After a series of films in which Judd Apatow examined first relationships (The 40-Year-Old Virgin), child rearing (Knocked Up), and the vagaries of grown-up success (Funny People), the filmmaker is examining advancing age, and more specifically, the challenges of keeping a marriage going, in This Is 40. And according to star Leslie Mann, it takes having that experience to truly know how to perform it on screen.
“Sometimes when I watch actresses play mothers who I know in real life aren’t mothers, I think, huh, that doesn’t seem right,” Mann told Celebuzz. “So yeah, maybe it was helpful that I’m a mother.”
Paul Rudd, who plays her on-screen spouse, said that he and Mann (and Apatow) did a lot of the work when they worked together on Knocked Up, which is where the couple’s characters first appeared.
“We spent a lot of time when we were doing Knocked Up about the dynamic that we each share with our spouse, our parents, having kids ourselves,” he revealed. “We kept that conversation going a few years later when we started this.”
This Is 40 opens in theaters nationwide on December 21. Watch the theatrical trailer below, and let us know what you think of the film in the comments section!
