Over the weekend, Judd Apatow brought his "work-in-progress" (but pretty much finished) romantic comedy "Trainwreck" to SXSW, and the resulting effort is one we called "one of his most hilarious and finely-tuned films to date." That result is due in large part to rising star Amy Schumer, who wrote the script and stars in the film. The day after the premiere, Schumer took part in a panel discussion and talked about everything from the film to sex to the Jeffrey Wells controversy, and much more. Here are some of the highlights:
The relationship that inspired that "Trainwreck" and why falling in love "kind of sucks"
"I was falling in love when I wrote ‘Trainwreck,’ was scared out of my mind and wasn’t even enjoying it. I was feeling sick all the time. It’s like being on drugs. It’s not even fun falling in love. You don’t remember it until you’re going through it and then you’re like, ‘why did I ever want to be in love?’ It kind of sucks. I hadn’t taken a look at myself and my behavior until he encouraged me to do that. It was really hard, but it was good, it was overwhelming.
"But [the relationship] was over before the second table read! That guy was a sex addict I found out, and that’s always really fun at first, when you don’t know yet and you’re like ‘oh my god I’m the prettiest girl in the world’ and you’re like ‘No, he would fuck this table.’ Which is why I’m dressed like this today.
"I love love, and I’m very hopeful and was raised on all the fairy tales everyone else had. I just noted that everyone’s mom was dead and real princesses get beheaded so I just have a more realistic take on it. So does Judd. We both have experienced a lot of pain and try our best to cope with it by making ourselves and other people laugh."
Why only a "crazy person" wouldn’t support feminism
"I’m gonna get it tattooed on my clit. (Universal’s like, ‘Is it too late to reshoot with Jessica Biel?’) I don’t think people know what the word feminism means: a social and political equality for women. I think if you’re against that, you’re a crazy person, or you don’t know what it means, and that we don’t actually have it is a bummer. It feels like we should be further along. That’s why it was so exciting to see Patricia Arquette shout out to equal pay because it’s insane it’s still an issue. People are afraid for some reason. Some cultures are completely based on the fear of women."
The Jeffrey Wells controversy and why she doesn’t care
"I did ‘Last Comic Standing‘ in 2007. I’ve been having people say the cruelest and the kindest things to me for what I feel like is a long time. Someone saying that I’m physically disgusting doesn’t change my heart rate or the course of my day at all. I truly from the bottom of my heart did not give a shit at all about that. It’s good that people were angry with him for saying that stuff about me, because that let people know ‘We’re okay with people that aren’t Victoria’s Secret models. We can fathom people could stomach fucking her.’ There was that #askhermore campaign about the Oscars and I tweeted ‘What about my campaign #askhimless?’ It was just a joke, not to belittle that campaign, and a girl wrote a whole article about how I was diminishing it, and I was like ‘Girl I’m on your side.’ That’s the kind of stuff that makes me upset. Not a sad human in LA looking for attention. I don’t care."
The double standard of being branded a "sex comic"
"When I brought [stand up special ‘Amy Schumer: Mostly Sex Stuff‘] to Comedy Central they said, ‘It’s mostly sex stuff.’ And I said, ‘Well let’s just call it Mostly Sex Stuff.’ They said, ‘Okay!’ Sex sells…and I’m a sexual person so I like talking about it. But there’s a double standard. Some of my favorite male comics talk about sex a lot and they don’t get labeled that. The double standard of that bothers me.
The difference between Amy Schumer’s sex life and the characters she plays
"I think people know that it’s a major exaggeration. That’s the big difference between me and my character in the movie. Look, I’m no stranger to a cock. The way I get a lot of my material is, I had an encounter with a guy who had a huge penis and it was too much for me so I got out of there. What am I trying to prove? So the opening scene of the movie; that’s there. So I called my sister the next day and we’re crying laughing. I’ve accumulated this story over a lifetime but it sounds like I live my life with my legs over my shoulders. I completely love sex and don’t feel shy about feeling entitled to an orgasm, but I don’t have that much of it and have been in mostly monogamous relationships. If I meet someone and I’m attracted to them I’m gonna have sex with them. Especially if they’re stupid. There’s a guy right now I’ve been texting with, and I really don’t see myself having a bathing-suit wedding with him, but I’ll probably have sex with him. Yeah. Eric, if you’re listening … [laughter].
The downside of fame
"I was walking two days ago in Chicago — no bra, Wu Tang Clan sweatshirt, no make-up. I looked like Charlize Theron in ‘Monster,’ and this girl ran by and said, ‘Thank you for what you do.’ I was so excited, but then embarrassed for how I look. Fame seems like a complete and utter bummer. There seems to be no plus side."
"Trainwreck" opens on July 17th. — reporting by Drew Taylor
Browse through all our coverage of the 2015 SXSW Film Festival by clicking here.