Free Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy by Judd Apatow Page B

a political choice, a way of saying, we shouldn’t even be debating this anymore.
    Amy: No, that debate is insane to me. It doesn’t even make me mad. It’s like asking, “Do Jewish people smell like orange juice?” It’s just such a weird question. It’s not even a question. The thing that gets to me is the question “Isn’t this a great time to be a woman in comedy?” I mean, all the TV I watched growing up featured funny women.
    Judd: People said the same thing when
Bridesmaids
came out. We never thought about that when we were making it. I just thought,
Kristen Wiig is funny. It would be fun to make a movie with Kristen Wiig.
And then she had this idea to make a movie about bridesmaids. We never thought of it as a female movie. At some point, in the middle of it, it occurred to us:
Oh, it’s kind of cool to have so many funny women in one movie.
But it wasn’t conscious or anything. At the end of the process, we realized that itmeant something to people. But what is shocking to me was that, even after the movie did well, there was almost zero follow-up in the culture.
    Amy: In terms of what?
    Judd: In terms of funny movies that are dominated by women. The studio system didn’t embrace them. They don’t know how to do it.
    Amy: In my experience, there will be a script and you’ll be like,
This is funny, I think I’ll audition.
And you’ll know other women, who are hilarious, are auditioning, too. And then they give it to, like, Jessica Biel. They’re great actresses and they’re really pretty, but they’re not funny. Nobody’s like, “Oh my God, you guys have to hear Jessica Biel tell this story.”
    Judd: When we did
Undeclared
, the note from Fox was: You need more eye candy.
    Amy: Do you think that’s true? Do people really need more eye candy?
    Judd: I have thought about that a lot. I don’t know. But what if people do want it?
    Amy: I’m not above that. I want to look at Jennifer Lawrence eating cereal.
    Judd: I mean, it depends. People are pretty happy looking at James Gandolfini, or Bryan Cranston. They’re happy looking at Nurse Jackie and everyone on
Parks and Rec.
So I don’t know. There’s escapist television and soap opera–type television, but for the most part, you just want a hilarious person or an interesting person. Are you someone who believes that life is easier if you’re attractive?
    Amy: I think that beautiful people are not any happier than people who are not as beautiful. Even with models—there’s always someone who is more beautiful or younger. So no matter what realm you’re operating in, it’s all relative. I didn’t develop my personality, or my sense of humor, because I felt unattractive. I thought I was attractive until I got older. It was probably a defense mechanism for whatever pain was going on around me. But I don’t think that people who feel beautiful feel like,
I don’t need to do this other thing.
    Judd: You’re in a weird area. I would describe it as: Everyone thinks you are beautiful, but maybe you don’t agree with their opinion.
    Amy: Um.
    Judd: I’ll talk about me for a second. I always thought I was right in the middle, looks-wise, and that if I had a good personality, it could put me over the top. But it wasn’t like, behind my back, everyone thought I was handsome. I get the sense that you feel like some days you’re looking great, some days you’re not, but the audience sees you in a certain way that maybe you don’t agree with. Does that make sense?
    Amy: I think that’s probably true. I think that’s probably dead-on. I feel, like you just said, that some days I am like a real monster, completely unlovable and unfuckable, and then there’s a moment, every now and then, when I’m more like Elaine on
Seinfeld:
“Is it possible that I’m not as attractive as I had thought?” Or maybe it’s the opposite of that. Anytime I start feeling better about myself, physically, someone will say something that pushes me right back down.