The
40-year-old-virgin
remindedProduction Information
Over the past few years, STEVE CARELL has slyly and hilariously stolen scenes and created lasting impressions in a number of film and television comedies: unleashing a torrent of gobbledy-gook gibberish from behind the news desk in blinking vacantly and delivering quotable non quiturs as simple weatherman Brick Tamland in Anchorman: The Legend of inheriting the comic legacy of the hit British television ries The Office in the and branding his trademark mock stoicism on a ries of correspondent reports for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Now, Carell fulfils his comedic promi by stepping into his first lead role as Andy Stitzer, the title character in the uproarious new film The 40-year-old virgin.
JUDD APATOW - who credits include Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Kicking & Screaming, The Cable Guy and the beloved television ries Freaks and Geeks - makes his feature fil
m directing debut with The 40-year-old virgin, co-writing the script with Carell. To round out the cast, Apatow has asmbled a true enmble, gathering some of his long-time comedic collaborators, including PAUL RUDD (Anchorman, P.S.), ROMANY MALCO (Churchill: The Hollywood Years, The Tuxedo) and SETH ROGEN (Donnie Darko, Freaks and Geeks) as Andy's
co-workers, who make it their mission to end his four-decade dry spell. Joining this funny-men boys' club are ELIZABETH BANKS (Spider-Man 2, Seabiscuit) as Beth, the up-for-anything bookstore clerk who might just click Andy's personal love odometer from 0 to 1.
LESLIE MANN (Orange County, George of the Jungle) as the inebriated Nicky,
who is a sure thing until she has to drive him home; and CATHERINE KEENER (The Interpreter, Being John Malkovich) as Trish, the quirky and affable woman who works across the way and finally es Andy as more than just an untouched curiosity.
The 40-year-old virgin charts one sweet guy's odysy from
never-done-it to been-there-done-that as he follows disastrous, but well-meaning advice, endures oh-so-clo escapades and almost gives up in arch of the one chance that will satisfy his long-delayed gratification.
Producing along with Apatow are CLAYTON TOWNSEND (The Skeleton Key, Any Given Sunday) and SHAUNA ROBERTSON (Elf, Anchorman). Joining Apatow behind the camera are veral long-time associates, as well as first-time collaborators, including director of photography JACK GREEN ASC (50 First Dates, Unforgiven), production designer JACKSON DE GOVIA (The Stepford Wives, Die Hard and its quels), editor BRENT WHITE (Anchorman, television's Desperate Houwives), costume designer DEBRA McGUIRE (Just Married, television's Friends) and recording artist and compor LYLE WORKMAN (Made, television's Dinner for Five). Carell executive produces, along with JON POLL (Meet the Fockers, television's Eerie, Indiana).
Feels Like the First Time
The idea for a comedic take on a sweet-natured but middle-aged virgin - who, through the well-meaning but misguided efforts of his co-workers, begins an unforgettable educational journey toward the goal of finally "doing it" - came from the artfully twisted mind of Steve Carell. Bad in part on a sketch he created years ago while performing with the improvisational comedy troupe Second City, Carell continued to resurrect the idea over the years, trying out different scenarios for the 40-year-old man with a big cret. Perhaps best known for his side-splitting appearances on Comedy Central's The Daily Show and breakout performances in Bruce Almighty and Anchorman,the Second
City alum knew he had an interesting premi in this unique middle-aged coming-of-age story.
Carell first met Judd Apatow, an award-winning comedy writer and television writer/producer, while filming the box office hit Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, which Apatow produced. Carell, realising they possd similar comic nsibilities, shared his idea of the over-the-hill loner who remains a virgin at 40. At the time, Apatow was actively looking for a film project to direct and was charmed and excited about Carell's pitch.
"I always keep my eyes open for the next funny guy who can carry a movie," recalls Apatow, "and it was very clear that Steve Carell was stealing scenes in Anchorman. So I just let him know if he had any ideas to let me know. He told me a few, all of which were very funny, but this one made me laugh the most."
Remarks Carell, "Judd Apatow is no novice. He has a really good eye for what potentially could work and what might not work. I was flattered that he took such an immediate interest in my idea, let alone wanted to team up with me and direct it."
Apatow saw endless comedic potential in the project. In his mind,
酱排骨"40-year-old virgin" said it all. He in turn pitched the idea to Universal Pictures, where he was producing the Will Ferrell comedy Kicking & Screaming. The studio was very enthusiastic about the concept and gave the pair the go-ahead on the script.
Apatow and Carell spent veral months working effortlessly together fleshing out the idea. They soon had a cohesive, inherently funny story rife with bawdy gems that had readers laughing before a little lf-impod propriety kicked in.
小蜗牛儿歌Remarks Apatow, "I'm a big fan of all the R-rated movies of the late 70s and
养小鸡early 80s like The Jerk and Animal Hou. They weren't actually that dirty, but they didn't have the handcuffs on either, and it made for an unrestrained type of comedy.键盘声音
I wanted to t the stage to really have fun and not have any limits to what we could say or do. What that does for this movie is that it makes it if people can cur the way they do in life. It all feels a little more like life and a little less like a film. I think it rved the plus it was fun to write."
win壁纸Although a film titled The 40-year-old virgin screams x comedy, the pair made a concerted effort to
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balance the obvious xual aspects of the material with compelling, grounded (along with some off-the-wall) characters.
"Although The 40-year-old virgin ems to be about finding a way to have x," obrves Apatow, "it's really all about the people who are looking for the love of their lives and struggling to find happiness during this pursuit." That formula gave Apatow and Carell more free reign in terms of where they went with the often outlandish bits.
The project's major appeal hinged on the boyishly handsome Carell, portraying the title character, and his ability to dissolve an audience into laughter with his myriad of facial expressions and innate physicality. This was coupled with his and Apatow's skill in locating the humour within both the mundane and the outrageous with equal measure and infusing that comedic nsibility throughout the story's various situations.
Universal's production team also saw the possibilities and, to Carell's mild disbelief, green-lit the project a week after it was submitted, placing it firmly on the fast track. Carell, who rves as an executive producer in addition to his writing and acting duties, remarks, "The writing process was fairly easy, but the process of being green-lit so quickly was pretty amazing. It's kind of unheard of. T内向的男生
his was my first screenplay, so I'm a little spoiled at this point. People work on movies for years and sometimes wait another couple of years to get it produced. We were really fortunate."
Apatow, who had enormous confidence in the material, knew that luck had nothing to do with it.
Producer Shauna Robertson, who has enjoyed a long-time collaboration with Apatow and rved as an executive producer on Anchorman, agreed and felt that he had indeed found the right project. The 40-year-old virgin was a very distinct type of
comedy, one that would benefit from Apatow's fines at the helm.
Remarks Robertson, "Judd is so organid, meticulous and knows exactly what he wants. Anyone who has produced has a respect for the whole process, and Judd is especially on top of that. He truly is a producer's dream director."
Apatow also welcomed Clayton Townnd on board as producer and obrves, "When I'm hiring a staff, I just try to hire people who are better at what they do than I am at what I do. I try to get incredibly overqualified people to help me not look bad. So I hired Clayton, who produced a lot of the great Oliver Stone movies like Natural Born Killers, and this is like the easiest movie on earth for him.
.. I mean, he was coming off of movies like Any Given Sunday in stadiums. I told him, 'Well, we walk around the Valley, and we have a stereo store.' So he could do it in his sleep - that was incredibly helpful to me."
The character of Andy Stitzer was one that everyone felt should be, at heart, a who has had one too many misd opportunities at x and eventually gives up trying. "The 40-year-old virgin is as much about Andy learning about himlf as it is about him losing his virginity," remarks Carell. "He is a very decent person who is a bit on the shy side and he slowly begins to learn who he is and what's important in his life."
The filmmakers' approach to Andy's situation was further validated when rearch and conversations with older virgins (via veral websites) revealed that
the majority of them were indeed nice, normal people, all with interesting, plausible reasons why they hadn't lost their virginity.
Notes Apatow: "It was valuable information to have becau it made us reali that Andy Stitzer didn't have to be that weird. Everybody has some built-in performance anxiety, and for some people, it prevents them from taking risks and they simply stop trying. We all thought that would be great for
a romantic comedy, becau you'll always root for that person to prevail and find love."
Early on during table readings and rehearsals, the filmmakers, actors and multitudes of their friends within the comedy talent pool pitched in scenarios and mined their own experiences - good, bad and humiliating - all in the name of rearch.
Recalls Robertson, "It was very collaborative. Everyone shared his or her own xual experiences and ideas. That really punched-up the comedy and helped shape
