Collider recently sat down with “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” star and writer Jason Segel in promotion for the CGI-animated villain movie “Despicable Me.” More importantly, he laid down some new information on the Duplass Brothers’ “Jeff Who Lives At Home” and his next collaboration with “Marshall” director Nicolas Stoller, “Five Year Engagement.”
Around the time of “Cyrus,” we tried to pry some “Jeff” information out of the Duplasses during a press junket, though they opted to stay zipped about it (understandably so, the film had wrapped a few days earlier). The film, starring Segel alongside Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon, and Judy Greer, is about two brothers who set out to spy on Greer, the wife of Helms. Originally reported as a “stoner-comedy,” Segel sets the record straight. “It’s comical but it’s mostly a drama, which was very exciting for me.” The Duplass duo tackled a similar tone with “Cyrus,” which was bizarrely hilarious at times but hit unsettling emotional truths at others. He goes on to talk about his character, who happens to be obsessed with the M. Night Shyamalan film “Signs.” Uh, what? “It’s a guy that was obsessed with the idea that everything’s happening for a reason, there must be some purpose to his life, especially why his father died.” Pretty interesting.
When asked about his next Stoller collaboration, “Five Year Engagement,” he mentioned that they’re “writing it now and hoping to shoot it next spring.” Segel originally explained that the idea would be sort of like “If Sarah Marshall and Jason’s character had stayed together, this might be the sequel.” The film will follow “a couple that gets engaged, very enthusiastically, and then follows them over five years of not getting married and just being engaged… break ups, cross country moves, meeting new people, basically about the fluidity of relationships in your 20s.” “Marshall” was Segel’s break-out role and was very enjoyable, so hopefully the next collaboration between the two will fix the slight hiccup Stoller had with “Get Him To The Greek,” and the new project sounds personal and much more grounded.
Speaking of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” who can forget the hilarious musical bits that Segel wrote and sang himself? When it was discovered that he would be behind the next Muppet movie, it was unknown whether or not he would be doing the music for that film. “What we’ve done now is we handed the script to musicians we love and admire and asked them to submit songs to us and we’ve been getting some amazing things,” Segel said, “so I may end up doing something but, knock on wood, I may not have to.” While it’d be great if Segel would return to the mic, maybe it would be just a tad greater if he got favorite band Rush to sing a tune about the Muppets. It’ll be interesting to see what bands they round up for the film, and we’ll most likely found out some more details throughout the year.
