On the eve of the recent TV press day for “This Is 40,” Judd Apatow sent out a plea to any journalists that happened to check his Twitter feed.
“Tomorrow is the This Is 40 press junket. Hey journalists – be the one who asks unique, thought provoking questions no one else asks. Please.”
As it happened, I was the last person into the room on the day of the interviews. That was the same day Paramount held their “Star Trek” press day, so there was a whole lot of running around and scrambling to make my times for everything. When I sat down across from Judd, I asked him if everyone had taken up his challenge, and he sighed. “Nope. Same four questions all day. ‘What’s it like to see Paul Rudd make out with your wife?’ ‘How fun is it directing your kids?’ Pressure’s on, Drew. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
This weekend, I’ll run a longer conversation between the two of us, and I think it’s a great loose back and forth. When you’re doing an on-camera interview, things tend to be more sound-bite oriented. We talked about secret eating (something I know absolutely nothing about, hence my willowy build), how people in his films approach recreational drug use, and why “This Is 40” may not speak to everyone.
It’s interesting to see what happens around those moments when someone has a film coming out, because they become omnipresent for a brief time. I think the coolest part of Judd’s sudden presence everywhere has been the comedy issue he guest edited for “Vanity Fair.” The piece on “The Blues Brothers” alone justifies the entire making of “This Is 40” in my opinion, as does the oral history of “Freaks and Geeks.” The whole issue is great, though, and really highlights just how much Judd loves comedy as a whole. He takes the craft of making people laugh very seriously, and that’s one of the reasons I have enjoyed the ongoing conversation we’ve been having since I met him on the set of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” Here’s hoping you guys also enjoy that conversation each time we share some new piece of it.
“This Is 40” opens in theaters everywhere today.