Director Judd Apatow Was Once Concerned ‘This Is 40’ Might Ruin His Family’s Careers

In 2012, comedian and director Judd Apatow released the movie This Is 40 starring Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann. But after making the film, Apatow grew a bit concerned with how 40 would affect his family.

Judd Apatow called ‘This Is 40’ a coded conversation about his marriage with Leslie Mann

Apatow and Mann have been married longer than 20 years now. Being that both are in the entertainment industry, it seemed fitting that the two would meet on the set of a movie. In a resurfaced interview with Today, Mann confirmed that she and Apatow met on the set of Jim Carrey’s The Cable Guy. Mann co-starred alongside Carrey in the film with Apatow serving as a producer.

At the time, Mann also confirmed speculation that Apatow said “There goes the future Mrs. Apatow” when he first saw her. Although she asserted he might have saidthat about other celebrities as well.

“He may have said that about Heather Locklear, and, like, J.Lo, too,” Mann said.

But it seems Apatow meant it when it came to Mann. The two would later marry in 1997 and has enjoyed a long marriage since. Later on, after the two started a family, Apatow and Mann would team up for the film This Is 40.

The film follows the lives and dilemma of a married couple approaching as they turn 40 years old. Apatow also once asserted that the movie is a message about his real-life marriage with Mann.

“We talk about the movie for years together, and that’s where a lot of the scene ideas come from,” Apatow once said according to IndieWire. “And it’s a little bit of a coded conversation where we’re really debating our own problems with each other.”

Judd Apatow was concerned that ‘This Is 40’ might ruin his family’s careers

Apatow not only cast his wife Mann in the film. He put most of his family in This Is 40 as well. The filmmaker included his and Mann’s two daughters, Maude and Iris in the film. But putting his family in the film made him believe that some would actively anticipate the project’s downfall.

“This could really destroy my children’s lives. I could end all our careers in one swoop,” he once said according to Contact Music. “People tend not to want families to work well together. Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck doing a movie together? You wanted that to fail. It makes the journey more treacherous.”

But since then, Apatow has gone on to work with his children a few more times in their careers. Maude, for instance, has delved more into acting as she’s gotten older. And she even worked with her father again for the film The King of Staten Island starring Pete Davidson. But there was a difference for Apatow between directing his daughter when she was a teen compared to directing her in her early 20s.

“When I first started directing her, it was more like manipulating a child, Apatow once said in an interview with Fatherly.

This changed when his children grew up.

“As they got older, they were actually acting. After we did Funny People and This is 40, I didn’t work with [Maude] for eight years. Now she really knows what she’s doing. Still, I know her so well so I know how to get certain colors of her personality into the performance,” he added.

Judd Apatow once shared he was considering doing a ‘This Is 40’ sequel

Apatow has shared a slight interest in revisiting his film with Mann again by doing a sequel potentially called This Is 50. This was mostly due to how well-received This Is 40 has been years after its release.

“I feel like [This Is 40] has aged really well, and it always feels like everyone watches it when they turn 40 and they go, ‘Oh, I understand it all now.’ So I’m enthusiastic about putting that together,” he once said in an interview with The Wrap.

Although at the time the Funny People director reminded this was just a possibility, and not a project that was set in stone.