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Nick Stoller Can't Forget Sarah Marshall
Longtime fans of Judd Apatow will recognize a few familiar moments in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, out in theaters Friday, April 18. From an awkward reunion of sorts for lead actor-writer Jason Segel and his “Undeclared” love Carla Gallo to Segel’s uncontrollable sobbing over a girl who has left him for another man, the movie borrows a few tricks from Apatow’s television series “Undeclared.” Why not? For the past three years those alums of Apatow’s earlier, small-screen work have been conquering the box office by making racy comedies that appeal to a broad demographic.
“I think this is a story that we started telling eight years ago on the TV show that no one saw and that we’re completing now on the bigger screen, with full frontal male nudity,” jokes Marshall director Nick Stoller. Together with Segel, who appeared in a handful of episodes of the 2001 college comedy, Stoller had been a force behind the series. “We met on ‘Undeclared’ and really clicked,” Stoller says of Segel. “I wrote the episode where he played the long-distance boyfriend who comes back and finds out his girlfriend, Lizzie, had been hooking up with the main character, Steven.” Segel’s character Eric is found crying in the shower after chasing Steven around in a rage. “That amount of jealousy and pathetic-ness [that Eric displays], we both find hilarious.” So audiences can definitely expect some of that humor in this R-rated comedy.
With the hype surrounding and the talent starring in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Stoller is bound to draw comparisons to the box office success stories of other Apatow-alum movies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and Superbad. Does that worry this first-time director? Not really. “I feel like people will judge [the movies] on their own merits… and I’m pretty happy with it.”
From his obsession with Blue Crush to his well-honed comedy writing (he was also the writer on 2005’s Fun With Dick and Jane and the upcoming 2008 comedy Yes Man), Stoller took time to discuss his career and the new role that fell into his lap.
Mallory Potosky (MM): So now you’re considered a part of that Apatow group. Before you were behind-the-scenes, so not really known, but now every year it’s a new movie from that group. So it’s inevitable that Forgetting Sarah Marshall will be compared to movies like Superbad, Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Do you feel pressure because of that?
Nicholas Stoller (NS): No I don’t, actually. What each of these movies share I think, and obviously I’m biased, but they share a high joke-to-movie ratio. The nature is in there also; they each have a sweetness and heart to them that I think people respond to, but I think they’re actually pretty different, despite that. So I feel like people will judge [the movie] on its own merits… and I’m pretty happy with it.
MM: Is it a shared comic timing? Because you’re right, they do all have those jokes and that sweetness to them.
NS: Yeah, I think we all come from the TV world, and in the TV world—in comedy at least—you punch it up and punch it up and you bring people in to punch it up and people improv—at least on “Undeclared” we did—and so you end up having a lot of jokes. When I see a comedy, there’s one joke every three minutes or four minutes and I’m like, ‘Why see something that makes you laugh every couple of minutes? This should be much more packed. It should be like “The Office” or “30 Rock” or that kind of comedy.’ I think we’re just trying to bring that process to the moviemaking process.
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