Could the years in the wilderness suffered by fans of Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared finally be coming to an end? Judd Apatow, one of the main men behind both those sadly cancelled series, has just had a big success with his first feature, The 40 Year Old Virgin. As we reported earlier, Universal has struck a deal with him to follow the movie up – not with a sequel, but with a similarly “offbeat romantic comedy.” And as we reported earlier, the film would involve Seth Rogen, one of my favorite castmembers from both those shows, and obviously one of Apatow’s, as he’s worked with him for years now.
The great news is that Rogen won’t just be involved in the new film – he’s the star. "I’ve worked with him since he was 16 on `Freaks and Geeks’ and always thought he could be a big comedy star," Apatow said. "The nice thing about `Virgin’ is that it shows the studios that if the premise is a strong one, you can take a chance on a new actor in the lead. So I’m going to do the same thing with Seth Rogen."
This is great news, as Rogen is indeed hilarious. The new film would be R-rated, and will cost about the same as Virgin. No other details are known, except that it begins filming next year.
And Apatow – don’t forget Martin Starr.