Funny People - An Inside Look

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Funny People - Featurette - Adam Sandler's return to stand up

Adam Sandler talks with Judd Apatow about his career and his return to stand up comedy after a 10 year break.

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Funny People - Trailer

Over the past few years, writer/director Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up) has shown that nothing—not even losing your virginity or the miracle of childbirth—is sacred. About his third film behind the camera, he says, "I'm trying to make a very serious movie that is twice as funny as my other movies. Wish me luck!" Apatow directs Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann in Funny People, the story of a famous comedian who has a near-death experience. Adam Sandler, Eric Bana, Jason Schwartzman, RZA and newcomer Aubrey Plaza join a cast that reunites Judd Apatow with Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann and Jonah Hill in their third comedy together.

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Ben Stiller, Clint Eastwood, Bruno and Judd Apatow - Best photo of the year

What caption could you give to this photo. Leave it in the comments.

Source: MTV

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George Simmons in Re-Do, Dog's Best Friend and Seyonara Dave

Craig, a workaholic lawyer, never made time for his relationships. Alone and depressed on his 40th birthday, he wonders about the life he could have lead. But be careful what you wish for...you might just find yourself in diapers! When a wizard gives Craig a second chance at his youth, he discovers that sometimes it takes becoming a baby to learn how to be a man.

George Simmons in "Re-Do" from Justin Long

These are a spoof films from Judd Apatow's Funny People. Adam Sandler plays George Simmons the comedian turned actor and the film will feature posters and clips for films he has made. An awful lot of work is going into this film. I just hope it is good.

GeorgeSimmons.com has more info on the fictional star.

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Yo Teach...! Viral for Judd Apatow's Funny People

Upscale Font Part of the viral marketing for Funny People with an electronic press kit of Mark Taylor Jackson (Jason Schwartzman). High school is tough enough without the added distractions of drug abuse, teen pregnancy and anorexia. Fortunately for the colorful underachievers at Jackson High, theres a teacher whos got their back: Mr. Bradford (Mark Taylor Jackson), the wise-cracking mentor of Yo Teach...! Each week, Mr. Bradford tosses his lesson plan to the wind and tackles a new moral dilemma while keeping one step ahead of Principal Andrews and the politically correct PTA.

Written and directed by Judd Apatow
Starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, and Eric Bana

Due out on 31st July 2009

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Funny People - First TV Spot for Judd Apatow's new film.

Some new footage in this TV spot. The film is due out on 31st July.

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Observe and Report - Kind of like Taxi Driver?

An interesting piece about Seth Rogen's latest film over on Hollywood Elsewhere.

Observe and Report "is not a movie about a guy who becomes a hero [but] a guy who's decided in his own mind that he is one, all evidence to the contrary. Referring to this movie and Paul Blart: Mall Cop in the same breath because they're both about mall cops is like comparing Straw Dogs to Babe because they're both set on a farm." -- from Moises Chiullan's just-posted review of Jody Hill's upcoming Warner Bros. release, which is opening 4.10.

Anyone out there who believes that the Warner Bros. copy line on the Observe and Report poster is meant to be understood in this light -- i.e., that Rogen's character is delusional -- doesn't know much about studio marketing. The poster obviously isn't taking the idea of Rogen's mall cop being a hero seriously -- the shades make it clear he's a self-absorbed doofus -- but the poster isn't even flirting with the idea that the character may be seriously deranged in a Travis Bickle sense of the term. There isn't a wisp of a hint of this in the poster art.

I personally thought it was just going to be a typical Judd Apatow style comedy, but this sounds like it could be something a little bit different and quite a bit darker than previously thought.

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Year One - New trailer for Jack Black, Michael Cera caveman film

Columbia Pictures has just released the trailer for their upcoming comedy, Year One, which will hit theaters nationwide on 5th June.

Written and directed by Harold Ramis, this comedy stars Jack Black and Michael Cera. Produced by Harold Ramis and Judd Apatow after the former appeared in the latter's Knocked Up, Year One is being executive produced by actor/screenwriter Owen Wilson. Oliver Platt, Olivia Wilde, Vinnie Jones, David Cross, and Superbad's Christopher Mintz-Plasse co-star in the Columbia Pictures production.

'Year One' Theatrical Trailer @ Yahoo! Video

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What if Judd Apatow directed Watchmen?

The Watchmen haven't been acting like heroes lately. In fact, they've mostly been sitting around their Los Angeles apartment watching TV. They're the closest of friends, but when nuclear Armageddon threatens, can they put joking aside, face adulthood, and save the world? Starring Paul Rudd as Dr. Manhattan, Seth Rogen as Nite Owl, Jonah Hill as Rorschach, and Michael Cera as the Comedian. Kristen Wiig appears in a nonspeaking role as Silk Spectre.

Slate.com have other What If...? scenarious for Watchmen including Woody Allen and Tyler Perry.

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Who ya gonna call? Not Judd Apatow.

A few days ago the internet was full of the news that Judd Apatow was going to produce the new Ghostbusters film.

Well looks like it is not true. The LA Times made a couple of calls to the men in suits over at Sony to learn that Apatow has nothing to do with the movie.

"It's not true," says Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures. "We have some great new writers working on a new script, but Judd isn't involved. Judging from the frenzy on the Internet, there still seems to be plenty of interest in the idea of doing another film, so we're certainly taking that as a good sign."

The studio recently hired the writing team of Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg (best known for their work on "The Office") to tackle a new script. As it turns out, most of the original films' creative team are involved as informal consultants on the new project, which would have the original Ghostbusters passing the torch to a new generation.

So why all those Internet posts about Judd Apatow? Some of it is probably just wishful thinking -- after all, Apatow's comic versatility makes him today's equivalent of Reitman, who was the reigning comedy producer-director of his era. But it's also likely that the web gumshoes were confused by the fact that Apatow is producing another Stupnitsky and Eisenberg-penned project, "The Year One," a Harold Ramis-directed adventure comedy that Sony is releasing in June starring Jack Black and Michael Cera. This somehow led to all sorts of speculation that the new GhostBusters project would be populated with actors from the Apatow stock company, which isn't a bad idea, but is total fiction at this stage.

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UPDATED: Vanity Fair Photo - Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen & Jason Segel feel the love

JONAH HILL, PAUL RUDD, SETH ROGEN, and JASON SEGEL, The Pretty Young ThingsAfter appearing in Knocked Up and/or The 40-Year-Old Virgin, this quartet can now be considered summa cum laude graduates of the Judd Apatow school of comedy. Unlike so many comedy stars of the last two decades, they—and the other funny people depicted on the following pages—seem at their best when they work not as soloists but as part of a tightly knit ensemble. Say good-bye to the laughter of alienation and hello to a brand of comedy that fosters a feeling of community. Rather than dominate a crowd, they conspire with the people in the audience. Their strength lies in their charm. Even Rogen. Photographed by Annie Leibovitz on Stage 28 at Paramount Pictures Studio Lot, Los Angeles.

Source: Vanity Fair

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The Pineapple Express duo laugh about the Oscars

Judd Apatow directed this comedy piece from last nights Oscars. It follows his characters from Pineapple Express played by James Franco and Seth Rogen. It also features Oscar winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski. I always like these comedy bits of the Oscars and this one is particularly good.

Source: First Showing
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Funny People - Trailer for Judd Apatow's latest starring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen

Judd Apatow directs Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann in Funny People, the story of a famous comedian who has a near-death experience.

Adam Sandler, Eric Bana, Jason Schwartzman, RZA and newcomer Aubrey Plaza join a cast that reunites Judd Apatow with Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann and Jonah Hill in their third comedy together.

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17 Again - Poster for Zac Efron does Big style comedy

The film is about a guy (Matthew Perry) who gets to turn back time and be seventeen again (Efron) rewriting his life in the process. Also starring: Leslie Mann (director Judd Apatow’s wife), Gossip Girl’s Michelle Trachtenberg, The Office’s Melora Hardin, Weeds’ Hunter Parrish, 90210’s Adam Gregory and Rita Rocks’ Nicole Sullivan.

Official Site

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Apatow to make Slasher film? Straw Dogs meets Halloween meets Home Alone meets Monster Squad!

Judd Apatow must never sleep or is actually a cartload of chimpanzees sat at an infinite amount of typewriters. He just keeps whacking out films and things everywhich way. CHUD has news of his latest idea involving Bill Hader (Superbad). This one won't be a stoner comedy. Nope instead it will be a slasher movie (well maybe a stoner slasher movie). Hader had this to say about it:

"It's partially Straw Dogs meets Halloween meets Home Alone meets Monster Squad." Sounds cool and I am a fan of at least two of those films. "Judd met with us and said, 'I want to do a horror movie with you. I want to see you in a slasher movie.'"

Hader had this to say about the actual story: "It is definitely about guys nowadays, that idea that you watch fucked up shit on TV… You watch fucked up reality shows, I love true crime shows. The idea of that thing coming to your house, and what do you do? I would shit my pants. That's basically what the movie is about. What if that guy decided to come to your house? What would you and your dipshit friends do about it?"

I like the idea of this, but still very early days for the film (if it gets made at all). Could be both very funny and scary.

What would you and I do if one of those nasty serial killers came calling at your house? Which one of Apatow's acting crew would work well as a serial killer?
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Acting With James Franco Episode 1: "Sense Memory"

James Franco teaches YOU how to act with his brother Dave.

Acting With James Franco Episode 1: "Sense Memory" by James Franco

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Ghostbusters 3 - Dan we're ready to believe you

E Online have an interview with Dan Ackroyd where he raps a bit and then talks about the current status of Ghostbusters 3.

Sounds as if the script is definitely being written and Dan would love to get Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow involved, which was a rumour knocking around a few weeks ago.

Here is the man in question.

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The Random

Posters for Body of Lies, Passengers, An American Carol, The Transporter 3, Saw V, He's Just Not That Into You, Che, The Haunting of Molly Hartley

What's the plot of Judd Apatow's upcoming comedy "Funny People"? "What if a very successful comedian thinks he's dying and then finds out he's not?"

With the upcoming "The Incredible Hulk" DVDs, there are 13 minutes of cut scenes on the standard DVD, 29 minutes on 3-disc special edition, and 44 minutes on the Blu-ray version. Director Louis Leterrier admits that he cut 70 minutes out of the film in total. Andy D mentioned this weeks ago.

Cameron Hood and Kyle Jefferson are no longer directing Dreamworks Animation's "MasterMind", the pair having left the project months ago.

Video of the Long Beach shoot on "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is up. There's a parade of vehicles here, footage of a major explosion here, and pics of the vehicles here.

An interesting piece explaining the lawsuit between Fox and 20th Century and the battle over "Watchmen". Also the film's characters appeared on four special covers for the Brazillian magazine Set this week, check them out here.

"Red Sonja" director Douglas Aarniokoski hints that a sequel is already being planned, and a cameo by other stars from the previous films set in the "Conan" universe may happen.

Hip-hop artist Nic Nac is apparently in Atlanta filming a third film in the "Van Wilder" franchise, sounds like it'll be direct-to-DVD.

The first artwork for "Naumón", a thriller about a reality show set on a prison ship, is up. Spanish director Isidro Ortiz ("Eskalofrio") helms the project and Asia Argento is rumored to star.

One of my most anticipated films of the Fall, the Bill Maher-led comedy doco "Religulous", has put up some not so convincing viral marketing it would seem with some religious group calling a boycott.

Actor and "Choke" filmmaker Clark Gregg says he'd like to return as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson in the "Iron Man" sequel.

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Pineapple Express, 2008 - Movie Review

Director: David Gordon Green

Starring: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Gary Cole, Rosie Perez,

Running Time: 111 minutes

Score: 9/10

This review from Filmjack3

It's a given that when you go to a Judd Apatow movie now (and he's only directed two, but they're still 'movies' anyway, despite the growing stable of directors) you'll know what to expect more or less. After 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad, Walk Hard, and to a lesser extent Forgetting Sarah Marshall, there's an expectation- if you're tuned into the sensibility of off-the-wall, filthy but improvisational comedy- for it to be good, or even awesome in whatever 'fold' of comedy its in. Pineapple Express, for the Apatow fan, is as awesome and dumb and illogical and purely enjoyable as comedies get this year, let alone for its 'fold', which in this case is the pot comedy cross-pollinated with ridiculous 80s action flick.

It's awesome, for one thing, because the screenwriters Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (also responsible for Superbad) don't give a crap about making anything too, um... should I say realistic? Maybe plausible is more the word in this case, as realism implies that there isn't spoof going on here, which there is, in the kind of subtle AND over the top craziness that one loves to see done right. In this case the movie starts out with an amazing opening scene set in "1937 - The United States", where a secret government test is being done on the effects of marijuana on a soldier (which, oddly enough, make the soldier act and talk like someone in the 21st century, which makes it funnier), and there's a slight reefer madness tint to it.

Then, after the initial set-up- where Dale (Rogen), a subpoena deliverer and frequent pot smoker, gets in hot water for seeing a murder take place by a villainous drug dealer caught in a war with 'Asians', and then implicates his drug dealer Saul (very uncharacteristic James Franco) by leaving 'evidence' behind of the film's title- the writers kick things off into a sly, really insane take off on 80s action thrillers. Make no mistake, they're true to the sources: this might be one of the most violent comedies ever made, a hard, capital R where the least violent bit was shown in the trailer with Franco badly, uproariously kicking his foot through the windshield during a high-speed chase.

But one might ask, is the cartoonish violence enough to make it awesome? Not quite - what really clicks for a viewer who wouldn't touch pot with a ten foot mouthpiece are the actors and how much serious fun they take the material. Rogen and Franco, the latter of which giving his best performance yet (yes, best performance, see it and see what I mean compared to his so-so Spiderman parts), click instantly and work off one another in that great, somewhat predictable buddy-comedy mold. They bond, they argue, they separate for a bit, and then finally come back together for that show-stopping finale. To reveal what happens there, of course, would ruin all the fun, but everyone involved in the cast (Danny McBride, Rosie Perez, Gary Cole, Ed Begley Jr, Kevin Corrigan, Craig Robinson, and all those Japanese or Chinese or Vietcong I can't remember) pitch in for scene after scene that never fails to rise some laughs.

In fact Pineapple Express is so funny, so relentlessly action packed and loaded with the kind of dialog that's brilliant for being so natural in its crude and stupidity (again, an Apatow trademark), that it's incredible to think the director is David Gordon Green. This is almost akin to, though not to make a complete comparison, Terence Mallick or Darren Aronofsky helming a Mel Brooks production. What compelled him to take on a raucous pot-action comedy that continuously tops itself I can't totally say (save for just wanting a change of pace in genre and control over material). But it's equally incredible that he manages to get in some moments of his own sensibility into the film in those little moments when Rogen and Goldberg don't have a lot going on, when the visual aspect can be emphasized. Not to mention, on top of this, he's able and ready to direct "genre" material without making it too serious.

It's an artistic statement AND one of the most memorably brutal climaxes in recent movie history, and I loved nearly every "what-the-hell" minute of it. Where else will I get to see bullet-strewn drug dealers and ears partly chopped off treated with the reverence of the Daily Show?

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