The Judd Apatow team is back at it. Forgetting Sarah Marshall opens this weekend, and far as comedy feature films go, if Apatow has his name on it, it’s sure to be a hit.
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Apatow is best known for Superbad, Knocked Up, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, all of which were made by his production company, Apatow Productions.
The success of these films has even spawned the term “Apatovian.” David Denby of The New Yorker calls the leading male role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall “a recognizable Apatovian hero: he thinks obsessively about sex, and at the same time he’s an instinctively moral man.” Jezebel bloggers have written on the Apatow effect, best described as the tendency for beautiful women to date slackers.
While Apatow might get most of the credit, his success can be attributed to another factor.
He has a loyal and extensive crew of producers, writers and actors who have consistently contributed to his projects over the last ten years.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall is produced by Apatow and Shauna Robertson, who works with him on most of his films. The script is written by lead actor Jason Segal, who has a long history with Apatow. Nicholas Stoller directs.
Before his blockbuster success, Apatow had a small cult following for his teen comedy television shows Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. Freaks and Geeks was cancelled after only 12 episodes in 1999, while Undeclared ran for 16 episodes in 2001.
Both series starred Segal; Undeclared was written by Stoller. The Associated Press reports that after Apatow’s success with The 40 Year Old Virgin, he met with Segal, telling him, “Listen, I can get movies made now. Are you writing?”
Segal then pitched his idea to Apatow and soon after, production started on Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Segal is joined in the project by actors Bill Hader and Jonah Hill, who had breakout performances in Superbad. Paul Rudd, of The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, joins them, as does and Carla Gallo, who appeared in Undeclared.
Apatow fans are accustomed to seeing familiar faces, even if only for brief cameos, but new actors also make appearances.
Joining the pack and making their Apatow film debuts in Forgetting Sarah Marshall are Kristen Bell, of Veronica Mars and Heroes and Mila Kunis, known for her work on Family Guy and That ’70s Show.