.
Untitled Pee-Wee Herman Project
After seeing Paul Reubens perform his Pee-Wee Herman Show revival, Judd Apatow inked a deal to revive Pee-Wee’s movie career as well. Apatow is producing a new Pee-Wee film, which is being written by Reubens and actor/writer/all-around talented guy Paul Rust and has been described as “a road pic built around ‘a gigantic adventure.’†Expectations are high for this one as fans have been waiting for another Pee-Wee Herman film for over twenty years.
House of Joel
Bill Hader’s another secret weapon in Apatow’s arsenal who has yet to receive the front-and-center treatment. Hader and SNL writer Simon Rich set the project House of Joel up at Apatow Productions in 2010, but the project is going through a name change. It’s a slasher comedy Hader describes as a mix between Straw Dogs, Halloween, Home Alone, and Monster Squad, and director Jason Woliner is somehow involved. Hader gave this brief plot summary:
“I play a guy who finds out that his girlfriend was basically a Laurie Strode-type [Jamie Lee Curtis’ character] from Halloween. She’s been hiding the fact that 15 years ago she survived this horrible night and the way I find this out is that I inadvertently take her back to her home town as a surprise and reawaken all the evil. It’s kind of about getting over your girlfriend’s past kinda thing.â€
It certainly sounds promising and Hader deserves a title role. Time will tell if Hader, Apatow and Woliner find a suitable title and get this one going while the idea’s still fresh.
The Do-Gooders
The most recent acquisition by Apatow Productions, The Do-Gooders was bought as a pitch from Apatow’s fellow Larry Sanders Show writing staff alums Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck, who also worked on King of the Hill and the upcoming feature comedy A Good Old Fashioned Orgy. Do-Gooders will take dead-aim at a target that’s ripe for parody: celebrity philanthropists.
Bradford Evans is a writer living in Los Angeles.