funny people production notes approved

Production Notes

Over the past several years, filmmaker JUDD APATOW has proven that when it

comes to comedy, nothing—not even middle-aged virginity or unwanted pregnancy—is

sacred territory. Both his breakthrough 2005 feature, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and 2007

follow-up, Knocked Up, were critical and box-office smashes that allowed audiences to

collectively share in the most painfully funny moments of their lives.

In his third time directing a film, Apatow finds humor in one of the biggest

struggles of a person’s lifetime. He directs ADAM SANDLER (I Now Pronounce You

Chuck & Larry, Anger Management), SETH ROGEN (Knocked Up, Pineapple Express)

and LESLIE MANN (Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) in Funny People, the story

of a famous comedian who has a near-death experience…and what he does with a second

chance. Apatow addresses a question that hasn’t been touched with such trademark

bluntness: If you had the chance to start all over again, would you be the same jerk you

always were?

Joining the cast that reunites Apatow with Rogen, Mann and JONAH HILL

(Superbad, Knocked Up) in their third movie together are a troupe of seasoned and new

comic actors: ERIC BANA (Munich, Star Trek), JASON SCHWARTZMAN (Rushmore,

The Darjeeling Limited), RZA (American Gangster, Derailed), AZIZ ANSARI

(television’s Parks and Recreation, I Love You, Man) and AUBREY PLAZA (Parks and

Recreation).

Produced by Apatow, CLAYTON TOWNSEND (The 40-Year-Old Virgin,

Knocked Up) and BARRY MENDEL (Munich, The Sixth Sense), the comedy’s behind-

the-scenes talent includes a number of returning Apatow film favorites and accomplished

crewpersons new to the team.

Funny People – Production Information

Key crew include two-time Academy Award®-winning cinematographer JANUSZ

KAMINSKI (Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan); costume designers NANCY

STEINER (upcoming The Lovely Bones, Little Miss Sunshine) and BETSY HEIMANN

(Red Dragon, Almost Famous); production designer JEFFERSON SAGE (Year One,

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story); editors BRENT WHITE (Step Brothers, Knocked

Up) and CRAIG ALPERT (Pineapple Express, The 40-Year-Old Virgin); music

supervisor JONATHAN KARP (Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin); and composers

MICHAEL ANDREWS (Donnie Darko, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story) and Jason

Schwartzman.

Rogen, EVAN GOLDBERG (Superbad, Knocked Up) and JACK GIARRAPUTO

(Paul Blart: Mall Cop, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry) serve as the film’s

executive producers.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Discovering Funny People :

The Comedy Continues

Judd Apatow has had a lifelong fascination with stand-up and the people who

make it their livelihood. One summer, his mother, Tami Shad, worked in a comedy club

in Southampton on Long Island, and as a young teenager, his nights at the club kindled

his obsession. In high school, he created a radio talk show and interviewed comic

performers he admired, from Howard Stern to Steve Allen and Paul Reiser to John

Candy. He asked them how they did it…how they wrote jokes, performed and other

secrets of their trade. Inspired by their guidance, he began performing stand-up by the

end of his senior year.

After dropping out of USC School of Cinema, Apatow worked his way into a full-

time gig at the legendary Improv Comedy Club in Los Angeles. While there, he kept at

what was, by his admission, a “just okay run” as a stand-up…at least compared to the

great performers he saw firsthand.

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Following an appearance on a young comics special for HBO, Apatow started to

realize it was unlikely he’d set the world on fire as a performer; therefore, he began to

transition his focus from the stage to writing jokes for other comedians. It was his

longtime roommate and friend who continued down the spotlit path…a young performer

named Adam Sandler. But it would take several years honing their separate careers

before they would work together on screen.

After the success of The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, Apatow decided he

wanted his third story to revolve around the people he had grown up alongside in the

comedy world. He was curious to explore the reasons performers were drawn into stand-

up and wondered why they tried so hard to get attention as they plunged into the “terror

of revealing themselves.” Was it a desire to please audiences? Or was it simply

egocentrism mixed with an inability to intimately connect with others unless they were

on stage? “As a person working in comedy I often think, ‘Why do I do this? What’s

wrong with me? What led me here?’” reveals Apatow.

As he began to write Funny People, he drew inspiration from a freak, life-

changing occurrence that happened at his Southern California home in 1994. “When the

Northridge earthquake hit, my chimney fell through the roof of my bedroom,” explains

the director. “The only reason I wasn’t there was because I was painting the house. For

about three days, I really appreciated life…but just for three days. The movie is based on

that idea: If you survive, do you learn anything from it that you keep using in your life?”

There were also more intimate reasons that prompted Apatow to create a

screenplay in which his protagonist realizes he is dying. He offers, “In recent years, I’ve

had people in my life who have been ill. You see how those who know they’re sick

struggle with how to live. They also look at how they feel about the way they lived

before they got sick.”

He found it sobering to see that people weren’t always thrilled with the results of

the self-examination and could easily begin to revert to old habits. “When people get

better, I wondered if they can take that fear, terror and opportunity to understand what’s

important in life and use it. Or are they thrown by the fact that it’s really hard, and a

week later, they’re back on the same treadmill?”

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For the primary comedians in his story, he imagined George Simmons, a superstar

struck with a rare form of leukemia who is forced to reevaluate his life, and Ira Wright,

the up-and-coming comic who idolizes George and whom George reluctantly mentors.

“I’ve had a lot of people who have been kind and mentored me, so I understand that

relationship,” the director says. “They were kind, generous, normal comedians, some of

whom were brilliant. But I thought, ‘What if one of those comedians I knew was not

very nice and had really serious problems?’ George and Ira are a fabricated version of

that scenario.”

When developing the project, Apatow chose to work with frequent collaborator,

producer Clayton Townsend, and another longtime friend, producer Barry Mendel.

Although Apatow and Mendel have known one another for more than 15 years (early in

Apatow’s career, Mendel was his agent), this is the first film that brought them together

professionally. Mendel recalls: “Over the years, Judd has invited me to give feedback on

scripts, sit in on table readings and visit his sets, and he’s helped me out on films I’ve

produced. In February 2008, he invited me to read a very early draft of the script; we had

some conversations about it, and a week later, we decided to work together.”

Mendel was impressed by how the world of comedy writers and performers is so

connected. Judd’s assembled a group of collaborators over the years, and everybody

really enjoys each other and the process. Usually directors with such a clear signature

and stamp like Judd tend to be less collaborative; they fear diluting their ‘vision.’ But

Judd’s process is a unique and incredible collaboration where he takes in a tremendous

amount of input from his inner circle. He’s more willing to accept criticism than anyone

I’ve ever worked with; it’s a very healthfully self-questioning process.”

Townsend returns to produce his third comedy with Apatow. Of their working

relationship, the filmmaker offers: “I know what’s important to Judd and work to provide

that atmosphere. We have a rhythm. There were days we just nodded and smiled and

maybe said three words to one another…but it’s just that nothing needs to be said.”

Once he’d assembled his team, the director took a moment to reflect how this

might become the defining project of his career to date. “My whole life has been about

family and comedy and my friendships and relationships with funny people,” Apatow

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offers. “It’s all in this film, especially when you add into it life-or-death issues and how

people decide to live when they’re dying and when they get better.”

Casting and Directing Comics

Soon after Judd Apatow wrapped Knocked Up, he showed an early cut of the film

to longtime friend Adam Sandler and mentioned he had a project they might do together.

Sandler called Apatow and said whatever the project was, he knew he would be on board.

Recalling the process of shooting Funny People, Sandler laughs, “We decided to do this

whole thing before I even saw a script or knew the full idea. Apatow just told me what it

was about and then I said, ‘All right, I’ll do it.’”

Sandler liked that, at a young age, George faced something we must all deal with:

our mortality. “The film is about a man’s struggle with what he should have learned and

didn’t,” he says. “George isn’t tight with family or any friends. He’s a sad soul who

doesn’t like to cry. You never see him going, ‘Oh my God! Life’s horrible!’ You just

see him being a dick throughout life…but having a fun time being a dick.”

The two friends discussed how George lives an existence that either—or both—of

them could have reached if, “we never got married and we went crazy,” says Apatow.

“At the film’s core is our dark sense of humor…us at our worst.”

About filming Sandler, he adds: “I didn’t talk a lot with Adam about the movie’s

darker aspects. I knew he’s a great actor who is brave and willing to be emotionally

available, and I trusted his instincts. There were moments when I needed to push

something or ask for a little more or less, but his struggle with those emotions is what the

movie’s about.”

Apatow was surprised by his reaction when filming key scenes for Funny People

with Sandler. “When we shot the scenes where Adam was sick, it was just devastating,”

he relates. “I’m used to doing somewhat light comedy, and we would show up on set and

suddenly we had to think, ‘How do we make this feel like a guy is really going to die?’

Then you realize Adam has to go there. He was performing a scene, and I was at the

monitor trying to stand in a way that no one could see I was crying on the set. At the

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same time, some of the dramatic scenes that were the hardest to shoot had the biggest

laughs because it’s happening to a comedian. His way of coping is by making jokes.”

When creating the part of struggling stand-up Ira, Apatow was inspired by his

days watching Sandler as a young comic. This role would go to the director’s frequent

actor, Seth Rogen, who describes Ira as “a pretty good writer, but not great performer.

He works at a deli and lives with two guys who are arguably funnier and much more

successful. Ira meets George and catches a break when George hires him as his assistant

and joke writer.”

George has grown into someone few want to be around, and he takes his anger

and frustration out on Ira. Rogen rehearsed with Sandler so they could find the comedy

that came from George’s behavior to his new assistant/confidante; they decided how the

two men would argue and, subsequently, bond. The role play gave both men a sense of

how it would develop: George enjoying incessantly bagging on his young protégé as Ira

enjoyed the career break and access to the big time…while slowly gaining a sense of

confidence as a performer and as a young man.

While Rogen—who based much of his performances on an impression of Apatow

—was supposed to be a rookie comic, it would prove difficult to convince audiences who

saw his stand-up to buy that during filming. Apatow explains: “Seth’s character was

written to not do so well when he does stand-up. But he just kept bringing the house

down. He can’t even fake being a bad comedian.”

To play the love of George’s life, Laura, the filmmakers asked another longtime

collaborator in Judd Apatow’s world to serve as the film’s third lead: Apatow’s wife,

actress Leslie Mann. Naturally, Sandler has known Mann for many years, and the two

have a shared history in comedy; they worked opposite each other in the blockbuster Big

Daddy. Mann describes the character: “Laura is George’s ex-girlfriend, now married

with two kids. She’s not happily married, and she’s going through some tough times.”

Considering that this marks their latest collaboration, Mann has grown more

comfortable working with her husband behind the camera. “When you can be more

relaxed as an actor, you’re better,” she shares. “I’m very relaxed with Judd. I can say

anything and not hold back because I’m not worried he’s going to judge me. We have

fun being creative together, so it works out easily.”

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Apatow adds that it was amusing to see his old friend and his wife act as though

they were a couple that broke up 12 years ago. One unexpected reaction from his actors

was how their close friendship affected their performance on camera. Says the director:

“Leslie so adores Adam that pretending he’s sick devastated her the very first time they

rehearsed. She’s so committed and doesn’t always see herself as a comedy person; she

just plays it real. In that first rehearsal, just thinking about Adam dying reduced her to

tears. So, right off the bat, she forced everyone to go to that level.”

Eric Bana, who plays Laura’s philandering husband, Clarke, praises his on-screen

wife’s talents: “I’m in awe of Leslie as an actress; she has that unique ability to be deadly

serious within a very funny moment. She’s bloody hilarious. The first day of shooting I

had with her, I struggled to keep a straight face. It took me so long to get into the rhythm

and not ruin too many takes.”

Non-Aussie audiences mostly know Bana as a serious performer, but he began his

career doing stand-up and sketch comedy on such programs as The Eric Bana Show Live;

he continued for close to 12 years before he started acting in film. Bana welcomed the

opportunity to revisit his roots and play a character that is a comic wild card.

Of his interest in the part, he says: “Barry Mendel, who I worked with on Munich,

called me up and said ‘Judd’s doing a comedy with some serious elements to it, and

there’s a character in there that we think is right for you.’ I read the part and told Barry I

would love to play this character, but I thought he should be Australian. I felt I would

have a lot more ideas if able to play the character as an Aussie, and that ultimately he

may be funnier.”

Bana and Mann developed their roles as a loving couple that has grown apart.

When George contacts Laura and tells her he is going to die, the floodgates of their past

open wide. Producer Mendel explains: “George loves Laura, and she’s not getting along

with her husband. So Clarke, who’s cheating on Laura, has to somehow redeem himself

enough to deserve another chance. It’s fun in that there are a lot of balls in the air here.

As an audience member, who you want the characters to land with keeps shifting, and it

probably ends up different than how you’d expect.”

For the roles of the younger generation of comics, the filmmakers approached

several performers who have all spent time in the stand-up world. The parts of Ira’s

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roommates, Leo and Mark, went to, respectively, actors Jonah Hill and Jason

Schwartzman. The three roommates are good friends, but highly competitive with each

other. Rogen explains that art is imitating life: “That’s the part I have most closely lived.

I have been friends with guys who want the exact same thing I wanted, were up for the

same opportunities I was and were doing better than I was.”

Jonah Hill explains his approach to the very driven stand-up Leo, who goes head-

to-head with Ira: “I decided to play him just like a lot of comedy writers I know. You

don’t become a successful person in comedy unless you’re really driven. Rarely do you

see people who get success by accident. Comics spend so much of their time writing and

performing; the ones who become really successful are insanely hard workers and take it

very seriously.”

Apatow selected Jason Schwartzman to not just play Mark; he had another part to

play on set—the musically talented actor also composed the score for the film.

Schwartzman began his career as the drummer in the band Phantom Planet and has

recently release two critically acclaimed solo records under the banner Coconut Records.

Mendel, who produced Schwartzman’s acting debut, Rushmore, says: “Incorporating

Jason’s music into the film was one of Judd’s great strokes. It gives Funny People its

own sound; it’s not like any film score you’ve heard.”

Of his primary role in Funny People, he explains: “Mark stars on a hit TV sitcom

called Yo Teach...!—a cocktail of Dangerous Minds and Head of the Class. Mark makes

$25,000 a week and flaunts it like a peacock in front of Ira and Leo.” Interestingly

enough, Apatow and Sandler had an old friend who used to do the same thing to them.

For the role of Ira’s love interest, Daisy—a recent East Coast transplant trying to

make a name for herself in the comedy boys’ club—the filmmakers cast newcomer

Aubrey Plaza. It was her innovative approach that landed her the role. Plaza states: “I

submitted an audition tape and went in for a live audition, where I read through a scene

with Seth. After some time, the casting director told me that the filmmakers were

interested in casting a stand-up comedian for the role and suggested that I tape myself

doing a stand-up act. I did a small indie show in Queens—the first real stand-up show

I’ve ever done—and a friend taped it and I put it on YouTube. I sent the link to casting;

two days later, they called me and offered me the part.”

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Plaza’s Parks and Recreation co-star Aziz Ansari was cast as Randy, a comic

other performers love to hate. Ansari describes the hyperkinetic Randy as a “comedian

that audiences love and the other comics hate. He just sinks to the lowest common

denominator—dancing, catchphrases, really dumb sex jokes about receiving fellatio in an

igloo, and sometimes he even has a deejay. ”

Playing Ira’s deadpan friend at the deli, Chuck, is musician-actor RZA. Chuck is

a reality check for Ira, but he allows Ira to try out his comedy routines on him.

Discussing his nonplussed character, RZA says, “Chuck is one of those dudes who is glad

to have his job. He’s an ex-convict who’s happy that somebody will hire him, and his

buddy Ira wants to leave this job to become a star. Chuck is like, ‘Come on, that’s not

reality. This is reality, what we are living every day: free dental.’”

The two youngest comediennes on set were other members of the Apatow family,

Judd and Leslie’s daughters, Maude and Iris. About his girls’ participation, the

filmmaker explains: “I’m fascinated by my wife and my children, and so I decided to

have my kids play Leslie’s kids. In Knocked Up, they had small parts and were really

memorable. In this film, it’s different. Maude’s character, Mable, is very important to

the story. You can feel that she knows there are problems in Clarke and Laura’s marriage

and it’s affecting how she feels.

In one sequence, Laura shows George a tape of Mable singing “Memory” from

Cats. The sequence was made with an actual home video Judd shot of Maude’s theatrical

performance of the musical. The director explains: “At the performance, people were

moved…so I thought it would say a lot if George was not.”

Exposing Themselves:

Stand-Up in Funny People

To get his many players ready for the live stand-up they’d be performing as part

of their time on screen, Apatow put his team through joke-writing drills and multiple

tours that began several months before principal photography. He needed them to work

on their acts at various clubs, because during the movie shoot, he would instruct the

audiences to react naturally to their performances. As the cameras rolled, if a joke

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bombed, it bombed. So beforehand, the director wanted to toughen up his comics and

give them a taste of what life on the open road was really like.

The culmination of the tour happened at the landmark Orpheum Theatre in

downtown Los Angeles. In addition to doubling as a Northern California theater for a

pivotal scene in Funny People, the venue hosted a benefit for two charities close to

Apatow. Proceeds raised at “A Night of Funny People” benefited the National Multiple

Sclerosis Society and 826LA, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students

with their creative and expository writing skills. In addition to Sandler, Rogen, Hill and

Ansari in character, the all-star line-up included such comics as DAVID SPADE,

SARAH SILVERMAN and PATTON OSWALT.

Joke-Writing Sessions

There have been two different approaches to the company’s joke-writing sessions,

says Apatow. “George is a star, and whenever he’s on stage people are excited to see

him; he knows what he’s doing and is really funny. On the opposite side of that, Ira is

struggling to figure out who he is and how to be funny. Our approach was to let Seth

write the best jokes he could, and then we deconstructed them and screwed them up. A

great joke told without confidence will bomb, and a great joke told by someone you don’t

know who screws up the set up will not get a reaction. Once we had all of Seth’s great

jokes, we found ways for him to ruin them.”

Apatow walks us through the process for the writing sessions. “We wrote the

jokes by getting a few really good comedy writers, like BRIAN POSEHN and Patton

Oswalt and ALLEN COVERT, who writes with Adam a lot. Also, co-producers

ANDREW JAY COHEN and BRENDAN O’BRIEN had a ton of stuff they contributed

to help Seth and Jonah out with their jokes. We had these bull sessions where we wrote

jokes and gave them to the guys; sometimes Seth and Adam were there. At the end of the

day, most of it was written by Seth and Adam. We came up with some great areas, but

they still know what they do better than anybody.”

Rogen elaborates on the collaboration: “Jonah and I wrote jokes with each other,

but ultimately people were in charge of their own sets. Judd actually gave us a lot of

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freedom. He would rarely say, ‘Here’s the joke; say this joke.’ It was more: ‘Here’s an

area; write some jokes about it, and here are some people who are willing to help you.’”

Performing in Clubs

While shooting the scenes in which his actors performed stand-up, the director let

their acts continue uninterrupted. Apatow explains his rationale: “When you see stand-up

in movies, usually all of it’s good. Even if the jokes are bad, they are presented like

they’re good; everything’s getting a big laugh, and it feels very cut down. They cut right

to the heart of the joke, and you don’t get the awkward pauses before and after a joke.

What I went for was to capture what a comedy club actually feels like.”

The only way he could do that was to bring in a crowd and have his performers do

25-minute sets. The director continues: “There are sections of the movie in which you

see Ira get better; he’s more personal and he’s evolving. Those jokes needed to be

different than earlier ones in the movie. It was the same for Adam during his big concert

[at the Orpheum] where he’s trying to show Laura he is more mature; the jokes have to

reflect he is able to have a serious relationship. I also shot their acts in four or five

different comedy clubs. They gave 20 to 30 minutes of material from which we needed

two or three minutes.”

Apatow admits what’s tricky about stand-up is that the jokes have to be both

funny and revealing of the characters’ inner lives. He explains: “George takes the

difficult parts of his life and turns them into silly jokes. You hear him talk about a dark

aspect of his childhood, and then later you see him do a joke that’s clearly inspired by it,

but he’s not telling you the truth. He’s made it into something goofier than that.”

The director feels like the relationship between Ira and George is a bit like the one

he had with Sandler when they were young comics. He was the young guy who wasn’t

very good at stand-up, while Sandler was already quite confident in his skills. For his

part, Sandler admits: “I used to do stand-up and, whoever was in the crowd, I could adapt

a little bit. I had to be a little gross at all times, but I would phrase it a little more gently

if there was an older woman in the audience. I was filthy back then.”

For Rogen, who began doing stand-up at 13, this style of comedy was territory he

hadn’t visited in a while. “I last did stand-up around eight years ago,” the actor says. “I

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did it once I moved to L.A., but I was already on a TV show. The only places I could get

time were the Laugh Factory and the Comedy Store. I stopped because I started writing

screenplays.”

When he signed on for the film, Apatow told Hill that he had to be ready for a

stand-up show in three weeks. The performer had never before done stand-up in front of

a live audience. Hill’s reaction: “I had two or three weeks to write an act. It was at the

UCB [Upright Citizens Brigade], and Judd opened for me and I came out. It’s the best

one I’ll ever do in my life. Then I did the next one, and I tanked so hard. I bailed on

jokes but then talked about why I didn’t want to do them. That got laughs. I had a crash

course in five months on how to pass as a comedian.”

Before shooting, Aziz Ansari had been performing as his character, Randy, at the

UCB. The actor recalls, “What I had in mind for Randy’s stand-up was much different

than my own stand-up. So I decided to do some shows in character as Randy. I would

tell really terrible sex jokes, dance around, have a deejay to hype me up, etc. It all went

over way too well. Unfortunately, I think Randy may be more likeable than Aziz.”

During the shoot, the owner of L.A.’s Improv Comedy Club, Budd Friedman,

allowed the production use of his facilities for filming. It was a welcome reunion for one

of the owner’s former employees. Apatow, who worked as both an emcee and comic at

the club when he was 17, was able to get his old boss to help him stage one of the most

poignant scenes in the production.

It was like coming home as Apatow and Sandler reunited with talent they’d

admired for decades. At the Improv, Apatow shot a scene in which George—when he

believes he is dying—has lunch with a group of famous comedians. The comics included

legends from MONTY HOFFMAN, PAUL REISER and MARK SCHIFF to GEORGE

WALLACE and CAROL LEIFER.

About the scene, Apatow offers: “We wanted to make it feel like the real comedy

world, and we thought ‘Who would be George’s peers?’ So we tried to put many of the

great comics that we look up to in Funny People to make it feel like the right level of

reality. It was also because we look up to these guys; it’s an homage to have them in the

movie.”

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Sandler, who did many stand-up routines at the Improv back in the day, explains

what made that scene so meaningful: “Carol Leifer was one of the first comedians I saw.

I visited my sister on Long Island, and she took me to East Side Comedy Club, where

Judd worked as a dishwasher. I saw Carol destroy for an hour, and that’s when I’d only

been on stage two or three times. I remember thinking ‘I’m not going to be able to come

up with that shit…’”

Many other comics agreed to cameo in the film for key scenes. RAY ROMANO,

Sarah Silverman, NORM MACDONALD, DAVE ATTELL and CHARLES FLEISHER

are just a few of the additional comics who have guest appearances when George

Simmons makes his rounds to stay goodbye to old friends. Notably, a big Apatow fan

agreed to appear in his first film role since Universal’s 8 Mile. Eminem guest stars as

himself…and he is ready for a knock down throw down with unwanted paparazzo Ray

Romano.

Designing the Comedy

Across all departments, there was a mandate to ensure that the story of Funny

People was told with as much honesty as possible. Producer Townsend explains: “We’ve

tried really hard in the production design, costumes, lighting and camera work to create

realism. That’s always been Judd’s thing: to make sure you don’t take the audience out

of something by using a cheesy-looking set. We’ve gone to great lengths to match sets

on stage with exteriors, as well as shooting sets on location to heighten the realism.”

To lead a key department of the production, the filmmakers hired two-time

Academy Award-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, known for his stunning

work on such epochal films as Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. Producer

Mendel, who worked with Kaminski on Munich, believes: “In terms of photography, this

movie asked for something more ambitious than Judd’s previous films. Janusz’s work

helps you make a pronounced, yet seamless, transition to the next kind of movie that Judd

is making.”

Kaminski looked forward to participating in the project. He shares: “Judd

expressed certain desires about what this movie should look like. He assured me he was

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ready to be a bit more sophisticated with the visual storytelling. He told me the story,

and I was enticed by the idea of making a comedy that’s got a bit of drama interwoven.”

To design the picture, Apatow brought on production designer Jefferson Sage,

who has worked with the director since the series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared.

About designing the film, Sage explains: “From the beginning of our relationship, we’ve

been very interested in spaces that are utterly real, familiar and convincing. The comedy

Judd’s interested in emerges from the conflicts real people have. All those issues and

people are very familiar, and the spaces they inhabit needed to be the same.”

The filmmakers created different comedy clubs for the film. Sage shares, “The

idea was to show how comedians go around town. They try their act one night at this

club and at another club another night. It was important that the stages feel different…as

if they’re covering the town. One key location was the Improv Comedy Club on

Melrose. Judd was insistent we film there. The other ones were exclusively built on

stages.”

Details used to make the comedy club sets authentic include torn drapes, half-

empty beer bottles and water stains on the tabletops. Sage’s team scuffed and spotted the

floors so audiences can see where countless comedians and patrons have dropped their

drinks and stained the floors.

Other key locations in Funny People include George’s mansion, Laura’s ranch

house and the apartment where Ira and his friends lived. George’s home was found in

Malibu. “It looked old, but it’s only six to eight years old,” comments Sage. “It felt

removed and lonely, as we wanted a house that George had bought lock, stock and barrel

from a previous owner. He hadn’t gotten around to decorating or changing anything yet.

There are a lot of character things that are out of place for him.”

Laura’s cozy house was one of family and comfort, a counterpoint to George’s.

Sage adds, “Laura’s house is a gentler, more contemporary style of architecture. The

locale is supposed to be Northern California, but we were lucky enough to find it a mile

or two from the other house. This was after a long search through the outer reaches of

Los Angeles and nearby horse country.

“Ira’s apartment is the third point of the triangle,” Sage concludes. “The

apartment needed to be many things that the other spaces were not. These are young

14


guys; they’re ambitious, getting into their careers and successful on different levels. The

choice of a modern loft space with high ceilings and walls with pictures of famous

comedians created a nice contrast to the other spaces; it speaks to their youth and point of

view.”

The Beatles to James Taylor:

Music of the Film

For The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Apatow used an eclectic mix of ’80s songs, as well

as music from James Brown and Ashford & Simpson to Missy Elliott and Chaka Khan.

For Knocked Up, he enlisted singer/poet Loudon Wainwright III to create the poetic

soundtrack. In Funny People, the director goes in a different direction. Artist Michael

Andrews has been composing for Apatow since their days together on Freaks and Geeks,

and actor Jason Schwartzman got his first shot at composing for a film. The

collaboration turned out better than anyone could have hoped.

Longtime Apatow collaborator, music supervisor Jonathan Karp, believes the

music in Funny People gives the actors a chance to address their characters and situations

nonverbally. He says, “There’s a moment when Ira and George drive home from San

Francisco, after things go wrong for George, where they’re sitting in silence in the car…

and then we see them in their homes going to bed. You see their faces and they’re clearly

unhappy, and the music conveys all the emotion of that. You don’t need words. The

music also helps illustrate a lot of what George went through with his illness.”

Multihyphenate JON BRION, who scored Sandler’s Punch-Drunk Love, was

brought on to the production to produce George’s music. At one point in the film,

George hires the musician to play at his home when he thinks he’s dying. Fortunately for

all, Sandler is a bit of an accomplished musician himself. Apatow states: “The idea was

that this very rich person pays Jon Brion to jam. It’s a great moment where you see an

emotional montage, and the music is really beautiful and warm. We shot a lot of songs

with just Adam and Jon Brion, and then with Adam, Jon and a band.”

Karp adds, “The jam session became a bigger thing while making the movie. We

ended up doing 8 or 10 different songs that we recorded to see which ones were going to

15


work out the best. In the jam session scenes, Adam plays with Jon, and JAMES

GADSON plays the drums. He is an amazing drummer most famous for the years spent

with Bill Withers; and SEBASTIAN STEINBERG plays bass in those sessions.”

When choosing the right music for Sandler and Brion to collaborate on to help tell

the story, Karp admits: “We ended up in Beatlesesque territory. The songs we performed

were ‘Real Love’ by John Lennon, and there’s the Beatles version, of course. We’ve got

a version of ‘Photograph’ by Ringo Starr. Some others were ‘Heart Needs a Home’ by

Richard Thompson and ‘I Saw the Light’ by Todd Rundgren. We found songs that

showed a vulnerable aspect of Adam’s character when he’s performing alone.

Ultimately, we used ‘Real Love.’ Many of the extras songs we recorded will be on our

soundtrack and DVD.”

One of the other big musical days shot for Funny People was when JAMES

TAYLOR and his band played at a MySpace convention where George and Ira perform.

Says Apatow: “James Taylor is super funny. You think about James Taylor like he’s

been around since we were born. There’s no part of our consciousness where we didn’t

hear those songs with our families.”

Rogen believes that his director engineered some scenes simply so he could have

fun. He says, “James Taylor was a funny joke in the movie, but he didn’t need to play for

four and a half hours. That was so Judd could watch James Taylor.”

Actual Footage and Fake Calls

When Judd Apatow was 17, he moved to California to attend USC. Soon after, he

met Sandler. Of their introduction, he explains, “I quickly ran out of money, and I was

doing stand-up at the Improv. I met Adam on the first night he came to L.A. to move

here. We became friends and got an apartment together. He was one of those people that

made you think, ‘This guy’s a superstar; there’s no stopping this.’ You felt the charisma,

and he was hilarious. It was undeniable that this guy was going to be a major force. He

made us laugh all the time; this was somebody who was just spewing funny all day long.”

The budding director put his skills to use by filming his friends. “I have all of

these videotapes of Adam doing phony phone calls,” says Apatow. “I used to videotape

16


him because I knew these things he did as a goof were as funny as anything I’d ever seen;

there was value in it, and I didn’t want it to disappear into the ether. I use them in the

movie to show his arc from a young, carefree person who wants to be in the business.”

Apatow works this material—as well as actual footage of Sandler doing stand-up

—to show the change that’s come over George. “When all your dreams come true and

you’re famous and rich, but you’re alone and unmarried and not happy with your

personal situation, that light comes out of your eyes,” he reflects. “Even though you’re

still on the treadmill, the work becomes a drag and you’re not sure what it’s all adding up

to. You’re making these movies, but you know in your core you’re not feeling satisfied

and you’re not evolving as a person.”

As he reminisces, George also watches reels of footage of a beautiful young

woman in a Coke commercial from a dozen years earlier, as well as images of her on

various television dramas such as Birdland, from Scott Frank and Walter Parkes. It’s the

love of his life, Laura, and you can see he still loves her and pines for her. For this part

of the scene, Apatow used footage of Leslie Mann from her earlier movies and

commercials. Of the footage, Mann laughs, “I haven’t watched any of those in years. It

was really fun to see. Back when I was 19 or 20, I was always hard on myself and

thought I wasn’t doing enough. But seeing all these commercials again, I thought, ‘I

should be proud of myself. I worked hard.’”

****

Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures present, in association with Relativity

Media, an Apatow/Madison 23 production of a Judd Apatow film: Adam Sandler, Seth

Rogen, Leslie Mann in Funny People, starring Eric Bana, Jonah Hill, Jason

Schwartzman. The music is by Jason Schwartzman and Michael Andrews; the music

supervisor is Jonathan Karp. The costume designers are Nancy Steiner and Betsy

Heimann; the film is edited by Brent White and Craig Alpert. The comedy’s production

designer is Jefferson Sage; the director of photography is Janusz Kaminski. Funny

People’s executive producers are Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Jack Giarraputo. The

comedy is produced by Judd Apatow, Clayton Townsend and Barry Mendel. It is written

and directed by Judd Apatow. ©2009 Universal Studios. www.funnypeoplemovie.com

17

http://www.funnypeoplemovie.com/


ABOUT THE CAST

ADAM SANDLER (George Simmons) has enjoyed phenomenal success as an

actor, writer, producer and musician.

Sandler’s films include the recent box-office smashes Bedtime Stories, for Walt

Disney Studios, Sony Pictures’ You Don’t Mess With the Zohan and Universal Pictures’

comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry.

Sandler is currently in production on Sony Pictures’ Grown Ups for director

Dennis Dugan. The film centers around five good friends who reunite for a Fourth of

July holiday weekend 30 years after their high school graduation, and stars Kevin James,

Salma Hayek, Rob Schneider, Maria Bello, David Spade, Maya Rudolph and Chris Rock.

Previously, Sandler was seen in a starring role, opposite Don Cheadle, in Sony’s

Reign Over Me for director Mike Binder and the box-office hit Click, which starred Kate

Beckinsale. He also starred in The Longest Yard, with Chris Rock and Burt Reynolds;

James L. Brooks’ Spanglish, opposite Téa Leoni; the romantic comedy 50 First Dates,

with Drew Barrymore; Anger Management, with Jack Nicholson; and Paul Thomas

Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love, for which he received a Golden Globe Award

nomination.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Manchester, New Hampshire,

Sandler’s first brush with comedy came at age 17, when he performed at a Boston

comedy club. From then on he was hooked, performing regularly in comedy clubs

throughout the state, while earning a degree in fine arts from New York University.

Sandler’s production company, Happy Madison Productions, was co-founded by

Jack Giarraputo and Sandler and has gone on to become an almost self-contained mini-

studio that is involved in all aspects of film production. Happy Madison has produced

Click, The Benchwarmers, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Dickie Roberts: Former

Child Star and Strange Wilderness, the recent films The House Bunny and Paul Blart:

Mall Cop, and the upcoming The Zookeeper. Sandler has also collaborated with writer

Tim Herlihy on the screenplays for Happy Gilmore, Little Nicky, Billy Madison, Big

Daddy and The Waterboy, and executive produced Grandma’s Boy, The Animal, Joe

Dirt, The Master of Disguise, The Hot Chick and Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo.

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Happy Madison Productions also has a deal with Columbia Tri-Star Domestic

Television to develop shows for the studio, including the current hit show Rules of

Engagement, which stars David Spade and Oliver Hudson, and the upcoming Comedy

Central series The Gong Show with Dave Attell and Gay Robot.

Sandler’s comedy albums on Warner Bros. Records have gone multiplatinum.

Collectively, they have sold more than six million copies to date. Several years ago,

Sandler launched AdamSandler.com. This site is updated weekly with mini-movies

featuring Sandler and the staff of Happy Madison in their daily routines.

The year 2009 has been a busy year for SETH ROGEN (Ira Wright/Executive

Producer). In April, Rogen starred in the dark comedy Observe and Report, opposite

Anna Faris. Taking on the role of the mall security guard Ronnie, the film was directed

by Jody Hill. Up next for Rogen was 3-D animation phenomenon, Monsters vs. Aliens.

Rogen voiced B.O.B. and was joined by Paul Rudd, Reese Witherspoon and Rainn

Wilson. The film was released by DreamWorks Animation and has grossed nearly $370

million at the worldwide box office.

Rogen has emerged leading a new generation of comedic actors, writers and

producers. Nominated for an Emmy Award in 2005 for Outstanding Writing for a

Variety, Music or Comedy for Da Ali G Show, Rogen began his career doing standup

comedy in Vancouver, Canada at 13 years of age. After moving to Los Angeles, Rogen

landed supporting roles in Judd Apatow’s two critically acclaimed network television

comedies, Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, the latter of which Rogen was also hired as

a staff writer at the age of 18. Shortly after, Rogen was guided by Apatow toward a film

career.

In 2005, Apatow cast Rogen in the hit feature comedy The 40-Year-Old Virgin,

which opened No. 1 at the box office where it remained at the top perch for two

weekends in a row. The film went on to gross more than $175 million worldwide and

helped put Rogen on the map as a future film star. The film was named one of the 10

Most Outstanding Motion Pictures of the Year by AFI and took home Best Comedy

Movie at the 11th annual Critics’ Choice Awards. Rogen was a co-producer on the film

as well.

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In 2007, Rogen headlined the summer comedy Knocked Up with co-stars

Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann; a film that has grossed more than $140

million domestically. Once again pairing Rogen with Apatow, Rogen was also an

executive producer on the project distributed by Universal Pictures.

Later that year Rogen was seen in another summer blockbuster, Superbad (a

semi-autobiographical comedy), that he co-wrote and executive produced with writing

partner Evan Goldberg. The film grossed more than $120 million domestically for Sony

Pictures.

The year 2008 was another busy year for Rogen. He started by lending his voice

as Mantis alongside Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Angelina Jolie in the Academy

Award®-nominated Kung Fu Panda, which has earned more than $626 million

worldwide. Rogen immediately followed Kung Fu Panda with another No. 1 box-office

hit in the action-comedy Pineapple Express; a film he co-wrote with Evan Goldberg and

starred opposite of James Franco and Danny McBride. Sony Pictures released the film in

August and it went on to earn more than $100 million worldwide. Rogen was next seen

in Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno, released by The Weinstein Company in

October, starring opposite Elizabeth Banks.

Other film credits for Rogen include Horton Hears a Who! and Drillbit Taylor.

Up next, Rogen will demonstrate his wide-ranging acting ability by starring in the

action film The Green Hornet (Sony Pictures), to be directed by Michel Gondry. Rogen

will again team up with co-writing partner Evan Goldberg.

Rogen currently resides in Los Angeles.

LESLIE MANN (Laura) was recently seen in Burr Steers’ 17 Again, starring

opposite Zac Efron and Matthew Perry. Mann plays Scarlett, whose husband (Perry)

wakes up to find he is age 17 again, and enrolls in the same school his children attend so

he can get closer to them. The film was released by Warner Bros. on April 17, 2009 and

has grossed more than $85 million worldwide.

This summer, Mann will also star in Robert Rodriguez’s Shorts, opposite James

Spader, Jon Cryer and William H. Macy. The film is set in fictional Black Falls, a suburb

where everyone works for Black Box Unlimited Worldwide Industries Inc., whose

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communication gadget is sweeping the country. When a boy discovers a rainbow-

colored rock that grants wishes to anyone who holds it, it begins to cause havoc

throughout the town. Mann and Cryer will play the boy’s parents. Shorts is slated for

release by Warner Bros. on August 7, 2009.

Mann also stars in Glenn Ficarra and John Requa’s upcoming I Love You Phillip

Morris, opposite Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor. I Love You Phillip Morris is the true

story of Steven Russell (Carrey), who is sent to prison and falls in love with his cellmate

Phillip Morris (McGregor). When Morris is set free, Russell makes several attempts to

escape from prison to be with him. Mann plays Carrey’s wife in the film. The film

premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and is slated for release on February 14,

2010.

Mann will next begin production on What Was I Thinking?, starring opposite

Elizabeth Banks. The story centers on a quartet of girlfriends who take a hedonistic ski

trip after one of them gets dumped. Lynda Obst is producing the film and it will be

released by New Line Cinema.

Mann recently starred in Judd Apatow’s acclaimed film Knocked Up, opposite

Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd. Her performance in the film garnered her rave reviews as

well as a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the Chicago Film Critics

Association. Knocked Up grossed more than $300 million worldwide and won the

People’s Choice Award for Favorite Movie Comedy. It was also nominated for a Critics’

Choice Award for Best Comedy Movie and was named one of AFI’s top-10 films of the

year.

Mann is also well known for roles in Drillbit Taylor, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Big

Daddy and The Cable Guy. Her other film credits include Stealing Harvard, Orange

County, Timecode, George of the Jungle and She’s the One.

ERIC BANA (Clarke) was first introduced to American audiences in the title role

of Mark Brandon “Chopper” Read in the feature film Chopper, which premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival in 2001, and was then released in the U.S. to critical notice after

its Australian success. For his role, Bana earned awards from the Film Critics Circle of

Australia and the Australian Film Institute.

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In 2001, Bana was seen co-starring in Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down as Delta

Sgt. First Class “Hoot” Gibson, one of a group of elite U.S. soldiers, opposite Josh

Hartnett, Ewan McGregor and Tom Sizemore. The war epic, produced by Jerry

Bruckheimer, was based on journalist Mark Bowden’s bestselling account of the 1993

U.S. mission in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Bana also starred as Bruce Banner in Hulk for director Ang Lee, based on the

Marvel Comics character, and as Hector, the prince of Troy, in Troy for director

Wolfgang Petersen. The film was based on Homer’s “The Iliad” and also co-starred Brad

Pitt and Orlando Bloom. He also starred in Steven Spielberg’s Munich, about the

aftermath of the 1972 Olympics.

Bana was most recently seen as the villain Nero in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, and in

The Other Boleyn Girl, with Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. He was also seen

in Romulus, My Father, based on Raimond Gaita’s bestselling memoir, which premiered

at the Toronto International Film Festival, and in Curtis Hanson’s Lucky You, in which he

co-starred with Drew Barrymore.

Bana will next be seen in The Time Traveler’s Wife, opposite Rachel McAdams,

based on the bestselling novel by Audrey Niffenegger.

In April of this year, Bana’s first film as a director, the drama documentary Love

the Beast, had its U.S. premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Starring Bana, Jay Leno,

Jeremy Clarkson (Top Gear) and Dr. Phil, the film explores the meaning of Bana’s 25-

year-long relationship with his first car and the importance of the bonds that form through

a common passion.

Bana currently resides in Australia with his wife and two children.

JONAH HILL (Leo) has quickly become one of today’s most sought-after

actors/writers and undeniable comedic forces, thanks to his starring role opposite Michael

Cera in the acclaimed hit Superbad in 2007. Produced by Judd Apatow, directed by Greg

Mottola and written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the film grossed nearly $120

million at the U.S. box office.

Last year, Hill lent his voice as Tommy in 20th Century Fox’s animated film

Horton Hears a Who!, based on the children’s book written by Dr. Seuss and directed by

22


Jimmy Hayward (Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc.). He was joined by Jim Carrey and

Steve Carell, helping to launch the film as an international success with earnings of more

than $295 million worldwide. He also had a memorable cameo role in the Apatow

comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall alongside Jason Segel, Russell Brand and Kristen

Bell. Produced by Judd Apatow and directed by Nicholas Stoller, the film went on to

make more than $100 million worldwide. Hill was last seen in an unbilled cameo role in

the hit film Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, opposite Ben Stiller.

Hill began his career performing one-scene plays that he wrote and performed at

the gritty Black & White bar in New York City. After landing a role in David O.

Russell’s I Heart Huckabees with Dustin Hoffman and Jude Law, Hill was next seen in

Judd Apatow’s 2005 summer hit comedy The 40-Year-Old Virgin with Steve Carell.

The 25-year-old continues to confirm his place among a new generation of

comedic actors/writers. Hill recently wrapped production on The Invention of Lying,

starring Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner and Tina Fey, set to be released in September by

Warner Bros. He also has lent his voice as Snotlout in the upcoming DreamWorks

Animation film How to Train Your Dragon, opposite of Gerard Butler (300) and America

Ferrera (Ugly Betty), set for release in March 2010. Hill also recently wrapped

production on the untitled Duplass brothers film, also starring Marisa Tomei and John C.

Reilly.

Upcoming projects for Hill include The Adventurer’s Handbook, which Hill is set

to star in, write and executive produce. Also attached to the project are Jason

Schwartzman and Jason Segel. Currently, Hill is filming Get Him to the Greek, the

upcoming spin-off of the comedy hit Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Hill will star opposite

Russell Brand, who is reprising his role as Aldous Snow for the film.

Other film credits for Hill include Knocked Up, Click, Evan Almighty and

Accepted.

Hill currently resides in Los Angeles.

JASON SCHWARTZMAN (Mark/Music by) made his motion picture acting

debut in 1999 as Max Fischer, an eccentric high-school sophomore in the acclaimed

comedy Rushmore, opposite Bill Murray, for director Wes Anderson (The Royal

23


Tenenbaums). That year, his performance garnered a nomination for Most Promising

Actor from the Chicago Film Critics Association. He has since completed work on

several feature films. Schwartzman left his position as lead drummer for the Los

Angeles-based band Phantom Planet in 2003. Their second studio album (“The Guest”),

written in part by Schwartzman, was released by Epic Records in February 2002. Shortly

after, the band embarked on a 14-month tour with Incubus.

In 2004, Schwartzman starred in David O. Russell’s I Heart Huckabees with

Dustin Hoffman, Naomi Watts and Jude Law.

In 2005, he starred opposite Steve Martin and Claire Danes in Shopgirl, the film

adaptation of Steve Martin’s best-selling novel. The International Press Academy

nominated him for a Satellite Award for Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role,

Comedy or Musical, for his portrayal of Jeremy, the struggling musician who falls in love

with a disenchanted salesgirl played by Danes.

In September 2007, he made his writing debut with The Darjeeling Limited,

which he co-wrote with Roman Coppola and Wes Anderson. He also starred in the film

as Jack, alongside Owen Wilson and Adrien Brody. His other acting credits include

Spun, Slackers, S1m0ne, Marie Antoinette and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

In 2006, Schwartzman was back in the music scene, creating an indie-rock solo

project with Coconut Records. The debut album, titled “Nighttiming,” was released on

Schwartzman’s Young Baby Records in 2007. The album is the product of

Schwartzman, who wrote all of the songs and performs the majority of the instruments.

The song “Summer Day” was featured on the Spider-Man 3 soundtrack. The song “West

Coast” can be heard in an episode of The O.C. and the movie Cloverfield.

Schwartzman will next be seen in HBO’s new television series Bored to Death,

set to premiere September 20. He also is slated to lend his voice in the upcoming

animated film Fantastic Mr. Fox. The film is comprised of an all-star cast, including

George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Bill Murray, and reunites Schwartzman with director

Wes Anderson. It is set for release in November 2009 through Fox Searchlight.

Schwartzman is currently in production with Michael Cera in the film Scott

Pilgrim vs. the World. The film is being directed by Edgar Wright and is set to be

24


released by Universal Pictures in 2010. Schwartzman is also attached to star opposite

Jonah Hill in the film The Adventurer’s Handbook.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Schwartzman continues to reside there.

Actor, writer and comedian AUBREY PLAZA (Daisy) is quickly becoming one

of her generation’s brightest young talents.

Plaza currently stars in the NBC comedy series Parks and Recreation as

uninspired intern April Ludgate. The new series, from the creators of The Office, is a

half-hour mockumentary that looks at the world of local government. Co-starring Amy

Poehler and Rashida Jones, the series will return for a second season in fall 2009.

In addition, she is currently filming Edgar Wright’s action-comedy Scott Pilgrim

vs. the World, with Michael Cera, Jason Schwartzman and Chris Evans. The film is an

adaptation of the critically acclaimed, award-winning series of graphic novels by

Canadian cartoonist Bryan Lee O’Malley. Scott Pilgrim (Cera) is a wannabe rock star

who must defeat his new girlfriend’s seven evil ex-boyfriends in order to win her heart.

Plaza stars as Julie Powers, an obnoxious antagonist to Scott. Universal Pictures is

scheduled to release the film in 2010.

Plaza will also be seen in the upcoming dark comedy Mystery Team. The film

premiered to rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival and revolves around a group of

high-school detectives committed to solving child-sized mysteries in their small town.

When a neighborhood girl asks them to find out who killed her parents, the team must

take on a violent cartel of drug lords and strippers, the likes of which their small town of

Oakdale has never seen. Roadside Attractions is scheduled to release the film in fall

2009.

Plaza’s additional credits include the hit online series The Jeannie Tate Show,

ESPN’s original Web series Mayne Street and a guest appearance on 30 Rock. Since

2004, Plaza has performed improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade

Theatre. She recently began performing stand-up comedy and has appeared at the Laugh

Factory and the Improv.

Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, Plaza is a graduate of New York

University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She currently resides in Los Angeles.

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Robert Diggs, aka the RZA (Chuck), is a man of many aliases and even more

talents. He is the heart, soul and brains behind rap’s only true multiplatinum super group,

the Wu-Tang Clan. RZA is a man who appreciates the creation of music and the success

he has had within the music industry, and he thrives on the process of creation, which he

has carried over into his acting and scoring career. For as long as he can remember, RZA

wanted to be a part of the moviemaking process and was inspired while watching one of

his favorite kung fu flicks.

In 1999, RZA got the first taste of living his dream. Director Jim Jarmusch asked

RZA to score Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, a modern samurai film, and offered

him a cameo in the film, which helped bring him to where he is today. As an actor, RZA

has shown real range from his hilarious stints on Chappelle’s Show to the Jarmusch film

Coffee and Cigarettes. RZA next starred in the drama Derailed, alongside Clive Owen,

and, most recently, Ridley Scott’s American Gangster, for which the cast garnered a

Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a

Motion Picture.

This year, he will be seen in the independent features Life Is Hot in Cracktown

and Gospel Hill. Next year, he will be seen in Universal Pictures’ Repossession Mambo,

starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker.

In 2003, RZA scored Kill Bill Vol. 1 for Quentin Tarantino, for which he

received a BAFTA nomination. In 2004, he contributed music to Barbershop 2: Back in

Business, Soul Plane, Kill Bill Vol. 2 and Blade: Trinity. In 2007, RZA scored the

critically acclaimed Spike TV animated series Afro Samurai and, in 2008, Afro Samurai:

Resurrection, which starred Samuel Jackson. That same year, he also contributed to the

score of the 20th Century Fox film Babylon A.D., which starred Vin Diesel.

RZA continues to make strides within an industry that captured his attention as a

youth.

AZIZ ANSARI (Randy) is having a breakout year with a new television series, a

trio of films and a comedy tour, which he recently headlined. Entertainment Weekly

recently named him one of the top-12 future stars of comedy and LA Weekly recently put

him on the cover of its annual “People Issue.” Ansari currently co-stars opposite

26


Saturday Night Live’s Amy Poehler and Rashida Jones in the NBC comedy series Parks

and Recreation, from the producers and creators of The Office. Ansari plays Tom

Haverford, the sarcastic and occasionally sleazy government employee who is trying to

weasel his way to the top of the local parks and recreation department in Pawnee,

Indiana.

Ansari can also be seen in a handful of feature films. He recently had roles in the

hit comedies I Love You, Man, with Paul Rudd, and opposite Seth Rogen and Anna Faris

in Observe and Report.

Previously, Ansari was known for his role on MTV’s hit sketch-comedy series

Human Giant. The series is based on comedy sketches performed by Ansari along with

Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer. Many of their sketches have become Internet sensations

and have popularized the trio with young people all across the U.S. Last year, Ansari had

a very memorable guest-starring role on HBO’s The Flight of the Conchords, in which he

portrayed a racist fruit vendor. This year, he was seen in a multi-episode arc on Scrubs.

Ansari recently completed his Glow in the Dark stand-up comedy tour, for which

he crisscrossed the country, performing his buzzed-about stand-up act. He continues to

do shows in L.A. and New York whenever he has time, often introducing to his audiences

the character Randy, which is based upon his profane character in Funny People. In

2005, Rolling Stone named him its choice for “Hot Stand-Up” on their annual “Hot List,”

and he was also awarded the Jury Award for Best Stand-Up at the U.S. Comedy Arts

Festival in Aspen in 2006. In addition, the Los Angeles Times recently listed him as one

of the top-25 people to follow on Twitter.

Ansari currently resides in Los Angeles.

IRIS and MAUDE APATOW (Ingrid and Mable) were excited about working

on their second film with their writer/producer/director father, Judd Apatow. In the film,

they play Ingrid and Mable, the daughters of Clarke (played by Eric Bana) and Laura

(played by their real mother, Leslie Mann).

The sisters made their on-screen debut playing Pete and Debbie’s children,

Charlotte and Sadie, in the hit comedy Knocked Up. When not in school, Iris likes to

draw and swim on hot days. Maude likes musical theater and playing tennis.

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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

JUDD APATOW (Written and Directed by/Produced by) is considered one of

the most sought-after comedy minds in the business. He has been closely associated

with many of the biggest comedy films in recent years.

Last year was very busy for Apatow with three major successes, starting with

Universal Pictures’ Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which he produced with Shauna

Robertson, and was directed by Nicholas Stoller and written by Jason Segel. The film,

starring Segel, Jonah Hill, Mila Kunis and Russell Brand, went on to make more than

$100 million worldwide. Next up, he produced Sony Pictures’ Step Brothers, which was

released in July and earned more than $100 million domestically. The film starred

dynamic duo Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, with Adam McKay as writer/director.

Ferrell co-wrote the film, and Reilly shared a “story by” credit.

Apatow immediately followed Step Brothers by producing the action-comedy

Pineapple Express, a film written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, from a story by

Apatow. The film, starring Rogen, James Franco and Danny McBride, centers on two

buddies who get mixed up with a drug gang. Sony Pictures released the film in August

and it opened No. 1 at the box office, nearly reaching $100 million worldwide. Other

Apatow projects released last year were You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, (which Apatow

co-wrote with Sandler and Robert Smigel and which made more than $200 million

worldwide), as well as the Apatow-produced Drillbit Taylor, starring Owen Wilson.

Born in Syosset, New York, Apatow aspired to become a professional comedian

at an early age. While still in high school, he created a radio show and began

interviewing comedy personalities he admired, including Steve Allen, Howard Stern and

John Candy. Some of his interviewees also included such then-unknowns as Jay Leno,

Jerry Seinfeld and Garry Shandling. Thus inspired, he began performing his own stand-

up routines by the end of his senior year.

Following an appearance on HBO’s Young Comedians Special, Apatow

eventually stopped performing in favor of writing. He wrote for the Grammy Awards, as

well as cable specials for Roseanne and Jim Carrey, before going on to co-create and

executive produce The Ben Stiller Show. Although the critically acclaimed show was

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canceled after only 12 episodes, it brought Apatow an Emmy Award for Outstanding

Individual Achievement in Writing in a Variety or Music Program. Fresh from his

Emmy win, Apatow joined The Larry Sanders Show in 1993 as a writer and consulting

producer, and he would later serve as a co-executive producer and director of an episode

during the show’s final season.

Apatow is perhaps best recognized for his work as a producer and a writer on

some of the most acclaimed television shows. He served as an executive producer of the

critically praised, award-winning series Freaks and Geeks, which debuted in the 1999 -

2000 season. He also wrote and directed several episodes of the series, which, while no

longer on the air, still maintains a following through DVD sales.

Other television credits include consulting producer of the animated series The

Critic and executive producer and creator of the series Undeclared.

Wanting to head to the big screen, Apatow made his feature film directorial debut

on the 2005 hit comedy The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which he also co-wrote with the film’s

star, Steve Carell, for Universal Pictures. The film opened No. 1 and spent two weeks in

the top perch before proceeding to gross more than $175 million globally.

The film garnered numerous awards and nominations including being named one

of AFI’s 10 Most Outstanding Motion Pictures of the Year, and it took home Best

Comedy Movie at the 11th annual Critics’ Choice Awards. The film also earned Apatow

a nomination for Best Original Screenplay from the Writers Guild of America and

received four MTV Movie Award nominations, including a win for Carell for Best

Comedic Performance.

In 2006, teaming with Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, Apatow produced the hit

feature comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, which earned close to

$150 million domestically and co-stars Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly and Sacha Baron

Cohen.

Not one to relax, in 2007, Apatow released Universal Pictures’ Knocked Up, his

directorial follow-up to The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which Apatow also wrote and produced.

Knocked Up grossed more than $200 million internationally and was named one of AFI’s

10 Most Outstanding Pictures of the Year and nominated for Best Original Screenplay by

the Writers Guild of America.

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Next, Apatow produced Superbad, starring Jonah Hill and Michael Cera: a story

centering around two co-dependent high-school seniors (Hill and Cera) who are forced to

deal with separation anxiety after their plan to stage a booze-soaked party goes awry. The

film grossed more than $120 million domestically for Sony Pictures.

Other film credits for Apatow include producing The Cable Guy, Anchorman: The

Legend of Ron Burgundy, executive producing Kicking & Screaming, co-writing Fun

With Dick and Jane and producing and co-writing Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,

which was nominated for two Golden Globes: Best Original Song – Motion Picture and

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (John C. Reilly).

CLAYTON TOWNSEND (Produced by) has enjoyed a successful association

with director/producer/writer Judd Apatow, having produced the hit comedies Knocked

Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin with the filmmaker. He also worked alongside Apatow

on Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Year One.

As a much-in-demand producer, he shared a longtime association with acclaimed

director Oliver Stone that spanned nearly 12 years. He produced Stone’s Any Given

Sunday, Nixon, Natural Born Killers and U Turn, co-produced JFK and Heaven & Earth

and associate produced The Doors, Talk Radio and Born on the Fourth of July.

Townsend began his career in many film production capacities, including location

manager (Alan Parker’s Angel Heart) and production manager (Three Men and a Baby,

Jacob’s Ladder), before becoming a producer on such films as The Blackout and Where’s

Marlowe?

He also executive produced the films The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, The

Skeleton Key, Bad Company and Heartbreakers.

BARRY MENDEL (Produced by) is a two-time Oscar®-nominated producer.

The first film he produced was Rushmore, directed by Wes Anderson. This was followed

by The Sixth Sense, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, which was nominated for six

Academy Awards® including Best Picture. Subsequently, he produced its follow-up,

Unbreakable, then went back to work with Wes Anderson on the The Royal Tenenbaums,

which was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Original Screenplay. This

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collaboration continued on The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, which was followed by

Joss Whedon’s directorial debut, Serenity.

Mendel next produced Munich, directed by Steven Spielberg, which was

nominated for five Academy Awards® including Best Picture. He then went back to

work with Shyamalan, producing the box-office hit The Happening.

Most recently, Mendel produced Michael Lander’s debut film Peacock and Whip

It, Drew Barrymore’s debut as a feature director, both currently in postproduction.

Mendel lives in Pasadena, California.

EVAN GOLDBERG (Executive Producer) grew up with his longtime writing

partner Seth Rogen on the open plains of the Canadian tundra, where they wrote their

first screenplay when they were 13. After moving to Los Angeles, Goldberg became a

writer on the final season of Sacha Baron Cohen’s cult hit Da Ali G Show.

Under the direction of Judd Apatow, Goldberg executive produced Knocked Up,

alongside Rogen. Goldberg and Rogen executive produced their first screenplay,

Superbad, and recently released Pineapple Express, in which Rogen also starred. The

duo is currently working on their next feature, The Green Hornet.

JACK GIARRAPUTO (Executive Producer) is one of Hollywood’s most

successful producers. His films have grossed more than $2 billion domestically and

nearly $3 billion worldwide, with 11 films topping the $100-million mark domestically,

including Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Bedtime Stories, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, I Now

Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Click, The Longest Yard, 50 First Dates, Anger

Management, Mr. Deeds, Big Daddy and The Waterboy.

JANUSZ KAMINSKI (Director of Photography), a two-time Academy Award®

winner, took home his first Oscar® for his black-and-white cinematography on Steven

Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. For his work on that film, Kaminski was also honored with

a BAFTA and numerous critics’ awards, including the Los Angeles Film Critics

Association and New York Film Critics Circle awards for Best Cinematography. He won

his second Academy Award® for his work on Spielberg’s World War II drama Saving

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Private Ryan. In addition, Kaminski received his third Best Cinematography Oscar®

nomination for Spielberg’s Amistad and a fourth in 2007 for Julian Schnabel’s The

Diving Bell and the Butterfly, for which he won the Technical Grand Prize at the 2007

Cannes International Film Festival, as well as Film Independent’s Spirit Award for Best

Cinematography in 2008.

Most recently, Kaminski collaborated with Spielberg on the action-adventure

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the ’60s-era dramatic comedy Catch

Me If You Can, the futuristic thriller Minority Report, The Terminal and the politically

charged Munich. He also served as the director of photography on the Spielberg-directed

films A.I.: Artificial Intelligence and The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Kaminski’s other

film credits as director of photography include The Adventures of Huck Finn, How to

Make an American Quilt, Cameron Crowe’s Jerry Maguire and Kathryn Bigelow’s

Mission Zero.

A native of Poland, Kaminski came to the United States in 1981. He studied

cinematography at Columbia College in Chicago, receiving his BA in 1987. After

graduating, he relocated to Los Angeles to become a cinematography fellow at the

prestigious American Film Institute and began his professional career on the feature

Fallen Angel. Kaminski also lensed two television projects: the Amblin Entertainment

production Class of ’61 and the acclaimed cable movie Wildflower, directed by Diane

Keaton. In 2000, Kaminski made his feature-film directorial debut with the thriller Lost

Souls, which starred Winona Ryder, Ben Chaplin and John Hurt. He has since also

directed the Polish drama Hania, about a young married couple who invite a young boy

from an orphanage into their home for the Christmas holiday.

JEFFERSON SAGE’s (Production Designer) previous credits include Jake

Kasdan’s films Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and The TV Set, and Harold Ramis’

comedy Year One. In addition, Sage designed Judd Apatow’s hit comedy Knocked Up.

For television, Sage was the production designer on Apatow’s two series’ Freaks

and Geeks and Undeclared, and, more recently, on Larry Wilmore’s The Bernie Mac

Show.

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As art director, Sage’s credits include Analyze This, Donnie Brasco, Mississippi

Masala, Blink, One True Thing and Roommates.

Sage has a degree in theater arts from the College of William & Mary and

continued his studies at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, earning an

MFA degree in set and lighting design for the stage. Sage started his career as a designer

and assistant designer in stage, opera, ballet, commercials and industrials, before moving

into television and feature film work.

He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.

BRENT WHITE (Edited by) recently worked with writer/director/producer Judd

Apatow on Step Brothers, Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Anchorman: The

Legend of Ron Burgundy and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, as well as on

the television productions Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared.

White began his career as an editor for the Sundance Institute’s summer lab

program and has assisted on such films as The Milagro Beanfield War, Glory, Fluke and

Home for the Holidays. His other film credits as editor include A River Runs Through It,

And the Band Played On, Matilda, Wildflowers, Panic, The Slaughter Rule and the

television series Desperate Housewives.

White received an Emmy Award nomination for his work as part of the editing

team for the 2002 Academy Awards®. His other television credits as an editor include

such long-form projects as Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years, Dean

Koontz’s Mr. Murder, The Patron Saint of Liars and Critical Choices.

CRAIG ALPERT (Edited by) previously worked with Judd Apatow on the hit

films Knocked Up, Pineapple Express and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Alpert also edited

Yes Man, which starred Jim Carrey, and Borat, which starred Sacha Baron Cohen. He

served as an additional editor on Jay Roach’s Meet the Fockers.

Alpert got his start as an assistant editor on such films as Toy Story 2, The Matrix

Reloaded and Austin Powers in Goldmember. In 2007, Alpert was selected by The

Hollywood Reporter as one of three film editors spotlighted in its “Next Generation:

Crafts” special issue.

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NANCY STEINER (Costume Designer) has worked extensively in film, music

videos, commercials and print.

Her film credits include Little Miss Sunshine, The Virgin Suicides, Lost in

Translation, Elizabethtown, Shopgirl, The Good Girl, Year of the Dog, Human Nature,

The Million Dollar Hotel, Safe and The Winner. Most recently, Steiner worked on

director Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones and director Miguel Arteta’s Youth in Revolt.

In 2005, Premiere magazine honored Steiner for her illustrious film career and she was

also nominated for the Excellence in Contemporary Film award by the Costume

Designers Guild Awards in both 2005 and 2006.

Steiner began her styling career in the world of music videos. Throughout the

years, she has worked closely with many of the industry’s top artists such as Nirvana,

Stone Temple Pilots, No Doubt, David Bowie, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Rolling

Stones, Sheryl Crow, R.E.M., Björk, Air, The Smashing Pumpkins, Fatboy Slim and Foo

Fighters.

In 2004, Steiner garnered the award for Excellence in Commercial Costume

Design at the Costume Designers Guild Awards for her work on the “Bacardi & Cola”

campaign. Her work in commercial advertising includes Levi Strauss & Co., Gap, Nike,

Volkswagen, HSBC, T-Mobile, MasterCard, Sprint, Intel, EarthLink, Dell, Volvo,

Bacardi, Puma, Lincoln, Pepsi and MillerCoors, to name just a few.

Steiner’s work has also been featured in such notable magazines as Vanity Fair,

Marie Claire, Interview, Allure, Us, The Face and Rolling Stone. She has collaborated

with celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz, Milla Jovovich, Sheryl Crow,

Sandra Bullock, Sade, Tom Hanks, R.E.M. and No Doubt.

BETSY HEIMANN (Costume Designer) has worked on some of the most

acclaimed films of the past decade, including Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and

Reservoir Dogs and Cameron Crowe’s Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky.

The Chicago native is also a favorite of Brett Ratner, having collaborated with him on

Red Dragon and The Family Man.

Heimann also designed the wardrobes for Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight,

which starred George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, as well as the television series Karen

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Sisco, which was produced by Danny DeVito and starred Carla Gugino. Most recently,

Heimann designed the wardrobe for Terry Zwigoff’s Art School Confidential, which

starred John Malkovich, and Uma Thurman’s costumes in Be Cool.

JONATHAN KARP (Music Supervisor) has been working in film music for 15

years. As a long-time music editor, he decided that combining the field of music

supervision along with music editing would allow an even more immersive and creative

experience on each project.

Karp first worked with Judd Apatow in 1999 on the television series Freaks and

Geeks and worked on Apatow’s directing debut The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Other Apatow

productions include Knocked Up, Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Pineapple

Express and the upcoming Get Him to the Greek.

Some of the other projects that he has recently been involved with are Yes Man,

Step Brothers, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Break-

Up, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, I Heart Huckabees, Starsky & Hutch, Punch-

Drunk Love, Old School, Magnolia and Zoolander.

In addition to his roles as music supervisor and music editor, Karp produced the

soundtracks to Yes Man, Pineapple Express, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Superbad and

co-produced the I Heart Huckabees soundtrack with composer Jon Brion. Recently,

Karp restored and mixed the final recordings of Marc Bolan for “The Final Cuts,” which

was released in the U.K. and Europe.

MICHAEL ANDREWS (Music by) first worked with Judd Apatow when he

scored the Freaks and Geeks television series in 2000. Since then, he has continued

working in the Apatow creative family; most recently, writing, performing and producing

all the music for director Jake Kasdan’s Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. Andrews’

gift for striking the delicate balance between humor and drama can also be heard on the

soundtracks for Donnie Darko, Me and You and Everyone We Know and the upcoming

untitled Duplass brothers film, starring John C. Reilly and Marisa Tomei.

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Andrews’ talents have also been employed as a producer for the music of Inara

George, Metric, Gary Jules and many others. He received rave reviews for his own 2006

solo album “Hand on String.”

Andrews continues to record and perform in The Greyboy Allstars under his

pseudonym Elgin Park.

—funny people—

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funny people production notes approved

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