Univeral's decision to reunite Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd for a Knocked Up** **spin-off is news to warm the cockles on this chilly Friday. The pair had an easy chemistry as married couple Pete and Debbie - her, slightly controlling; him, slightly gormless; both very funny - and, by the standards of your average comedy, offered a pretty realistic depiction of the ebbs and flows of married life. Judd Apatow, Mann's real other half, returns to write and direct.
Hitflixsounded Apatow out to find out if he saw it as prequel or sequel to Knocked Up. Neither, it turns out. "It is just a story from Pete and Debbie's current life," Apatow told the site. "People really responded to their characters and problems. I felt like there was a lot of ground I could explore with them, so we'll be shooting in July and will come out the following June."
June 1, 2012, to be exact, and Apatow plans to drip feed plenty more snippets between now and then. "There are some fun details yet to reveal but I will let them come out slowly. It's more fun that way."
Expect it to be to Knocked Up what Get Him To The Gree****k was to Forgetting Sarah Marshall: a starting point for a whole new story (and plenty more fantasy baseball). No word on whether Seth Rogen will return, but it'd be a surprise not to see him at least cameo. Not as big a surprise as seeing Katherine Heigl back, what with that public panning she gave the first movie, but then stranger things and all that. Watch this space for more.