Some spoilers for You're Cordially Invited can be found in this story, but it already hit the 2025 movies schedule, so throw it on if you haven't already.

Prior to throwing on You’re Cordially Invited with my Amazon Prime Video subscription, I didn’t know a ton about the film outside of the fact Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell had teamed up for both verbal and physical comedy hijinks. Oh yeah, and Ferrell wrestling an alligator was somehow involved (but that joke played out far more wildly than expected). However, after watching the surprise rom-com, I learned more about the Nick Jonas cameo in the movie, and I’m loving how it came about.

In fact, director Nicholas Stoller admitted it was not his idea to bring in one of the Jonas Brothers to add some star power to the movie. He admitted to Collider he had in mind a “sexy pastor” for the marriage scenes that played out on the dock, but there was no specific cameo he was looking at. Instead, he just thought some random Hollywood hottie would be hired.

So, who came up with the idea? Apparently it was Will Ferrell himself.

It’s always a gamble nabbing people who aren’t the most known as comedic actors to come in and do parts like these. This is likely particularly true of the You’re Cordially Invited scene, which involved a boat splashing water on a slew of wedding guests before said boat turned around and knocked down the dock in question. It’s a major --if not the most major -- scene in the movie, and it sounds like Jonas was down for some hijinks with the rest of the cast.

The good news is Nick Jonas has had some experience with comedy on set, having done comedy in his Disney Channel original series before he appeared in the wildly popular Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (a casting he's called "serendipitous" in the past). So him popping up here in the fan-proclaimed "Willerspoon" movie, while unexpected, was not completely out of left field.

He ultimately showed up in the movie in a dual wedding ceremony scene as the wedding officiant at Margot (Witherspoon)’s sister Neve's (Meredith Hanger) event. When Margot met him she clearly found him to be a handsome alternative to their hometown pastor, as did some of her relatives. When he did ultimately take over Neve’s wedding ceremony, he inexplicably dove into a rendition of Creed’s “With Arms Wide Open,’ leading to one of the film's funniest moments.

That is, just shortly before everything else went completely off the rails in the movie. (And, yes, some time before that alligator got involved.)

Bros – the new queer romantic comedy starring Billy Eichner – has stirred up a lot of conversation over the past week. Last weekend, Eichner’s movie underperformed at the box office during its debut, leading the actor to share some thoughts on social media. Eichner expressed disappointment in the $4.8 million haul and went on to claim that homophobia factored into things and that straight people did not see the movie. Since then, a number of people have shared varying opinions on the star’s assertion. Now, director Nicholas Stoller is weighing in on his leading man’s polarizing tweets. 

When taking to Twitter to share his thoughts, Billy Eichner specifically opined that “straight people, especially in certain parts of the country, just didn’t show up for Bros.” This is one of the major points that’s been debated amongst box office analysts, critics and the general public alike during the past several days. Nicholas Stoller didn’t shy away from addressing the matter during a lengthy interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Per Stoller, Eichner “said the truth,” as the the viewership data they received matched the actor’s assessment: 

There’s been a considerable amount of discussion regarding the theatrical viability of comedies in recent years. Many have seen miniscule returns compared to the sizable numbers they brought in decades ago. And per his comments, Nicholas Stoller believes this trend – and the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic – contributed to the movie’s low returns. Later in the interview, Stoller doubled down on his sentiments while also making an assumption regarding the film’s long-term viewership: 

There are several factors that have been discussed in relation to the movie’s poor showing in its opening weekend, which was dominated by Smile. Some pundits have analyzed the star power of the cast, which (in a landmark first) is made up of all LGBTQ+ actors. The effectiveness of Universal Pictures’ marketing campaign, which put great emphasis on the historic nature of the movie, has also been questioned.

But ahead of its theatrical release, Bros received positive early reactions following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last month. The queer rom-com later got positive reviews from critics. CinemaBlend’s own Corey Chichizola called the comedy a riot with a fresh perspective. In the lead-up to its debut, Billy Eichner also promoted the movie in a number of ways, one of which saw him humorously enlist Paul Rudd to encourage straight people to see it.

Though they’re clearly not pleased with the reception at the box office, Nicholas Stoller, Billy Eichner and co. are still proud of their film. Stoller also made a fair point in that a number of movies do find renewed interest via streaming and/or PVOD. We’ll have to wait and see if that ends up being the case here. 

You can see Bros in theaters now, and be sure to check out CinemaBlend’s schedule of upcoming movies to stay in the know on other high-profile productions releasing this year.

Anticipation has been high for Billy Eichner’s upcoming LGBTQ+ rom-com Bros, and that excitement has only grown since the movie received stellar reactions following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Eichner wrote the script with director Nicholas Stoller and stars opposite Hallmark movie favorite Luke Macfarlane in the comedy that is making history with a main cast of openly LGBTQ+ actors. The reviews are in, so let’s see what the critics have to say about the rom-com ahead of its September 30 theatrical release.

Along with the two leads, Bros features tons of queer talent, including the likes of Bowen Yang, Harvey Fierstein, Guillermo Díaz, Dot-Marie Jones and Ts Madison, so it sounds like there’s plenty of reason to be excited. The story is centered around Bobby Lieber (Billy Eichner), an unlucky in love podcaster who becomes involved with Aaron Shepard (Luke Macfarlane). So what time of rom-com calamity will ensue? Let’s see what the critics have to say, starting with CinemaBlend’s review of Bros. Our own Corey Chichizola rates the film 4 stars out of 5, saying the cast and the screenplay combine for an utterly hilarious and heartfelt experience. He says: 

Carla Renata of The Curvy Critic calls the movie outrageous and insightful, with a script that will penetrate the most cynical of hearts while making audiences laugh out loud. From the review: 

While that review pointed to Bros’ humor, Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair praises Billy Eichner for finding a balance between the brand he’s known for and some truly sincere moments. More from the review:

Ryan Lattanzio of IndieWire grades the movie a B, calling Bros a gay homage to the classic rom-com. The review notes that one thing the movie gets it right is that it doesn’t try too hard to pander to gay audiences; it just sees and hears them. The critic says: 

Dan Bayer of Next Best Picture rates it an 8 out of 10, saying that Billy Eichner and Nichols Stoller do a great job of showing how straight and gay relationships are different, and yet it still fits the classic romantic comedy mold. He calls this movie the “standard bearer for a new generation of films that will not have this film’s burden of representation.” More from the review: 

It sounds like critics are excited about Bros, and it’s impossible to ignore how big of a deal this movie is in terms of representation. If this is one you need to check out on the big screen, you’ll be able to do so starting on Friday, September 30. Also be sure to check out our 2022 Movie Release Schedule to see what other movies are coming to theaters soon. 

There’s nothing quite like a good romantic comedy. This genre has been one enjoyed across generations, with quotable lines that end up piercing the pop culture lexicon forever. Many of the greatest rom-coms from the last decade and change have come from producer Judd Apatow – from Knocked Up to Bridesmaids. And his latest R-rated entry into the genre comes in the form of director Nicholas Stoller’s Bros, starring Billy Eichner and Hallmark leading man Luke Macfarlane. 

Bros focuses on Eichner’s protagonist Bobby Lieber, who is a successful podcaster living in New York City. Despite his professional and interpersonal fulfillment, he's never had a significant relationship, and we learn the various reasons behind this include his childhood, body image issues, and the overall difficulty of trying to date in the age of hook-up apps like Grindr. 

But when Bobby meets Aaron (Luke Macfarlane) at a club, they have a surprising, instant connection. The story of their romance is far from an easy one, making way for plenty of hilarious and awkward moments that perfectly capture what it’s like to date in the current age as a queer person. 

Along the way we meet plenty of colorful characters, played by iconic queer actors that we’ve seen in previous projects – including one truly hysterical cameo by Debra Messing as herself.

Billy Eichner and Nicholas Stoller’s screenplay is the star of Bros.

The cast of Bros is filled out with a fantastic comedic ensemble, with some terrific performances coming from standouts like TS Madison, Saturday Night Live's Bowen Yang, and Glee alum Dot-Marie Jones. But despite all that the actors bring to the new romantic comedy, it's the screenplay that is the true star of the show – delivering a story that is consistently entertaining and extremely real. 

Bros was written by Billy Eichner himself along with Nicholas Stoller. Both of these filmmakers wore multiple hats and have crafted a sweet and funny rom-com that flies by. The pacing of the jokes buoys the movie’s 115-minute runtime and allows for more serious and tender moments to have real power once things slow down.

While Bros is breaking new ground as a queer romantic comedy getting a full theatrical release, it’s also going to give audiences everything they expect from a Judd Apatow comedy. Situations get outrageous, especially where Bobby and Aaron’s sex life is concerned. But at the same time, Bros also takes special care when honoring queer history in a way that feels organic and real.

Bros delivers on classic rom-com moments in a satisfying way.

While romantic comedies can sometimes be wild and raunchy, the best have a real love story at the heart of the narrative. Bros definitely knows this, and it’s methodically crafted the love story between Billy Eichner’s Bobby and Luke Macfarlane’s Aaron. These two characters are each grappling with issues related to masculinity and their identity, and the romance doesn’t start in the honeymoon stage. Instead we follow as they awkwardly get to know each other, complete with text message struggles and some group sex. 

By the time the two leading men start to really become a couple, it feels like both the characters have earned it, and it's rewarding for the audience. We get swept away by how they each keep each other on their toes and open up in new and touching ways. Eichner and Macfarlane have great chemistry throughout, and both have brilliant timing and quotable lines.

Bros is inherently groundbreaking, but it also leans into romantic comedy tropes that should please the hardcore fans out there. We see characters running after each other in classic fashion, there are plenty of surprise cameos, and there’s even an unexpected musical number. And all of this is shot and edited in a way that doesn't make it seem corny. Instead the movie is salty and sweet in the perfect combination.

Bros captures the reality of queer dating, warts and all.

Aside from the cast itself, Bros is also groundbreaking in the way that it portrays dating within the LGBTQ+ community. There are unique pressures, stressors, and situations that simply haven’t been seen on the big screen before. And while there’s some sweet moments of love and affection, there are way more moments in which Billy Eichner and company lovingly poke fun at the community itself.

Some of the best moments of Bros come from scenes that Billy Eichner’s character Bobby shares with his co-workers on the board of the LGBTQ+ museum that he’s working to launch. Each character has had a different story as a queer person, and hold up their own mirror to the community. The movie takes aim at various controversial queer folks like Caitlyn Jenner and Colton Underwood, while also lovingly poking fun at pop culture projects like Dear Evan Hansen and Schitt’s Creek. 

Bobby says early in Bros that “not all gay people are nice.” It’s the way that Eichner and Nicholas Stoller don’t handle the community itself with kid gloves which allows the new rom-com to feel so authentic. And it should come as no surprise that the screenplay written by the duo is delightfully twisted and seemingly built for a re-watch or two. In short: Bros does it all, perfectly leading us through laugh out loud comedy and a fresh, touching story.

The original comedy Neighbors was a rare non-visual effects-filled studio-released summer blockbuster, it ended up being a huge hit when it was released back in 2013. When inexpensive movies make studios huge profits, it usually means that the sequel green light isn’t far off – and the Nicholas Stoller-directed comedy is no different. Now Neighbors 2 is set for release next summer, and it has just been revealed that it has a subtitle which gives us some insight into what the movie will be about: Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. Really, we should have seen this coming.

Production Weekly posted the full title, which seems to sync up with what we’ve learned so far about the sequel currently in production. Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising will revolve around a sorority house moving in next door to the family played by Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne from the first film. When they have trouble dealing with the sorority, they turn to their previous nemesis, played by Zac Efron, for help. We assume shenanigans ensue at this point.

As was confirmed earlier this week, Chloe Moretz has been cast in a major role in the film, and it’s expected that she will be the primary antagonist sorority sister. The female Zac Efron if you will. Moretz was the highlight of the Kick-Ass movies and we know Hit Girl could get pretty vile, so Moretz should feel right at home with the exceptionally vulgar comedy. In fact, we're more than a little curious to see what this plot will have her up to.

Neighbors R rating was one of the reasons its success was so surprising. During the summer movie season, PG-13 is always the ideal rating in order to allow the majority of moviegoers into the theater, but the Nicholas Stoller movie blazed the trail helped formed by titles like The Hangover and Ted. Ultimately, the movie managed to gross $268 million on an $18 million budget – so, again, it’s little surprise a sequel got the go-ahead. That being said, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising will need to provide the same sort of laughs, but without being the same laughs, to be successful – which is arguably a much higher bar.

Of course, that may be the only problem facing the movie. One wonders if the plot of the movie feels too obvious. It would probably be very easy for the production to take the original script, run a "find and replace" and swap out fraternity for sorority, and call it a day. One thing that would be nice would be to see a female-centered story that gives Rose Byrne more time to shine. Critics hailed her as one of the highlights of the original, as she really held her own. Maybe it’s time for Rogen to play second fiddle. That could go a long way to making the movie feel fresh.

Whatever ends up happening, we’ll certainly be checking out Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising when it hits next summer. Chloe Moretz has high bar to clear if she wants to out do Zac Efron’s performance in the original, but if anybody can do it, we have a feeling she can.

Ant-Man, Ant-Man, Ant-Man. Everybody wants to talk about the man of ants, and the director's chair that seemingly nobody wants. Not Edgar Wright. Not Adam McKay. Not Rawson Thurber! But what about Nicholas Stoller and Michael Dowse, the latest filmmakers rumored for the gig? If they say no, don't worry, we just checked with your building's super, your local mailman, and Roger Corman to see if they're available to direct. They all said the same thing.

They all said the EXACT SAME THING. Can you believe it?

Stoller and Dowse's names have been tossed into the mix by Deadline , which says that Marvel has gone silent as they are mulling over their options for the Ant-Man job. While there are certainly other names in consideration, Stoller and Dowse's names appear to be floating to the top. Don't know who they are? Allow us to break it down for you:

Nicholas Stoller

Whoa, talk about your wishful thinking! Stoller's on top of the world right now, having directed the $209 million-grossing Neighbors. Previously, he made such rowdy Apatow-era comedies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The Five Year Engagement. Even though it's very late in the game and the Ant-Man script remains in flux, Stoller would fit Marvel's tradition of frequently bringing on writer-directors to their projects, since so much of Marvel's movie gameplan comes from crazy make-'em-ups.

Stoller's movies are pretty ground-level as far as comedies go, however, and he's shown no actual aptitude for action. But maybe he's just waiting for his big opportunity? It doesn't seem like Stoller would be the guy to take this gig, particularly because he's got the clout to start making his cool-sounding Seth Rogen-Kevin Hart cop comedy.

Michael Dowse

Another white male? What are the odds?? Dowse is a Canadian filmmaker who recently directed What If, the new romantic comedy starring Daniel Radcliffe and the magical adorable wonderful Zoe Kazan. He's also got no real action movie experience, though he's known to blend comic chaos with a sort of sweetness. You can catch this in his severely-underrated Goon from 2011, which takes the violence and chaos of hockey and adds a dollop of romance to it. Unlike Stoller, Dowse isn't really in a position to say no easily to this job. But that hasn't stopped half of the DGA from basically rejecting the Ant-Man gig. Perhaps they should check back in with Roger Corman:

Well there you have it. Roger Corman is our new Ant-Man director.

Watch out! You never know when someone is going to try and mind fuck you. I might be doing it right now, as you attempt to read this story. Mind fucking is when you get so deep inside someone’s head that you basically own them. Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs introduced it to Neighbors director Nicholas Stoller on the set of Get Him to the Greek, and it was so bizarre and entertaining, the writer director had to get it in the actual film.

Nick Stoller did an AMA today in support of Neighbors, but the topic of "Diddy" came up often… to the point where we kind of had to cover the sheer number of amazing things we learned about Puff Daddy thanks to this candid chat. Like, for example, the "mind fuck" mentality. That’s apparently all Sean Combs, as Nicholas Stoller explains:

See if you can spot two-time Oscar nominee Jonah Hill cowering at the idea of being mind fucked by Sean Combs in this Get Him to the Greek clip, directed by Nicholas Stoller:

Asking that one Diddy question opened up the door to a series of interesting Sean Combs tidbits from the Get Him to the Greek set. When asked what was the funniest moment he’d ever experienced as a director, Stoller didn’t conjure any memories of Seth Rogen, Zac Efron or Russell Brand. He dipped back into the Diddy well, explaining:

He also got an unusual number of questions about Jason Segel’s penis, and Seth Rogen’s "Jewishness," if that’s a word? And he recounted an amusing story about visiting Diddy in a recording studio one time, then getting trapped in a series of studio visits that kept him out until 3 a.m. "We had to politely excuse ourselves and take a cab to the restaurant to pick up our cars," he recalls.

Comedy is an improvisational effort, and you never really know what is going to be truly funny until you are trying it on set and then, later, screening it in front of an audience. So it’s amusing to learn that the moments from Stoller’s career that stand out to him involve an off-the-cuff rapper/mogul who talked about infiltrating Jonah Hill’s brain with his private parts. Look for like-minded lunacy when Neighbors opens in theaters near you on May 9.

Kevin Hart is one of the biggest comedic actors going right now, but he has never lost touch with his roots with the actors and filmmakers inside the Judd Apatow circle. Some of Hart's earliest TV work was starring in three episodes of Undeclared, and he has followed that with small parts in movies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Drillbit Taylor, The Five Year Engagement, and, most recently, This is The End. Now that he has big has huge hits like Ride Along and Think Like A Man under his belt, he's apparently ready to leave the supporting parts behind and become a leading man with those same frequent collaborators.

Nicholas Stoller - who worked with Hart on The Five-Year Engagement - has revealed to SlashFilm that he is currently developing a script that he hopes will have Hart and Seth Rogen playing co-lead roles. While the film doesn't seem to have a title yet, it will be a period piece about the first time a black cop and a white cop became partners. Explained the director,

Rodney Rothman penned the script, which is fitting given that he wrote two of the three Undeclared episodes that Hart appeared in (Rogen was a regular on the show) and also had a hand in penning the boxing movie Grudge Match:

Stoller made his directorial debut in 2008 with the Jason Segel comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and if all goes according to plan, this buddy cop movie will be his fifth feature. His latest, Neighbors, premiered at SXSW earlier this year to excellent reviews and will be arriving in theaters next month:

Do you like the sound of a buddy cop movie with Kevin Hart and Seth Rogen? The two of them remain some of the busiest comedians out there, so it's hard to say when a period piece like this one may come together, but I personally couldn't be more excited for this idea.

Of the great actor/directors in cinema, Sidney Poitier’s name comes up less often than most - and that’s largely because 1990’s Ghost Dad would have killed anyone’s career, dreams, livelihood, etc. As disastrous as that movie was, however, he and Bill Cosby also gave us the great 1974 crime comedy Uptown Saturday Night, which really should be a cult classic at this point. (Richard Pryor and Flip Wilson!) Will Smith and Denzel Washington have been attached to star in a remake for years, the project most recently attracting Anchorman director Adam McKay, and now The Muppets co-writer Nicholas Stoller has stepped in to take over script rewriting duties.

There's an interesting ticking click involved with this development, however. After years of kicking around both Smith and Washington’s schedules, the goal is now to get this film into production by next summer. If Stoller is unable to turn in a script that wins over everyone, then both stars will reportedly drop out, according to Variety. Stoller is planning on delivering the script to Warner Bros. and Overbrook Entertainment within the next month.

Stoller not only has the mind for character-driven comedy, but has also directed a few himself. His writing career first began working with the Judd Apatow gang on the short-lived series Undeclared, but that eventually led him to directing Jason Segel and Kristen Bell in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and its more off-the-wall sorta-sequel Get Him to the Greek. His next film is the Seth Rogen vs. Zac Efron comedy Neighbors, and he also co-wrote

[[ ahref http muppets-most-wanted-6268.html www.cinemablend.com ]] Muppets Most Wanted with director James Bobin, which will be out early next year.

In Uptown Saturday Night, the two leads sneak out of their homes over to a snazzy nightclub of the illegal variety. (Psst. It’s got women in it.) A robbery occurs while they’re there and they have to track down their wallets. Funny stuff ensues, but not quite hilarity. I have no doubt that McKay and Stoller are the perfect pair to deliver solid laughs, but are Washington and Smith the right pair to pull it off? To me, Richard Ayoade and Craig Robinson are the pair you want for this project, but they won’t bring in near the profit that the two attached A-listers will.

Over a decade has passed since Smith first bought the rights to the remake, and it has seen several directors and writers attached over the last few years. Do they have what it takes to live up to the original? Here’s what they’re up against:

It's not hard to understand why any studio would want to start putting out more family-friendly content. Because young children can't go to the movies by themselves, each ticket purchased for them is worth at least two because of the parent that will have to accompany them. Thus it's not a surprise that Warner Bros. is now putting a think tank together that will hopefully allow them to start producing more of them - namely those of the animated variety.

Making a bold leap at the start of the year, Warner Bros. has brought together a group of filmmakers with the intention of starting to produce more "high-end animated motion pictures," according to The Hollywood Reporter. The group of writers and directors brought in by the studio include Phil Lord & Chris Miller (Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street), Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Muppets), John Requa & Glenn Ficarra (Bad Santa, Crazy, Stupid, Love), and Jared Stern (Mr. Popper's Penguins). The idea behind bringing the group together is to have the studio release one major animated feature per year, much like how Pixar operates. All of the fillmakers involved are being encouraged by WB to collaborate with each other and work on each others' ideas.

And the process has actually already started. The studio is currently in the midst of developing Lord and Miller's Lego movie, which will be in theaters next year and features a stellar voice cast that includes Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, Morgan Freeman, Elizabeth Banks and Will Arnett. Following that they have Storks getting ready for 2015, which is based on a script by Stoller and is set to be directed by Doug Sweetland (who made the Pixar short Presto), and in 2016 they're planning Requa and Ficarra's Smallfoot, which will be directed by Despicable Me writer/producer Sergio Pablos. The trade doesn't have any plot details for the after two projects).

Obviously Warner Bros. is also home to properties like the Looney Tunes, but do you like seeing the studio branch out and try different animated projects? Do you like the team of filmmakers that they've brought together for the think tank? Let us know in the comments below!

While Nicholas Stoller has long ties with Judd Apatow and his gang - he was a writer on the Apatow television series Undeclared - for the most part Stoller has stuck to working with Jason Segel. The two have written together on multiple occasions, for movies like The Muppets, and have worked together multiple times as director and actor, namely for Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The Five-Year Engagement. Now, however, Stoller is planning on working with a different member of the Apatow gang as it looks like his next directorial effort will star Seth Rogen.

THR has learned that Stoller is now in talks to direct the comedy Townies, which already has Rogen and Zac Efron set to star. The pitch was picked up by Universal last summer and the script was written by Andrew Cohen and Brendan O'Brien. The film will feature Rogen as an ordinary family man whose life gets worse and worse when he is forced to deal with an "alpha-male fraternity house" on a regular basis. Soon enough the man finds himself going head-to-head with the fraternity's leader (Efron). Rogen and his writing partner, Evan Goldberg. are serving as producers on the movie while James Weaver, Cohen and O'Brien executive producing. Rogen, of course, was one of the stars of Undeclared, on which Stoller served as a writer.

I do find it a bit odd that Rogen is landing roles as the "regular family man" even though he's only 30, but the plot of Townies does sound pretty funny. Stoller is a really solid comedy director, but it will be interesting to see him work for the first time from a script that isn't his.

Creating a quality romantic comedy is a hard business made even harder by the fact that most men don’t want to watch romantic comedies, but that only makes what Nicholas Stoller did in 2008 with Forgetting Sarah Marshall that much more special. The movie was sweet, fun and great for both men and women, refusing to pick sides and being fueled by reality. With Five-Year Engagement, the writer/director has done it again, but then what makes what he does work so well while what others do fail so horribly? I had the chance a couple weeks ago to find out, as I sat down with Stoller for a one-on-one interview.

Read our conversation below in which Stoller talks about not only the key to a great romantic comedy, but also crafting Emily Blunt’s character, Violet, what we can expect on the DVD, and the difficulty that comes with pacing a movie set over the course of five years.

I’m curious what you think is the key element in the romantic comedy genre and, possibly more importantly, what do you think everyone else is doing wrong?

I think a lot of times bad romantic comedies rely on kind of an artificial plot device. They rely on miscommunication between the main characters. That never works as a plot device – someone thinking something’s happened that hasn’t actually happened. I think a lot of the time it’s scene as just product. They don’t try and figure out how these characters work, and a lot of times, too, they’re scared of making flawed characters. I don’t really know why, that’s where the comedy comes for me. Especially with the female characters you’ll get someone like super-cool with the guys and watches sports and drinks beer and smokes a doobie before work – that’s not interesting, you know? To me that’s as insulting as the nagging scold. Both things are just unrealistic. All comedy comes from grounded conflict and we try to create characters…it’s very important to me that the girl be as funny if not funnier than the guy. And I would say the funniest scene in Five-Year is between two girls.

That said, one thing that I think is great about your films is that they don’t target either male or female audiences, they’re just for everybody. Is that something that’s in your mind during the writing process?

Yeah. I don’t look at it like, “I wanna get this audience and that audience.” It’s more like, “How do I tell the best story.” So it was really important that both people are right and both people are wrong, and so to do that we had to tell a balanced story. And it just gets funnier – the more both sides are wrong, the funnier it gets. People have seen it, girls have seen it. I talked to this girl who saw it, “I was so mad at Jason!” and I talked to this guy who saw it, “I was so mad at Emily!” That’s kind of what you want. You could feel after test screenings, couples kind of talking and hashing out the movie in kind of an awesome way.

I’m sure that comes from people seeing themselves in the characters.

Yeah, like in Sarah Marshall we spent a lot of the movie kind of insulting Sarah Marshall, really on Jason’s side. There’s a point towards the end of the movie when Sarah Marshall was like, “You were a depressed weirdo! This isn’t my fault! I was there for you and where were you?” It makes that movie work.

Continuing that line of thought, this is going to be a weird comparison, but have you seen Blue Valentine?

I love that movie.

Well, what I find so fascinating about that movie is that Ryan Golsling’s character is this really nice guy who is so upbeat, raising a kid that is not his own, and yet Michelle Williams’ character has grown tired of him and wants out of their marriage. What makes it so powerful is that you never hate or resent Michelle Williams’ character and I kind of felt that way about Emily Blunt’s character in this film, where you could see how audiences could potentially turn on her, but they never really can. Can you talk about developing the character of Violet in that respect?

Well, it’s a testament first and foremost to Emily’s likeability. She’s just such a likeable person, she’s a really lovely person. So that’s a huge part of it. When we were testing the movie I was nervous because Jason always tests as the most likeable in the movies, and they were neck and neck. There were honestly some screenings where she would beat him or they were tied [laughs]. Don’t tell him, but in terms of likability numbers…[laughs]. But I think she dragged him to [Ann Arbor, Michigan], but he’s not being honest about his feelings. And I think that the audience knows that. And so they see him like not talking to her and they’re like, “Dude, just fucking talk to her about it!” And then when he finally does and she doesn’t really want to move, then he, rather than try and figure out a way to be happy there or really making a stand, he then grows an anger beard.

Jason actually mentioned during the roundtables that he has been known to grow passive-aggressive facial hair.

Anger beard? Yeah, yeah. A lot of guys do the anger beard. So you don’t end up mad at her because he’s being a martyr. He has the martyr complex – and I think guys do that more than girls, but certainly there are a lot of relationships are built on the martyr complex.

SPOILER ALERT

To talk about Tom and Violet’s relationship similarly but from another angle, I was also hoping you could talk about Rhys Ifans’ character a bit, because he’s another character where the trope is avoided – he’s not actively trying to split Tom and Violet up, he has just discovered a natural attraction and he’s can’t really be quantified as an antagonist. How did you mold that character?

Well, thank you! We don’t like to have any villains in our movies because there just aren’t villains in real life – except in the Marvel universe [laughs]. They’re awesome.

Avengers is amazing.

It’s amazing? Oh man, I can’t wait to see it [laughs]. I want to go to the fourteenth floor right now [Note: at the time of our conversation, The Avengers was also hosting a press day in the same hotel]. But that was probably our hardest character to craft, because we started with the idea that, like, in Sarah Marshall we had this totally different kind of foil, which was Russell Brand, and with Rhys Ifans, he’s an incredible actor, but he’s not a comedian necessarily. He’s super funny, and we cut a lot of him being super weird out of the movie. Because we had a lot of funny shit with him being really weird, but we were like Emily would never go for him. And so we basically wanted to have a character who, obviously any guy would be in love with Emily Blunt immediately, and then senses that there’s a weakness in Jason and her relationship and is like, “Well, if it’s not going to work out between them, I’ll move in.” And he kind of says it very succinctly when they have their fist fight, where he says, “If a girl wants to kiss me I’m going to fucking kiss her!” And there’s kind of no argument with that. And you can see that he feels bad for Jason, he feels guilty for what he’s doing. And then there’s the reveal that he and Emily aren’t totally right for each other and he lashes out at her. But it’s all about staying on the person. After he lashes out at her a movie with villains would cut away, but I kind of stay on him and show that he feels guilty. People lash out at people and then feel terrible.

You mention the character’s weirdness so I kind of have to ask this question: when I was on set Emily mentioned that there was an extremely weird sex scene between her and Rhys, and I just have to know what was going on there.

It’s a really funny scene. That was a hard one to cut. Basically they’re having sex and his dog comes up and starts licking her ear. And then Rhys doesn’t notice and starts licking her other ear, with a shot from above and both licking her ears. And then the other thing is that Rhys goes, they’re having sex and he goes, “Uh don’t move don’t move don’t move don’t move,” and then he goes, “uhhhhh…you moved, you moved” [laughs]. And she’s like, “I didn’t move,” and he’s like, “You did, but it’s okay. That was lovely.” And then he goes, “Thank you for the ugly face,” when he orgasms, Rhys is just genius. We had it in there and it got laughs – it’s a funny scene and it’s on the DVD – but it really hurt his character, it dinged his character in a way that you didn’t want this choice for her to be so clear. Obviously you’re rooting for her and Jason to get back together, but to make him this creepy premature ejaculator… that relationship is over as soon as that scene ends [laughs] and so we cut it.

END SPOILER ALERT

I know that you’ve done unrated DVD’s before, is that something that you’re thinking about with this film?

Yeah, there’s an extended cut. The movie is just not that dirty a movie, so the extended cut doesn’t really have anything dirty on it, but it has some really funny stuff. There’s this amazing actor, a comedy actor named Adam Campbell, who has this little part that we had to cut out of the movie. He plays Emily’s ex-boyfriend, he’s this weird little English guy. It was super funny and it got laughs, but we couldn’t fit it into the movie.

As the title implies, this movie is set over the course of five years, which is a really long time for a movie – it’s actually more than five years. During the writing process, how are you thinking about establishing pacing?

A lot of the cutting in the editing process was pacing, and we did a lot of going back and forth of having chyrons or not. Initially we had “One Year Later,” “Two Years Later,” and then eventually…I’m trying to remember now what happened [laughs]. But we eventually just got rid of them because it made the pace of the movie slower. We ended up doing some second unit photography where we showed it through seasons and we were kind of not specific about time. And that’s what When Harry Met Sally… did and what Annie Hall does, there’s no chyrons coming up. And what’s funny, if we had showed the movie twice, once with the chyrons and once without, the one with the chyrons would feel longer because you’re waiting. “Well, the one year is over, now two year is over.” And that was Judd [Apatow]’s big concern, that it not feel longer.

Following the box office success of his R-rated comedy Bad Teacher, director Jake Kasdan has proven a hot commodity. According to Variety, the crude comedy crafter has entered into negotiations with Sony to helm their in-development raunchy rom-com Sex Tape. Should he sign on to the project, Kasdan would be reunited with his Bad Teacher co-star Jason Segel, who is attached to star as one half of a married couple whose mundane life is thrown into a frantic search when the sex tape they've made goes missing.

Previously, Sony was considering Segel's Muppets co-writer and helmer of Forgetting Sarah Marshall Nicholas Stoller for the director's chair on Sex Tape. But since he and The Muppets director James Bobin have begun penning a sequel to the Oscar-winning family film, Stoller can no longer fit Sex Tape into his busy schedule. And he's not the only one who has walked away from this ribald romp.

Just last fall, Sony had made a surprising choice for Segel's leading lady, approaching rom-com queen Reese Witherspoon for the role. Of course, in the late '90s, Witherspoon was a master of playing the good girl with a bad streak in films like Fear, Pleasantville and Cruel Intentions. However, through a string of bubbly romances, her image has become squeaky clean, making her an unexpected choice for Segel's co-star. Perhaps Witherspoon came to the same conclusion, as she is no longer attached to the project. At present there's no word as to who could take her place, but Sony seems eager to get Sex Tape rolling, so if Kasdan commits quickly, casting news is sure to follow in short order.

In 2008, director Nicholas Stoller and producer Rodney Rothman made an incredible splash with the R-rated comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The film was the perfect mix of heart and raunch, and, most importantly, it was hilarious. They then followed up in 2010 with Get Him To The Greek, a spin-off from Sarah Marshall that kept both critics and audiences laughing. Now they’re just about ready to make you howl again with their third movie together.

Last summer a group of journalists including myself were given the wonderful opportunity to visit the set of The Five-Year Engagement in Sonoma, California (you can read more about that HERE) and addition to interviewing with the wonderful ensemble cast, we had the chance to speak with Stoller and Rothman about how the project came to be and what we can expect from the new comedy. Check it out below!

How does the film end up in Sonoma? We know you’re going to San Francisco as well and you shot in Michigan. How does that play into the story?

Nicholas Stoller: Well, they live in San Francisco at the beginning of the movie, this is their engagement party in Sonoma. They live in San Francisco and then they have their engagement party, which takes place over like a day, basically, in Sonoma, and then they move after the first year of being engaged they end up moving to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where they stay for two years…three years… two and a half years. And then they end up, and I don’t want to ruin too much.

So this covers the whole entire five years of…

Stoller: Oh yeah. It covers the whole five years of the engagement.

Does it go into how they met?

Stoller: There’s just flashbacks of that, but it’s not…we start and they’ve already been together. And then we try, in the five years, to explore every single relationship problem you can have [laughs]. We get them all. In a hilarious way!

Is it linear or does it go back and forth?

Stoller: It’s linear, but I don’t know. When we get into editing maybe we’ll…

Rodney Rothman: It jumps back and forth a little bit.

Stoller: It does, yeah. Just a little bit. But it’s not like Pulp Fiction or anything.

I’m curious about Easter Eggs in this movie. For example, Infant Sorrow…are other things that you’ve done in your previous films, is there a way of nodding at those, or are all of your films in separate universes?

Rothman: It’s separate universes where Jonah Hill always is a different person who knows Infant Sorrow [laughs].

Are we going to see the music video in the background on a TV or…

Stoller: We really obviously connected [Get Him To The] Greek and [Forgetting] Sarah Marshall. This one we just haven’t, I don’t think we really have in any way. I don’t think so.

Rothman: We filmed a couple things, but I doubt we’ll use them. Jonah wanted to be in this movie playing like a third person who likes Aldus Snow [laughs]. But there aren’t really any callbacks to the other two movies in this one. So I’m sorry. Sorry.

Stoller: But we do tease the fourth Batman at the end of this one [laughs]. So just sit through the credits and you’ll see a teaser.

Rothman: It’s not even a Warner Bros. movie.

Stoller: Nope, we just threw it in there. We’re just Batman fans.

Can you talk a bit about where this idea first came from and how long the writing process was to get this thing greenlit?

Stoller: I am obsessed with relationship and romantic comedy stuff, it’s kind of what I love. I don’t know, we were just kind of thinking about different ways to explore relationship, and I remember sitting at my desk and the words “Five Year Engagement” just popped into my head and I was just like, “I think that’s a movie!” And I was also obsessed with people who are engaged or together for a long time and don’t seal the deal. I think that’s something… and I think it’s an ‘our generation’ thing, you know? So I think this was another way to explore that.

Get Him To The Greek is a good example where you have a character that’s so popular he gets a whole other movie. You have an ensemble cast this time, does that let you play with a lot of different…

Stoller: Yeah. I think this ensemble is incredible. The cast we got is just insane for this movie. I’m so excited about it. It is about them, but it’s about everyone they’ve met in the five years. Jacki Weaver, who was nominated for an Oscar, is in the movie; Jim Piddock, who is from Best in Show and all of those movies, and Mindy Kaling and Kevin Hart, Rhys Ifans, Alison Brie, Chris Pratt… there’s just so many awesome people in it.

Rothman: Everywhere you look there’s kind of a new, fun person.

Stoller: Brian Posehn who was someone who on the page his part was pretty small, and we just started throwing more and more stuff. He was just hilarious.

Rothman: So funny.

Stoller: Chris Parnell…this guy named Randall Park, who is kind of an unknown guy, but is really funny, I think.

You mention all of these actors, a lot of them are very talented comedians, how much, before filming, do you all get together and improv the script? Or is everyone finding this on the day?

Stoller: It depends. With the main four…we had two table reads, so we kind of discovered stuff at the table reads, but a lot of the secondary characters aren’t cast yet. And then with Jason [Segel] and Emily [Blunt] and Alison [Brie] and Chris [Pratt] we had rehearsals, proper rehearsals. And Rhys too. They had proper rehearsals because they’re in most of the scenes, and we improvised and incorporated that improv into the script. And then, like with Kevin Hart we met with him and riffed a bunch of ideas and kind of incorporated those into the script, and I talked with Mindy on the phone. So yes, it depends on the level of the part.

Rothman: You talk to people and you just start to shape out what their instincts are with the part, things that their lines or their part makes them think of, and that usually guides us on the day. We’ll have conversations, like with Kevin, from that meeting… he has this whole run with this character that may or may not be in the movie, but his character is a postdoc candidate who’s basically deeply afraid that he’s going to end up getting a job in North Dakota where there’s no black people.

Stoller: He riffed on that. We had a meeting and he just riffed on that.

Rothman: And Kevin Hart is the rare person who every minute he’s working with us he’s losing money. He’s doing insanely successful touring, the guy is doing so well. But yeah, it’s like charity work [laughs].

Stoller: And Brian Posehn works in a deli so we told him to learn everything there is to know about pickles. So he came to set with a bunch of pickle knowledge.

Rothman: And Rhys hung out with a social psychology professor.

Stoller: So he had done some of that research too.

When you have a movie that centers around a wedding, you have the ticking clock right in the title…

Rothman: A very slow ticking clock [laughs]. Five years.

We have the general idea of the climax of the movie, the general direction of what it is, and the advantages and disadvantages of it. What tropes of wedding films are you trying to avoid?

Stoller: There’s just an advantage, because we just know what the ending is going to be [laughs]. Oh wait, we don’t know what the end of the movie is going to be. What’s hardest is to do it in a new way, there’s been a wedding at the end of every movie. So obviously we’re trying to avoid the clichés and try to have a wedding that’s – or if there is a wedding at the end of the movie, I’m not going to say – to try to make sure that it’s unique and that there’s an emotional payoff to it in some way.

Rothman: Yeah, take an unexpected route there. A lot of movies end, in some fashion, like you expect them to, but the really good ones figure out a way to take you somewhere you didn’t expected. So there are definitely a lot of twists in this movie that I think people aren’t going to expect from the title.

Stoller: Our running to the airport sequence… [laughs]. No it’s crazy.

Rothman: You’re not going to believe how fast they run.

Stoller: They run so fast… [laughs]

It’s obvious R as we heard some F-bombs on set. How are you guys teetering on the R? Are there certain scenes, for example, that are really pushing the boundary, or is it just a more standard R rating?

Stoller: It’s an R. Nothing makes us laugh like weird, awkward, bad sex and there’s a lot of that [laughs]. It’s not for the “fucks,” it’s for the bad sex that we want the R. If you’re going to have a five year relationship you need to explore that side of it. So that’s really the reason for it.

Your own MacGruber scenes.

Stoller: Yeah, exactly [laughs]

Can you tell us a bit about the other characters, like Alison and Chris?

Rothman: Yeah, Alison plays Emily’s sister and Chris Pratt plays Jason’s best friend in the movie and Jason and Chris are both chefs. And Alison and Chris meet at this engagement party that you’re going to see, and we’re actually going to shoot that scene tomorrow, but they meet at this engagement party and immediately…like, they don’t plan anything, that’s their whole thing. And so she immediately gets pregnant and they get married and they’re on a super-fast track to kind of contrast with Jason and Emily’s characters. So it’s kind of fun playing with that stuff.

Your movies have tended to have a strong musical element, does that continue with this film as well?

Stoller: Well, there’s a song in it that’s their song…

Rothman: There’s some musical stuff, but there’s no musician in the movie, there’s no music element…which we found is a lot less work.

Stoller: So much less work! [laughs] It’s so nice.

Rothman: And there’s a lot less pop culture stuff in this one. Like Sarah Marshall with all the crime scene stuff and Greek with all of his music videos and stuff there’s a lot, but there’s no pop culture in this.

Stoller: Kind of nice, actually, not to be doing that this time.

Was it a conscious decision not to include that stuff or did it just not have an organic place in the story?

Stoller: A little of both. I didn’t want anyone to have jobs in the entertainment industry, I wanted them to be like…normal [laughs]. Normal situations. And also, because we felt like we kind of mined that enough at this point.

Rothman: Have you guys seen the script or no?

No.

Rothman: Some of the worlds of the movie, like Tom, Jason’s character, is a chef. Specifically he’s kind of into molecular gastronomy, new, weird chemical cooking. And Emily is a postdoc candidate in the area of social psychology, so it’s basically like Malcolm Gladwell type stuff, why people make decisions. And Rhys Ifans is like the chairman, the department chair in this area, so when Emily goes to work they’re often doing experiments on subjects and studying why people do things. Is that super boring or… [laughs]

Stoller: It’s basically like a chef and a grad student is kind of the dynamic and then she has to move for work and they end up moving.

You mentioned the pop culture, is there something to see the passage of time outside of within the characters?

Stoller: Well, we did some stuff with facial hair.

That’s going to look weird on Emily [laughs].

Stoller: It is. She’s cute. Surprisingly cute. But we had different ideas, like maybe one character’s balding throughout the movie or one character is getting fat, and then for continuity reasons, because we move stuff around, I just got nervous about having too much of that. But yeah, I think it will hopefully capture what five years…because five years is both a short and pretty long time. A lot happens. Characters do go through shit.

Rothman: Yeah, there’s a lot of seasonal changes. That’s something that you’ve talked about, like with When Harry Met Sally. We really like in When Harry Met Sally just the way they would constantly cut in into the future and you just catch up. It doesn’t introduce every event, it just sort of skips the event sometimes and that’s something that you did in the script a bit.

Stoller: When Harry Met Sally is very seasonal, Annie Hall too. Those are both movies that take place over a long time. The characters, their dress changes, but they don’t look different, you know? Their dress changes, their hair might change a bit, they might look a little bit more sophisticated, but it’s the seasons are changing, everyone around them is maturing, and that’s what we tried to do with it.

So you’re going to have nature cutaways?

Stoller: Yes, featuring Jason falling on ice [laughs]. That’s one of our major nature cutaways, yeah.

Over the course of a five year relationship there’s obviously going to be some problems. Where does the drama enter into the equation for this story?

Stoller: There is no drama in it actually! [laughs]

Rothman: Very experimental.

Stoller: We experimented with a drama free…

Rothman: Drama.

Stoller: A drama free drama, yeah [laughs]. The idea of it is kind of best laid plans, so these two people, they love each other, they are right for each other, but they have different goals in life and it’s about kind of discovering… like they decide to move for her work, basically, for the first year, to move to Michigan for her work. And he thinks that it’s going to be fine, that he’ll be able to cook there. Then they move and he doesn’t like it there and he doesn’t know how to tell her that and he feels guilty telling her that, and she knows that he doesn’t like it there, but she does like it there and how do you make those decisions? So that’s where the drama comes from and as he starts to not like it more and more, dislike it more and more and she starts to like it more and more, you can make both characters go crazy and then you have comedy [laughs].

Is it just the location and the fact that he can’t cook out there?

Stoller: Just can’t cook out there. Can’t do the kind of fancy kind of cooking he wants to be able to do.

Rothman: He starts to lose his identity and he starts to feel a little lost there, while her life is kind of starting to come together and she’s getting really energized by what’s happening around her, you know?

Stoller: Like the scene when they move, he’s like, “I can cook anywhere. I’ve cooked in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, London…I can cook in Michigan.” It’s like it’s a totally different thing there. It’s a college town. There’s only wings and pizza [laughs].

Do they go through break ups at all?

Stoller: You have to see… [laughs]

Rothman: That’s what I remember we talked about early on, a part of it is a couple that gets married at the beginning of the movie but doesn’t know each other yet or their relationship hasn’t been tested in certain ways and over the course of the movie it’s getting tested. It’s like the more information you get about someone, the harder, the more complicated the decision is to make whether you can commit your whole life to them.

With Jacki Weaver and some of the other side characters are they little parts, like five or ten minutes, or are some of the side characters, beside Alison and Chris…

Stoller: It’s a true ensemble, I think. Jason and Emily are obviously the centerpieces of it, but Jacki and Jim Piddock are Emily’s parents, they play Emily’s parents, so they’re pretty present in the movie and David Paymer and Mimi Kennedy play Jason’s parents and they definitely really inform the story and obviously all parental issues come into weddings and wedding planning and what your relationship is going to be like. Jacki Weaver plays a really bitter divorcee whose ex-husband is always with a new Thai girlfriend [laughs]. Every time we see him he’s with a brand new Thai girlfriend and Jacki hates this. And she’s really bitter and Violet, Emily’s character, really doesn’t want to become her mom, who gave up everything to become a mom. So it plays into the emotional aspect of it. And Rhys Ifans is a big part of it.

For years Jim Henson's beloved Muppets had been relegated to forgettable TV movies and embarrassing commercials until rising comedian/screenwriter Jason Segel spun the success of Forgetting Sarah Marshall into a tool to push his ultimate passion project, The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made. Of course, while his enthusiasm remained high, the title later changed to The Muppets, and the resulting film proved to be a fun family comedy that thrilled audiences and critics alike, and even won an Oscar for its pivotal anthem "Man or Muppet." So a sequel of sorts seemed guaranteed. Sadly, Vulture reports that while Disney has made a deal with Muppets director James Bobin and co-writer Nicholas Stoller to create a sequel to the winsome adventure, it looks like The Muppets' spearheader Segel may be left out.

Now, this isn't from malice or because of Segel's laughably inept dance moves—because while clumsy they are undeniably endearing. It's simply that Segel is such a hot property he may not have time to collaborate on the screenplay between his commitment to How I Met Your Mother, promoting his new rom-com Five Year Engagement and Judd Apatow's Knocked-Up spin-off This is 40. However, this doesn't mean that Segel won't reprise his role as the Muppet of a man Gary. It's possible that Bobin and Stoller will be able to work in a way for Segel to appear either as a co-star or at the very least in classic Muppet cameo fashion. But with the script being a mere wisp of an idea at this point, it's too soon to say. All the same, let's hope Segel gets some screentime and pray that Bret McKenzie will return to make some more Muppet music magic!

Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller are quickly establishing themselves as one of the best duos working in comedy right now. It started, of course, with the hilarious Forgetting Sarah Marshall in 2008, and, unless you've been living under a rock (or live in a foreign country - sorry) you know that The Muppets is one of the best films of the year. But they're not wasting any time producing more films. Next year the pair is coming out with a new comedy called The Five Year Engagement, and today we have the first trailer for you.

Check out the preview below or in HD over on Yahoo!

From Chris Pratt's song about all the ladies that Jason Segel has banged to the little girl shooting Emily Blunt in the leg with an arrow, this trailer is hilarious from top to bottom. The movie also has an incredible supporting cast that includes Alison Brie, David Paymer, Jacki Weaver, Rhys Ifans, Jim Piddock and Mimi Kennedy, so I wouldn't be too surprised if they ended up stealing the show. If the films ends up being even half as great as Forgetting Sarah Marshall it will be fantastic, and it looks like it will be much more than that.

We also has the first poster and two new stills for the film. Check them out below and click each one to see it in our Blend Film Database!

In The Five-Year Engagement, Segel and Blunt play Tom and Victoria, a couple that decides to get engaged. But as things begin to change in their lives, the wedding gets postponed longer and longer and they are forced to deal with the ups and downs in their relationship. The film is directed by Stoller, who co-wrote the script with Segel, and the movie is scheduled to hit theaters on April 27, 2012.

Discounting television films, it’s been 12 years since we last saw a Muppet movie, but thanks to the work of Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segel that drought has ended. This week saw the release of The Muppets, which is not only brilliant, but, in my personal opinion, one of the best movies of the year. But how exactly did it all get started? Fortunately I recently had the opportunity to sit down one-on-one with Stoller to talk about not only that, but everything else about The Muppets.

In the interview below, the co-writer talks about not only how the project got started, but some of the original ideas that didn’t make it into the film, their approach to the script, and even how they decided what sound Gonzo’s horn would make at the end of the theme song. Check it out!

Take me back to the beginning. I mean, how did you even get the opportunity to write a Muppet movie?

We showed Disney Forgetting Sarah Marshall and they were like, “Clearly, they make sense.” [laughs] You know, there's penis in that movie. So, uh, what happened was Jason had a meeting around when Forgetting Sarah Marshall was coming out, he had a general meeting. And they said, “What properties are you interested in?” And he said, “What are you doing with the Muppets?” And they said, “We don't know.” A strange answer. [laughs] You know, they lose major brands if you own that many brands. So he called me actually right after that meeting on the drive home and he said, “Would you want to write a Muppet movie?” And I said, “Of course. That's a dream. Am I on a prank show?” And then on that drive we pitched out what the plot would be. And a few weeks later we went in and pitched what we thought the Muppet movie should be. And then it took about two years for it to actually get greenlit and then an additional two years for it to actually get made.

And how much did the script change from, say the first draft, even those initial ideas- did any of them make the final cut?

The macro ideas were the same, which is kind of crazy. They have to get where have the Muppets been, Jason and his friend Walter are going to get them back together, turns out there's Tex Richman who's going to tear down the studio, and they have to put on a show. All that was the same. But then a lot of the micro stuff- and to say it's micro, it's bigger than micro- but it changed. We had a plot idea that you reveal towards the end, it was a Willy Wonka reveal, that Tex Richman was actually Kermit in human suit. [laughs] And he did this whole thing to get the Muppets back together. And the Disney executives were like, “No, that's super confusing. Kids aren't going to get that.” [laughs] And then we had- we loved the idea of unzipping a human suit and a Muppet stepping out- we had an additional idea that he's Tex Richman, it's Kermit in a human suit, but that his interest in the oil makes another oil baron interested. [Laughs] And they're like, “That's even more confusing. That's a terrible idea.” [Laughs] So yeah, there was stuff like that.

And did you have to go back to the original source material, just to make sure that- because I assume that keeping the characters consistent was an important thing.

Well as a comedy writer I speak Muppet fluently. It's kind of the first thing you watch when you're, y'know... but yeah, I did watch the original movies, we really wanted this to be a throw-back to the original movies, The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, Muppets take Manhattan. So we watched those. We watched Muppet shows, just to make sure we were getting the voices right. But it's just such a part of who I am, I feel like. It wasn't hard.

You and Jason have worked together on multiple other projects. And does your approach change? Was the writing process different than, say, Forgetting Sarah Marshall or Five Year Engagement?

In one big way it was a lot easier. Because when you sit down and write a script you have to invent the characters and the tone and the world. In addition to the story. And all we had to do was make the story. The characters, the tone, all that already existed. So it was easy to write it for that reason. It took many drafts to get to the movie, but that part of it was great. All the hard work had been done. By many more talented people before us.

One thing that's fantastic about the move is that it really- you get all the characters, and they really all get their moment in the sunlight. Even for the shortest span of time. Was that always the plan? Or was that kind of just something that happened organically?

That was always the plan. That was the hardest part. I mean, I'll say the flip side of writing a Muppet movie is that maybe you have two or three people talking. A hard scene is four people talking. In a Muppet movie, there's routinely twenty people or Muppets or whatever in a scene. And so you have to service all these characters. And watching it in the original movies, you really have to service Kermit, Miss Piggy, and Fozzie. That's it, and then rest are kind of jokes. And so after figuring out what their arcs would be, we kind of serviced the other characters with jokes.

And, I mean, this is a totally random question, but as I mentioned my favorite character is Gonzo. During the Muppet theme, with Gonzo, how did you choose the Tarzan call as the one that-

Oh, for the horn, yeah. I think they went through a bunch and James ended up landing on that one. Yeah. [Laughs] Jason pitched “Friday,” y'know, [he starts singing the Rebecca Blacks song] “Friday, Friday.” [Laughs] I pitched- I can't even remember- I think an autotune horn. But Tarzan, it feels really throwback-y.

Well, I guess that does kind of bring me to a new point, which is that these characters- they're not modernized at all, which I think is what brings its charm. I was wondering if you could talk about just kind of avoiding that idea and keeping them in their initial state.

Yeah, I mean, Muppets are just so timeless. When I rewatched The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, Muppets take Manhattan- I was braced for it to be really dated. The Muppet Movie could have been made yesterday. The only thing that's dated is its pace, it's a little bit slower. There's a two minute push in through clouds. [Laughs] That's it, that's the only thing that's like that. But everything else about it- like they're literally referring to the script. They take out the screenplay and they're like, “Where are we going next in the movie?” So it's pretty astonishing. So we knew that in order to maintain that timelessness, we just wanted to recreate that kind of thing.

Was there ever a concern for playing both to adult audiences and kid audiences, like finding that balance?

Well I think what the Muppets did was they kind of set the standards for that kind of comedy. Without the Muppets I don't think there'd be The Simpsons, the Pixar movies. And it kind of naturally lends itself to that, so you can tell a weird kind of verbal joke that only adults will understand, and then you can also have, like, Fozzie fall off stage or whatever. So I think that's part of the charm and magic of them. And why all ages like them.

And when it came to the musical numbers, when you were writing the script, was it kind of just like in brackets, musical number here? How in depth did that process get and when did the music actually enter into the whole scene?

With music, we wrote- well, obviously in Forgetting Sarah Marshall there was music also- well, when we wrote them, some of them are more figured out than others. In our script we would say, like, insert musical number here. Like, Piggy and Mary sing about how hard it is to be a woman, like that kind of thing. But some of them, like “Pictures in my Head”, we wrote like, “Kermit walks down the hall seeing pictures of Muppets as he sings about how he misses them, and then they come alive and sing too.” So like that was pretty specific. So it just depended. And then when James came aboard, his first pitch to us was we should start the movie with a song called “Everything is Great,” but everything is not great, and then you can reprise that at the end. So that was his addition.

Just bridging off that, I mean, how closely did you work with James once he- I mean obviously, you guys were on the project before. When he came aboard, how closely did you work with him?

I was friends with him for years before that. And like real friends, not Hollywood friends [laughs]. Like our wives and kids play together. And when I heard he had interest in doing it, I was so excited. And I was like, “If he doesn't do it, I don't know who can.” And once he came in, the script for the most part, y'know, the moods stayed the same, but Jason, James and I sat in my office and went through and kind of, like, went through and punched up. And he had some ideas, the moopets were his idea. But again the story moves of getting the studio back and all that, that kind of stayed the same. And obviously he brings such a visual panache to the movie. The musical numbers are insane, so yeah. And a deep, deep respect for the Muppets. He probably knows more about the Muppets than me or Jason. [Laughs]

I talked with the director earlier and he said that the cameos were kind of really organic out of the script as well.

Yeah.

I'm curious, how exactly did that work? Did you write specific roles for specific people? Did you just have an idea of like, where somebody could possibly fit? How did that work?

Well yeah, when you write cameo stuff- I've done it now a little bit on Sarah Marshall and Get Him To The Greek there were a lot of cameos, you kind of have to put in place older cameos and you put the place in where you really hope you'll get. And on this one, it often comes down to schedule, especially with the Muppets, everyone wants to do it. So it really comes down to schedule. But we are thrilled. I mean, Jack Black we wanted really badly and he was kind enough to do it, which was awesome. And I remember when I put in- um, I'm very proud of Hobo Joe, [Laughs] and we were like, “Obviously Zach Galafianakis.” And we approached him and he wanted to do it, which was just thrilling. So it was that and I think James wanted to have Jim Parsons as Walter, y'know... but it's kind of a natural- like who wants to do it, and in the Muppets case it's kind of everyone. And then it comes down to scheduling.

When I was first reporting news about The Muppets there was talk of, like, actors being in negotiations and I was like, “How do you be in negotiations for a Muppets movie? You just, like, do it!”

Yeah!

And just to talk a bit about Walter; you talked a bit about keeping the classic Muppet feel. But when you're creating Walter, what was the process there? How did you determine how exactly you wanted his character to be?

He was in there from the beginning. We needed an entry point for kids and people who didn't know the Muppets. It was also, from a storytelling perspective, it was important that we have a stand in for, like, Jason and I, which is the super-fan. So, you know, the Muppet super-fan more than anything- it's kind of the question I've been asking for years is, “Why haven't the Muppets done a Muppet movie?” So we wanted that person in there. And that was Walter. And we wanted him to be really enthusiastic, and faint when he sees Kermit, and just be so into the Muppets and think he can't possibly be part of them. But of course he becomes a part of them.

When you're on set with these Muppets- I mean, obviously the puppeteers are phenomenal, but is there a distance when you actually see the puppeteer controlling the Muppet? Or does it not matter because it just immediately clicks to the Muppet?

You know, I would say I'm weird this way. Everyone just talks to the Muppet. For whatever reason, I think it's rude to not talk to the person talking to me [Laughs] so they would come up to me, like Steve Whitmire would come up to me as Kermit, and be like, “How are you doing?” And I'd be like, “I'm doing good, how are you doing, Steve?” [Laughs] And I think the puppeteers think that's kind of rude, but I can't do it. But I have a four year old daughter, and when I brought her she was just enchanted. She talked to the puppet and she couldn't believe it. But I'm weird that way. [Laughs]

How’s this for a role reversal? Shortly after audiences will be able to see him alongside The Muppets for a family-friendly adventure, How I Met Your Mother star Jason Segel coul be making a Sex Tape with “America’s Sweetheart,” Reese Witherspoon.

OK, not an actual sex tape. Sony reportedly wants the two screen stars for a comedy with the semi-provocative title. Penned by Kate Angelo, Tape would star Segel and Witherspoon as a married couple who take a night away from their kids and decide to experiment by making a naughty, private video. Deadline adds that when they wake up from their wild evening, the tape is gone, and the two go on a wild chase to retrieve it.

Nichola Stoller, who recently co-wrote The Muppets with Segel, is being eyeballed as a possible director for Sex Tape. His previous credits include the often-vulgar Forgetting Sarah Marshall (which essentially launched Segel into starring roles) and Get Him to the Greek with Jonah Hill and Russell Brand. He and Segel also have The Five-Year Engagement with Emily Blunt and Chris Pratt (to name a few) due out on April 27, 2012.

This seems like Stoller’s cup of bawdy tea. I’m more surprised by Witherspoon, who tends to gravitate toward safer rom-coms and hasn’t shown a proclivity toward harder-R, sex-tinged comedy. Then again, there might be more to Angelo’s screenplay than we’re assuming. She wrote for Ted Danson’s Becker and Will & Grace, but also penned the script for Jennifer Lopez’s The Back-Up Plan, so I think it’s safe to say the jury’s still out.

December 25, 2011 cannot get here soon enough. For those uninformed, that is the day that the Muppets make their triumphant return to cinemas after an 11 year absence. Formally known as The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made (the project is now listed as untitled), the film already stars Jason Segel (who also wrote the screenplay with Nicholas Stoller) and it was announced last week that Amy Adams was considering a role. Now it looks like two more are coming on board.

THR reports that Chris Cooper and Rashida Jones are in negotiations to join the unnamed Muppet movie. Directed by James Bobin, the films sees our furry friends in trouble when their movie studio is threatened, leaving them no choice but to put on a show. Segel will play the main human in the film, helping the Muppets make their movie, Adams will play Segel's girlfriend, Jones will play an ABC television executive and Cooper will be the villain, who not only wants to destroy the studio so that he may get to the oil underneath, but also doesn't find the Muppets amusing (I know, I can't believe it either).

This movie can honestly not get here soon enough. Much like Beverly Cleary books, I've never met someone who's childhood didn't involve the Muppets in some way. That said, how are people in "negotiations" to join a Muppet movie? I can't speak for everyone, but I'd pay them to involved. There would be nothing to negotiate.

The prospect of the Stretch Armstrong movie starring Taylor Lautner just got a hell of a lot more appealing. Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Nicholas Stoller, the director behind Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the upcoming Get Him To The Greek, has signed on to direct the film along with Rob Letterman, who gave us last year's Monsters vs. Aliens.

Not only that, but Stoller will rewrite the original screenplay by Steve Oedekerk, which means we're trading in something written by the guy who did Evan Almighty in favor for something written by the guy who gave us the Dracula musical. Letterman and Stoller have also worked together before, on the highly anticipated (by me anyway) comedy take on Gulliver's Travels, starring Jason Segel.

I have no idea how Lautner, who seems like a charming enough kid, will fit into what's obviously becoming a comedic take on the material. But seriously, thank whatever deity you prefer that they're taking it in this direction. Up until this point I was imagining a Stretch Armstrong movie done in the style of G.I. Joe and Transformers, full of action scenes and explosions. Now, at bare minimum, we'll get a goofy story about a kid whose arm can stretch real long. Granted it could still turn out terrible, but at least it might be an original kind of terrible. Or who knows? For the first time Lautner might show up in a movie that's actually worth your time.