In the aughts, no one ruled comedy quite like Judd Apatow, which makes his creative downfall all the more interesting.
Apatow’s reach influenced the comedic landscape, from producing “Superbad, “Pineapple Express” and “Bridesmaids” to HBO’s landmark series, “Girls.” He was untouchable. Even more, he became a decent director, helming these smartly clever, adult-oriented gut-busters, such as “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up.”
However, Apatow has lost his comedic mojo. His brand of male-dominated, bro-ish, comedy style hasn’t aged well in the #MeToo era. The result is that his last few directorial efforts, very safe and mundane works, haven’t been that stellar, and it all came crashing down with 2022’s misbegotten “The Bubble.”
Puck’s Matt Belloni, tackling this week’s news that Apatow fired his agency of 30 years, confirms what we’ve all suspected: Apatow can’t seem to get a greenlight on any of the projects he’s been pitching. This, Belloni suspects, might be the reason why he parted ways with his agency.
Apatow’s last scripted feature was the aforementioned $50 million Netflix bust, “The Bubble.” He’s done some documentary work on the side, but what he’s really itching for is a return in the directing game.
Last fall, Apatow, whose 2005-2015 comedy run was pretty incredible, and made him filthy rich — he just bought a $32 million Beverly Hills mansion — shopped around an R-rated comedy script that he planned to direct. Zach Galafanakis was set to star as a “quasi-canceled” comedian. Apatow’s pitches failed, nobody wanted to bite, and that led to Galafanakis leaving the project and Apatow shelving the script.
Studios have also passed on another R-rated Apatow comedy, this one was going to star stand-up comic Katt Williams. It was set up as Williams’ breakthrough movie role as an aging comedian. Last year, Apatow told The Playlist that he had written a new script, was shopping it around, and wanted it to be his next directing feature, that is, in his own words, “if they allow me to make it.”
Apatow is no longer the draw he was 10 years ago. Hollywood has also been on a comedic dry spell. Not many comedies get the green light these days , and if they do they end up not doing very well at the box-office. The last comedy to be a semi-decent box-office was 2019’s “Good Boys,” which failed to crack the $100M mark ($83M).
Edward Berger seems to have settled on what comes next. His Lance Armstrong biopic, starring Austin Butler, is now holding casting calls, with production eyed for January.