Judd Apatow continues to keep it in the family as the ensemble cast for his “Knocked Up” spinoff just keeps getting bigger and bigger, with two more names who have worked with the writer/director/producer board his new film.
THR reports that Annie Mumolo and Robert Smigel will play a couple who are best friends with Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann‘s Pete and Debbie in the forthcoming film. Mumolo is the co-writer of this summer’s smash hit comedy “Bridesmaids” and you may recognize her from her cameo appearance in the film as Kristen Wiig‘s nervous seatmate on the flight to Las Vegas. Mumolo actually has a longer CV as an actress than she does as a writer, but this will easily be her biggest part to date. As for “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and “Saturday Night Live” writer Smigel, you have to do a bit of digging to discover his Apatow connection, but he co-wrote “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan” with Adam Sandler and Apatow, so they are likely on each other’s BlackBerrys. The casting of Smigel is intriguing mostly because the writer is not really known for going on camera unless it’s with a dog puppet on his wrist as Triumph The Insult Comic Dog or if he’s doing voices, but the man can deliver a line so we’re certain he’ll give the improv friendly Apatow plenty of material to look at in the editing room.
The duo join an extensive cast that also includes Megan Fox, Albert Brooks, Lena Dunham, Chris O’Dowd, Charlene Yi, Wyatt Russell, Ryan Lee and “Bridesmaids” star Melissa McCarthy. The film is currently in front of cameras with a December 21, 2012 release date already slotted.