This Is 40, the sort-of sequel to Knocked Up, was released ten years ago, and while recently, in March, Judd Apatow stated that he’s been writing the sequel to the movie, titled This Is 50, the original has been getting some new attention. As Judd Apatow’s This Is 40 was based on characters from the cast of Knocked Up, the upcoming sequel will likely feature the same cast as This Is 40, not only because a portion of them are Judd Apatow’s actual family, but because the role of Paul Rudd on top of his the acting of his wife and children made the original that much more special for Judd Apatow.
However, as the sequel has no official information beyond Judd Apatow’s current creation, the cast of This Is 40, who may return for the sequel, has become our main focus of the day. Below, we’ve detailed the cast of This Is 40, the movie itself, the film, the characters initially introduced, and more about Judd Apatow’s films.
Knocked Up
While This Is 40 was the movie that had a cast of Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann, Knocked Up, the movie that introduced the characters, focused mainly on the characters of Seth Rogan and Katherine Heigl. In Knocked Up, Seth Rogan and his friends, composed of actors Jay Baruchel, Jason Segel, Martin Starr, Paul Rudd, and Jonah Hill, are all, mostly, immature man-dudes that have jobs but spend every day possible otherwise drinking and smoking much to Heigl’s character’s dismay.
The movie overall followed Katherine Heigl’s character as she accidentally got pregnant by Seth Rogan. Before that, she had her entire life panned out in her mind otherwise, and this has become carrying an oaf’s child a problem to all of that. Eventually, the two come to terms with being near opposites, as they overall get along and believe they can give a child the life it needs and deserves.
On top of the prominent cast members of Knocked Up and the children of Apatow and Mann that appeared, the movie featured one of the most comedically-filled cast members from SNL, Mad TV, and other known comedic actors playing momentary roles.
This Is 40
This Is 40, on the other hand, featured a much more focused and slightly smaller cast, cutting out a vast number of cast members, both cameos and actor appearances. While the characters and story of This Is 40 were pulled from Knocked Up, telling the story of a husband, wife, and their kids, in their 40s, which are Apatow’s real family, outside of Paul Rudd, the movie has a special connection with director and writer Judd Apatow as it almost literally hits home. Of course, the film was much more comedic than anyone’s true life could be, even when you are a comedy writer.
This Is 40, overall, followed the married couple from Knocked Up as they navigated their own life with kids versus being involved with the pregnancy between their friends. While This Is 40 took place five years after Knocked Up, with both Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann owners of their businesses, and Rudd’s struggling but with his wife’s 40th birthday coming up, they take a getaway to get away from their kids but when they return Mann discovered she was pregnant and hid it from Rudd’s character due to their financial struggles.
While the story may sound like a married version of Knocked Up, the film felt like outside of the characters being from Knocked Up and set as the cast of This Is 40, they weren’t attached in a sense anyone would have expected, especially since Seth Rogan and Katherine Heigl didn’t make a single appearance.
This Is 40 Cast
As for the cast of This Is 40, Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd weren’t the only characters taken from Knocked Up and placed as the main focus of This Is 40, and possibly This Is 50. Plenty of other characters appeared, those familiar and those not so familiar, outside of the casting of Rudd and Mann, such as Apatow and Mann’s real-life children, Maude Apatow as Sadie and Iris Apatow as Charlotte.
As This Is 40 ended with Leslie Mann’s character pregnant with their third child, we may see a ten-year-old running around in This Is 50, the end of a trilogy, but it won’t be another Apatow child. While the cast of This Is 40 was portrayed by the main characters of Rudd and Mann, as well as their children, other actors that appeared to make up the total cast of This Is 40 included Jason Segel and Charlyne Yi from Knocked Up, Megan Fox, John Lithgow, Bill Hader in an uncredited role, and more. This Is 50
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