Years ago, writer-producer-director Judd Apatow took actor Jason Segel aside and offered a bit of advice. "He said, 'Listen, you can do this, but you're a really weird guy,' " recalls Segel, chuckling. " 'The only way you're gonna make it the way you want to make it is if you start writing your own material. You can get little parts and supporting parts here and there, but the only way you're gonna make it to lead is if you do it [yourself].' "
Segel took Apatow's words to heart and penned Forgetting Sarah Marshall, an offbeat comedy that features him in the central role. The actor always brings an endearingly goofy charm to his supporting gigs, whether he's serenading a lady love as sweet aspiring rocker Nick Andopolis on Freaks and Geeks or giving himself a rather unfortunate haircut as lovable lawyer Marshall Eriksen on How I Met Your Mother. That charm is on full display in Sarah Marshall, wherein Segel convincingly ascends to leading-man status. "I'm kind of arriving there now," he says with a grin. "[Judd's] comment came at a period where I was 6'4" and 18 years old. I was way too tall to, like, steal the SATs, but I also was too young to be a doctor or a lawyer. It hasn't been until now—I'm 28—that I can kind of play a man convincingly. I'm getting there, at least."
In the film, Segel portrays Peter Bretter, a mild-mannered musician who is abruptly dumped by his TV-star girlfriend, Sarah (Kristen Bell). Peter attempts to escape his heartbreak by heading off to Hawaii, only to find Sarah vacationing with her new boyfriend, the sexy, scraggly haired British rocker Aldous (Russell Brand). "I tried to think of the worst thing that could possibly happen after a breakup," says Segel. "And the first idea was running into your ex with someone who even you find more attractive than yourself."
Though Forgetting Sarah Marshall is Segel's first script to make it to the big screen, he has been honing his craft as a writer for nearly a decade. While starring on the critically beloved Freaks and Geeks, Segel got to know Apatow, who served as one of the show's executive producers. "Judd brought me to his house one day and literally showed me how to write," he remembers. "Over a weekend, he showed me how to do an outline, how to do a beat sheet, how to write a script. And I went after it."
Segel sold his first script around age 20, a kids' adventure movie in the vein of The Goonies. The film never got made, but he has been working on screenplays, selling the occasional spec script, ever since. After he wrote the first act of Sarah Marshall, a chance conversation with Apatow set the production wheels in motion. The two were hanging out at an L.A. Lakers game when Apatow, who has gained considerable industry clout thanks to box office smashes such as The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, mentioned that he "can kind of get movies made now." He wanted to know if Segel had any ideas. "I gave him a rough outline for the rest of the movie, and he said, 'All right, just give me a few days,' " recalls Segel. "Literally three days later, contracts arrived from Universal." Apatow served as a producer on the film.
Segel rented a house in Hawaii to finish the script, and after several rewrites, he found himself on Oahu with a cast and crew. "And that's when it was confirmed that I had officially tricked a movie studio," he quips.
Of course, there were a few steps in between. Finding a director proved to be fairly simple: Segel's friend Nicholas Stoller, another longtime Apatow cohort, asked to sign on. "We're a pretty tight group, working in this Apatow circle, and we all read each other's scripts and give notes and go to each other's table reads," says Segel. "Nick had read the script, probably to give notes or something, and I think he just felt like it was something he wanted to direct."
Casting director Jeanne McCarthy, whose credits range from prickly familial dramas (The Savages) to balls-out comedies (The Sarah Silverman Program), worked with Segel to populate Peter's world. "Our audition process is very interesting in that so much of the Judd style is improv," explains Segel. "You come in and you read the pages as written, and if we're interested, we then launch into a 15- or 20-minute improv session, just to see if people can do that. Because if they can't, it's going to be very difficult to keep up."
Although a few Apatow regulars—Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd—pop up in small roles, many of the principal players are new to the filmmaker's comedic company. Veronica Mars' Bell nailed her audition, and Segel and company were so impressed with U.K.-based standup comedian Brand that they tailored the part of Aldous to him. "[Aldous] was originally written as a British author, a proper Great Gatsby type," says Segel. "Russell came to audition, and we thought the casting director was playing a trick on us, because he walked in in leather pants, his shirt unbuttoned to his navel, and this kind of swagger, and he looked at me, and he said [in a British accent], 'You'll have to forgive me; I've only had a chance to take a cursory glance at your script. Perhaps you should tell me what it is you require.' " Segel laughs heartily at the memory. "We rewrote it for him." The result is a scene-stealing supporting turn that should get Brand plenty of notice on this side of the pond.
Though starring in one's own work can be tricky, Segel found his dual role to be very helpful. "When you're acting in something, you spend a lot of time analyzing the script and trying to figure out, What is the point of this scene? What am I trying to accomplish with the arc of the character?" he says. "And I had done all of that homework already because I wrote it."
He found, however, that he had very particular ideas about the tone of each scene. Ultimately he became more open to different takes as the shoot progressed. "I remember the scene where I first run into Aldous and Sarah [in Hawaii]; I thought it should be played totally straight, as a guy trying his best to keep it together," he says. "[Executive producer Rodney Rothman] pitched the joke when Sarah says, 'What are you doing here?' [And I say], 'I came here to murder you.' I remember thinking, 'No no no, that is not the right tone for this scene.' But I tried it, and it's one of my favorite jokes in the movie."
Puppets don't typically figure prominently in romantic comedies, but Sarah Marshall required a whole cast of them: A subplot has Peter penning a Dracula-themed musical featuring a felt-based ensemble. Jim Henson's Creature Shop was enlisted to construct the puppets, and longtime Muppets fan Segel couldn't help but feel nostalgic. "It made me harken back to the old early-'80s Muppet movies and the old Muppet Show, and I just remember thinking Kermit the Frog was like the original Tom Hanks: He's the Everyman," he says.
Segel was so inspired that he cold-called Disney and asked to pitch an idea for a new Muppet movie. "I was tired of, like, 'Muppets in the Old West,' " he says. "I wanted to do an old-style 'Muppets putting on a show' [movie], with the celebrity cameos."
The studio agreed, and Segel and Stoller signed on to write the script, with Stoller directing. The duo is also working on another comedy for Universal, called Five-Year Engagement. "We're busy boys at the moment," says Segel.
He's not complaining, though; he's thrilled that his behind-the-scenes career is finally taking off. Ideally he'd like to continue to work as actor and writer. "I think the big lesson of this whole thing for me has been 'Stick-to-it-iveness pays off,' " he says. "It's been a bit of a long road. I remember, when I was really young and I was first getting started, someone very wise told me that I shouldn't expect to be where I want to be [for] 10 years. And it's literally 10 years from that conversation."
