• 3 days ago
"I don't think most stories can be defined as a drama or a comedy."

His latest film, "The King of Staten Island," is inspired by the story of actor Pete Davidson, who lost his firefighter dad on 9/11. Judd Apatow told Brut how comedy and drama sometimes go hand in hand.
Transcript
00:00That's the date my dad died. He was a fireman. Died in a fire 17 years ago.
00:03Knock knock. Who's there? Not your dad.
00:09How can you make a funny movie about someone who loses their father, who's fighting a fire,
00:14and is now having serious mental health issues? But to me, I think that we all share that. We
00:22all have grief. We all have our own mental health problems. And so, in a strange way,
00:27it's a very universal, relatable story.
00:48It's a movie about loss and grief and how a family tries to move forward. I always think
00:56that anyone trying to get better is funny. We always root for them. The ways life beats you
01:02down, in some ways, always has a lot of humor in it. And when you have somebody like Pete
01:07and all these actors and actresses, they understand innately where the humor is in
01:13this kind of struggle and conflict. So, I don't know. That's just how I see the world.
01:32Obviously, a very personal issue for Pete Davidson. And Pete and I and the co-writer
01:39Dave Cyrus spent years talking about how can we express in a story the ways that this type of
01:47loss can affect somebody and a family. I think he got very nervous about the shoot
01:54and how it would make him feel. The night before we started shooting, he started sending me and
02:01the producer Barry Mendel emails with the IMDB resumes of actors who he thought we should replace
02:09him with. And so, our text was just blowing up with all these resumes. What about
02:15Emile Hirsch? What about Cole Sprouse? And he would just send their photos and their resumes. And I
02:21thought he was joking. And then the next day, he's like, I was not kidding. I really wanted you to
02:25recast the movie. But after a day or two of shooting, I think he felt safe and was very
02:32excited about what we were doing. I'm not a dark filmmaker. I'm not trying to say like,
02:43life is an empty, meaningless pit of despair. The end. I'm trying to show how people
02:50evolve in some way. And so, I hope that they're uplifting. I think that's the purpose of
02:55the kind of movie that I like to make, which is you feel less alone. You feel understood.
03:01It makes you feel better knowing people struggle with similar things. It gives you hope in some
03:05way. So, I'm trying to be funny and entertaining and at the same time, relate what life is like
03:14to all of us in these stories. The 40-Year-Old Virgin is about shame and how somebody can feel
03:20unlovable and feels like life and love is going to pass them by. How can you go 40 years and not
03:28have sex? I just can't stop trying. So, I always have a core, serious idea underneath everything
03:34that I do. Funny People was about somebody who has a near-death experience and has trouble
03:39learning anything from it. I like writing about marriage and parenting and what is challenging
03:46about it. I think in movies and television, all those lines are blurring. I don't think most
03:51stories can be defined as a drama or a comedy. Hopefully, everything becomes a soup of all of
03:58it because in life, even at the worst of times, there are things that make you laugh and there's
04:02humor happening.
04:10I like people who have a story. I like interesting people. People who have charisma and they're
04:16funny and they're sensitive and they have issues and there's something to talk about.
04:21People who are attracted to comedy and performing tend to have that. There's a reason why they want
04:27to express themselves creatively. Sometimes they're funny, sometimes smart, erotic or tortured, but
04:33they have something to say and an experience they want to share. I feel like when you're young,
04:38you're just filled with it and that's a fun moment to get to collaborate with people.