Vanity Fair have this cool table reading piece on Judd Apatow’s “Funny People,” where the cast sat down together and, well, read through the script. It’s interesting to note that the RZA of the Wu Tang was there. We didn’t realize his part was so big. Even Aziz Ansari from “Human Giant” isn’t there and he surely has much more acting experience than the RZ (click on the image for a larger version or here).
“Doing table reads is one of my favorite parts of the process,” Apatow told Variety. “It gives me an opportunity to watch the movie before we’ve made it. It’s fun and productive, but truly painful when it’s not working.
“Funny People” stars Adam Sandler as a lonely comedian who believes he is dying. He befriends the struggling comedian Seth Rogen who becomes an assistant/errand boy, plus a genuine friend. Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman and presumably the RZA play his envious friends/ comedian buddies and Aubrey Plaza plays the object of his affection. Leslie Mann plays the ex-girlfriend that Sandler let get away and Eric Bana plays her dbag husband.
Apatow says of the story, “It’s three or four different movie ideas which I decided to combine—the mentor movie (Sandler and Rogen’s relationship), the comedians movie, the death-and-disease movie, and the quest-to-renew-an-old-romance movie (the Sandler-Mann-Bana triangle). Oh, and a coming-of-age movie and a farce. Obviously, a natural combination.”
As many have noted it’s probably going to be his most melancholy film if the script is any indication. It’s also based on his early friendship with Adam Sandler, the two of them were roommates before they were ever famous. “When I lived with Adam, we were young comics and he was so much more charismatic than me it was ridiculous. It was always obvious that he was going to be a movie star, and that I was going to be a guy who knew a movie star.”
Apatow was quoted in Variety today as saying he hopes his gang don’t wear out their welcome with audiences. “I hope people like the movies and don’t get sick of us,” he said. “When I was a kid, Steve Martin could not make enough movies to make me happy.” “Funny People” comes out July 31, 2009.