Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann's family films

By Staff Author
Published on July 10, 2007 11:44PM EDT

Director Judd Apatow cast his wife Leslie Mann in The 40-Year-OldVirgin and went the extra step in Knocked Up by not only casting Leslieagain, but their daughters, Maude, 9, and Iris, 4, as well. The reason,he says, is the joint projects buy them more family time together andhe won’t have to tailor his schedule around someone else’s needs.

Our choices are about how can we do this but still be there forour kids. So when we shot the movie, we shot it within 10 minutesof the house. If we’re done shooting by 6:30 p.m., we can all havedinner together…I can’t control the schedule if I’mworking with a big star and he says, ‘I like starting at noon everyday.’ Then I realize I won’t see my kids in the morning becauseI’ll be sleeping and I won’t see them at night because I won’t behome until 2 a.m. So much of this is how can we be good parents anddo this work.

Speakingof work, Leslie often questioned her desire to return to film afterhaving children, admitting she had a hard time reconciling her careerwith her family.

My career took a distant back seat to raising my kidsand only now am I getting a little more interested in working. I don’t know if I’d even want to do it. I like workingwith Judd because the girls can be around and it’s a veryfamily-friendly environment and that makes it nice for me.

Thecontent and humor of Knocked Up, suffice it to say, is not veryfamily-friendly, so Judd and Leslie instructed their daughters to"forget everything you justheard" and "don’t ever say that again" after scenes were shot. To holdtheir attention and patience during filming, Judd devised a clever ruse.

[It] was like working with a falcon. I would put them in a seat. I wouldn’t give them breakfastand I would put bacon in front of them. I knew they’d be happy tosit there until they ran out of bacon or got full.

Oftenpeppering his movies with his and his friends’ real-life experiences,Judd says he hopes to make a film about raising teenagers – onlythere’s one problem.

My children aren’t in their teenage years yet so I haven’texperienced it.

But Leslie reminds him,

We’ve only got four more years.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald