The Apatow Machine

I've had the pleasure of encountering the Apatow bunch a couple of times in a couple of different permutations, including the phoner with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. I got to meet the whole bunch together, including the mastermind man himself, at the junket for Knocked Up way back when--in 2007.

Interestingly, what was most notable about this junket was not so much the Apatow bunch as the fact that Britney Spears chose to drive in at the very same time that I was leaving. And this was exciting because this was during the height of her crazy period and the paparazzi were going insane. She had her (tinted) window rolled down, so obviously she wanted them to get a picture of her. But they chased in this crazy mob, which was actually really scary. And then when she went inside, they actually came to blows with the hotel's staff. As I was walking in a minute later, I could hear the hotel workers talking, clearly quite shaken up by the whole event. I felt really bad for them, and now can tell you first hand that paparazzi are frigging terrifying.

As for the junket itself, there were two press conferences. Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd in one, which was pretty exciting because I have had a crush on Paul Rudd since Clueless. I controlled my desire to tell him this. Also, he is short. But still cute and funny. Leslie Mann, on the other hand, is insanely gorgeous. As gorgeous as she looks on screen, multiply that times 4 zillion in person. She is like an amazing porcelain doll, that likes to say 'fuck'. I actually had a phoner with her later, I think when Knocked Up came out on DVD, and she was fairly reserved on the phone. Obviously she has to do this stuff all the time; actress, Judd Apatow's wife, etc. It was pretty de rigeur, but goddamn in person - wow.

The second press conference was Judd and Seth, so they were both quite funny. This was at the time that Judd Apatow was just about to take over the universe - people didn't QUITE know his name the way they do now. Knocked Up is what tipped him over the edge. But he's a cool guy. And Seth Rogen is like the most humble dude in the universe. This was also before he lost all the weight. But anyhow, you get why they like each other. They both do good work, and are doing well, but their heads are on as straight as possible given the circumstances, which is impressive.

Then I left and got caught in the Britney madness. Madness.