On the heels of that very-funny Funny or Die video featuring Paul Rudd and Harvey Weinstein discussing marketing strategies for Our Idiot Brother, comes Rudd revealing his secret shame on the cover of the latest edition of The Hollywood Reporter. Unlike some other celebs, however, his addiction is slightly less scandalous; like millions of Americans — and other Hollywood stars like Ashton Kutcher — Rudd plays fantasy football. “It’s just so super nerdy. It sucks,” the Our Idiot Brother star told the trade magazine. “I wish I didn’t like it as much as I do. It’s a sickness.”
Rudd — who participated in one of the more memorable onscreen documentations of grown men playing fantasy sports in Knocked Up (with help from Paul Feig) — compares the billion dollar industry to another nerd-tastic game.
“I’ve never played Dungeons & Dragons, but essentially I am now as a grown man,” he said. “When you associate it with sports, it seems like, ‘Oh, it’s cooler because it’s sports.’ But it’s not. And anybody who doesn’t play it has absolutely the right attitude about it, which is, ‘You guys are lame.’ But it’s so fun, it sucks you in.”
It sure does! (Question to the crowd: Would you keep Tom Brady or Jahvid Best for this season? I’m asking for a friend! Ahem.) No word as to whether Rudd’s titular dullard likes fantasy sports in Our Idiot Brother, but you can apparently expect his character in Judd Apatow’s untitled Knocked Up spin-off to still manage a team. Hopefully he knows better than to draft Carlos Delgado. After all, he retired.
· What Fantasy Football Means to Hollywood [THR]
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During yesterday’s discussion of the new Funny Girl, Lea Michele, and Barbra Streisand, we took a look back at Babs’ hilarious 1972 comedy What’s Up, Doc? and wondered who is 2011’s equivalent of Madeline Kahn. How foolish we were. The answer is not Jayma Mays or Ari Graynor, but rib-tickling Change-Up star Leslie Mann. It’s a relief to finally get this right. Join Movieline ahead to compare Mann and Kahn’s filmographies, characters, and penchant for cray-cray.
Sure, there are categorical differences: Kahn was an accomplished singer and Broadway actress who eventually picked up a Tony Award in Wendy Wasserstein’s The Sisters Rosensweig after a full career of comic roles, and Mann — as described by her husband Judd Apatow — is more of a general actress who “happens to be very funny… in ways she does not understand.” Still, the parallels draw themselves, and both ladies are top-tier kooks.
Definitive performances as harried wives
The harried wife: a filmic touchstone. It’s safe to say that both Mann and Kahn were at their best playing wigged-out wives (though it’s necessary to note that Kahn earned her two Oscar nominations playing a squawky prostitute in Paper Moon and a Dietrichian chanteuse in Blazing Saddles). In Knocked Up, Mann goes to the brink and back as Paul Rudd’s unsatisfied wife, and in What’s Up, Doc?, a frazzled Kahn needles Ryan O’Neal for the whole runtime.
Works with the same respected coterie time and again
Mann’s reputation as a solid ensemble player in her husband Judd Apatow’s comedies (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Funny People) is sort of an anomaly in modern cinema. It’s rare that an actor — let alone a woman —…
Judd Apatow’s next film — his untitled writing/directing venture already starring Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Albert Brooks, and Megan Fox — just added its first dose of Bridesmaids lady magic to the cast in the form of Melissa McCarthy. (Chris O’Dowd was previously mentioned as in negotiations for a role.) Awesome! But: Is McCarthy the bawdy bridesmaid whose success you should be rooting for most?
The Mike & Molly star is joining the Knocked Up psuedo-sequel as a mother at the school where Rudd and Mann’s children attend. (McCarthy’s son will be played by Super 8 kid Ryan Lee.) I’m thrilled for the very candid and fun McCarthy, who has played fan-favorite roles on two cult TV hits; her cruise ship anecdote in Bridesmaids made me believe in the possibility of dolphin-to-human synergy. Yet I think I’m still waiting for Reno 911 vet Wendi McLendon-Covey and Damages goddess Rose Byrne to reel in the starring comedy roles they are so owed after Bridesmaids.
McLendon-Covey’s ad-libs in the Funny or Die extra footage were hysterical, and Rose Byrne’s superior stank was the surprise of the summer. I’ll be happier for McCarthy once all three ladies are justly cast. Still, go Melissa!
Are you psyched for the Knocked Up followup? Do you miss Katherine Heigl at all?
· ‘Bridesmaids’ Star Melissa McCarthy Joins Judd Apatow’s Next Movie (Exclusive) [THR]
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Normally, when a film grosses $679,650 on a random Thursday, it isn’t very newsworthy. Yet when that film is Bridesmaids, and that $679,650 pushes the film past Knocked Up to make it the highest grossing Judd Apatow production ever, a celebration is in order. So, let’s celebrate!
As had been anticipated all week, Bridesmaids finally topped Knocked Up on Thursday, making it the box office queen of the Apatow brand. The film has grossed an astounding $149,374,365 to date, just under $605,500 more than the Seth Rogen-led comedy grabbed in 2007. Even more impressive than that? Knocked Up reached $148 million on its 93rd day of release; Bridesmaids passed $149 million on day 49. Not bad for a film many thought would barely top $20 million on opening weekend.
Next up for Bridesmaids: surpassing Sex and the City to become the biggest female-fronted R-rated comedy of all time. Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda earned $152,647,258 at the box office in 2008, a figure Bridesmaids could top early next week.
[Daily numbers via BoxOffice.com]
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Judd Apatow’s follow-up to Knocked Up won’t hit theaters until next summer, but you know how hype goes: It’s never too early to start foaming at the mouth over future summer favorites. (See also: The Dark Knight Rises and Superman: Man of Steel.) With that in mind: Does Apatow’s first directorial effort since Funny People finally have a name?
Not exactly. Though it was rumored on Thursday that the non-sequel to the 2007 hit will be called This Is Forty, an Apatow representative today told Movieline that the title is not official. For now, the untitled project — which will feature Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann reprising their Knocked Up roles in some capacity — remains untitled while Apatow finishes writing the script.
Whatever the Untitled Judd Apatow Comedy winds up being called, expect to see it in theaters next June. In the meantime, leave your best suggestions for a title — or an endorsement of This Is Forty — in the comments below.
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I’ve had many hallucinations and have been on several bizarre mind trips brought on by legal and illegal drugs, but I’ve never once in my wildest acid dreams every imagined that one day Rod Stewart’s daughter and Paris Hilton’s former partner in fuckery would be pregnant with Benicio Del Toro’s baby. I feel like I’ve just been slapped in the head with Cisco Adler’s slinky nuts and the only thing I’m see are stars with WTF written on them in bold letters. But apparently, it’s true. I’ll let Life & Style blow your minds, because I just can’t….
Life & Style can confirm exclusively that Kimberly Stewart, the daughter of rocker Rod Stewart, is pregnant with actor Benicio del Toro’s baby, a rep for Benicio confirms.
“Kimberly is pregnant. Benicio is the father and is very supportive,” Benicio’s rep, Robin Baum, tells Life & Style exclusively. “Although they are not a couple, they are looking forward to the arrival of the baby.”
Benicio, 44, is best known for winning an Academy Award for his role in Traffic in 2001. Kimberly was most recently linked to actors Jude Law and Rhys Ifans, and in 2005 Kimberly was engaged to then-Laguna Beach star Talan Torriero, who was seven years younger than her.
So, Rod Stewart and Benicio Del Toro are now forever bound together
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Expect tone deaf songstress Kim Zolciak to choke out an acoustic lullaby version of “Tightrope” called “Umbilical Cord“, because she has admitted that there’s a BABY!!!! growing in her 32-year-old (there will NEVER be enough notarized receipts to convince me of this) womb! After denying that she’s now wearing a “baby bakin’ wig” on her head, Kim has confirmed on the cover of Life & Style that she’s carrying her boyfriend Kroy Biermann’s kid.
Kim says that she shook her NO about the baby rumors a few weeks ago, because she wasn’t past her first trimester yet. But now that she’s three months pregnant and Life & Style waved a big enough check at her face, she’s ready to talk about it. Kim says, “While it wasn’t planned, God clearly has a bigger and better plan for us and we’re excited. I definitely don’t want to get married while I’m pregnant. But I can see myself marrying Kroy in the future.“
Kroy is a 25-year-old pro football player, so I’m guessing that the only thing he sees in his future right now is vagina, vagina, vagina, more vagina, and even more vagina. Preferably vagina that doesn’t have a baby head popping out of it.
During last night’s episode of RHOA, Kim said that Kroy had an ass so tight that you could bounce a quarter off that shit (and I’m sure he’s now wishing that his jizz fishes bounced off her egg). Kroy can play that touching and beautiful moment for his future child during one of his court-appointed visits.
