Knocked Up Premiere Interviews
Writer/director Judd Apatow follows up his huge hit 'The 40 Year Old Virgin' with 'Knocked Up,' a comedy about an unwanted pregnancy. At the film's premiere, Apatow joined his cast to discuss the R-rated movie.
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Transcript: Knocked Up Premiere Interviews
Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the world premiere of Knocked Up.
Knocked Up Writer/Director Judd Apatow
How do you decide who's going to be the star of your movies because you like to alternate?
Judd Apatow: "Well you know, there's certain people who just make me laugh. There's a lot of people who I like who usually aren't allowed to be the lead of a movie, but I think they could do it. So if I'm allowed to make that happen it's really exciting for me because then I can try to figure out how it would work if they were the star of a movie."
How much of the script was used in this and how much is what these guys came up with on the day?
Judd Apatow: "It's about – I don't know – it's like 80% of the script that still exists. They like to think they made up all of it and I let them. They love to chat, 'We wrote the movie,' but that's the thing about actors. They just like to take all the credit when in fact… I don't know. I don't know how much existed. I haven't re-read it. We like to think of it as rewriting the movie on its feet. So we're all trying to figure out what could be better. Someone says something funny, I might as well get five funny things and see which one works. It's a lot of fun. I like to keep it fresh so that they surprise each other. And then I like to make them think they did everything and I wasn't there. The actor ego is so fragile; it's so fragile. They need so many hugs."
What was it like directing your kids?
Judd Apatow: "It was great because my kids were freakishly good actors. They had never acted before and now I don't want them to ever do it again so I tell them they were bad. I try to discourage them. And they're not allowed to see the movie, which is cruel. What's more cruel than letting a kid star in a movie and then saying you can never see it until you're in college?"
This really pushes that R rating. Did you get any feedback from the studio saying to bring it back in or were you allowed to do what you wanted?
Judd Apatow: "The only thing I heard from the studio was, 'Please, more cigarettes!' They were like, 'We love cigarettes.' And I'm like, 'Are you serious?' They're like, 'If you could put more cigarettes in the movie it would really help us.' And I said, 'I'm not going to do it. It's about pregnancy.' We got in a big fight and everything worked out."
Bill Hader ('Brent')
Why is Judd Apatow so good at comedy?
Bill Hader: "He's been around…The Ben Stiller Show, Larry Sanders. We was writing stuff for Jim Carrey and Roseanne Barr. I mean he's such a comedy guy. He just gets it. And on set it's just that same goofing around that you did in high school, you know, in the cafeteria. You know what I mean? He likes it to be really loose. He's kind of like just a lot of improvising, a lot of just having fun. He'll be off camera and shout out lines to you. It's just a blast."
How do you hold it together?
Bill Hader: "I don't. I don't hold it together well. Seth Rogen and I were just talking about this. We were just watching the Superbad trailer and I'm like, 'I can tell I'm just about to start laughing right there.' He's like, 'Yeah, yeah, me too.' We watched the movie and they cut it like seconds… I don't want to blow it but when you watch the movie Superbad there's a line at the end of the movie that's kind of a big line that I could not do."
How many takes?
Bill Hader: "It was well over 20. I think the one they got was I said the line and then they had to cut immediately to another shot because I'm not very good at holding it together."