“He was right, and it changed my life.”
Before the cast and crew disbanded, starJason Segelremembers executive producerJudd Apatowgiving him some life-changing career advice.
And his parting words to me were, ‘Listen, Jace, you’re a weird dude.
Jason Segel and Judd Apatow in 2008.Kevin Winter/Getty
The only way you’re going to make it is if you write your own material.’
He was right, and it changed my life.
I wroteForgetting Sarah Marshalllike a year after that."
The cast of ‘Freaks and Geeks’.NBCU Photo Bank
Kevin Winter/Getty
Freaks and Geekswas a quintessentially late-’90s take on high school angst and ennui.
Segel has a theory about that.
Segel watched as Apatow “systematically started putting us in movies.
AfterKnocked Uphe took me to a Lakers game and he said, ‘I think you’re at bat.
Do you have any ideas?’
I said ‘Yeah, I just started writing this thing calledForgetting Sarah Marshall.”
“So I shot that the first hiatus ofHow I Met Your Mother.”
Forgetting Sarah Marshallreleased in 2008, the year afterKnocked Up, and both enjoyed tremendous success.
The films transformed Segel and Rogen not only into bankable stars, but in-demand screenwriters.
Apatow and the pair have reteamed in various combinations over the years for films likeThis Is 40andPineapple Express.
It sort of informed everything I did since."
