Rewriting the rom-com rule book
JASON Segel is a hot commodity in Hollywood. But his transformation from character actor to sought-after leading man shouldn’t really come as a surprise, especially when considering the string of unlikely leading lads (Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel) catapulted into the spotlight by comedic demigod Judd Apatow.
Segel, who got his big break on Apatow’s Freaks and Geeks in 1999, has carved a niche for himself with a string of hits, and successfully ventured into writing and producing. Films such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I Love You Man and The Muppets have seen him become a household name, and thanks to a couple of instances of gratuitous, if hilarious, on-screen nudity, not only do we know his name, we also know what he looks like when he gets out of the shower.
But if the How I Met Your Mother star has anything to do with it, the next time we see the doughy roof over his now famous toolshed, we’ll be able to do our washing on it.
“I’m going to get in really great shape and I’m going to bring back the 1980s-style buddy/comedy/action movie,” Segel says deadpan. “I just decided this in the last interview.”
He seems deadly serious.
For now though, Segel knows which side his bread is buttered on, and it’s not 1980s action.
In Australia to promote the release of his latest romantic comedy, The Five-Year Engagement, the 32-year-old, who wrote, produced and stars in the film, says the genre has evolved.
“The big flaw in romantic comedies is that you know how they’re going to end – you know those two people are going to end up together. You can put all these false obstacles in front of them, but the audience knows what’s going to happen, which is boring.
Segel says the modern rom-com also has to contend with changing gender roles and that there is humour inherent in the male ego’s struggle to reconcile what he describes as “gender equalisation”.
“The Lucky One, The Notebook-type movies are great for their function,” says Segel, before looking around to see if anyone’s listening and adding with a whisper: “I haven’t seen them.”
“But when the male lead in the opening scene [of Forgetting Sarah Marshall] does full-frontal nudity, you’re forced to think, ‘well, I don’t know what’s going to happen’.
“In The Five-Year Engagement we start with the engagement, so you don’t know what’s going to happen. We tried to break the huge wall of predictability.”
Indeed, many of Segel’s new-age rom-coms benefit from his willingness to shamelessly plumb the depths of emasculation.
But Segel, who stars alongside Emily Blunt in the film, is keen to divert attention to his supporting cast. Once a sought-after character actor himself, Segel is clearly proud to have turned provider for The Five-Year Engagement, populating his film with the cream of America’s small screen comedic talent. The stars of shows like Community, the US version of The Office, The Sarah Silverman Program, Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation all get screen time.
“Your job [as a supporting actor] is very different than when you’re playing the lead. You’re like a pinch-hitter in baseball – when they cut to you, you need to knock it out of the park comedically and everyone in our cast did it.”
Segel went back to his supporting actor roots last year on the set of This is 40, the follow-up to Apatow’s smash hit comedy Knocked Up, and has a simple explanation as to why he and the other card-carrying Apatow acolytes continue to work together.
“Half of the challenge with [an on-screen] relationship, where people are supposed to seem like friends, is chemistry between them, whether it’s platonic or romantic. So in movies where we’re supposed to be friends, it’s just easier to cast one of our friends. [Paul] Rudd and I have done four movies together now, we’re actual buddies, so when I think of doing a movie with a guy who plays my buddy, I like to cast Rudd or cast Jonah [Hill].”
Segel has starred in six films in the past four years, while shooting the hugely popular US sitcom How I Met Your Mother all the while. He says his frantic schedule hasn’t allowed him much time to reflect on his meteoric rise.
He is, however, planning to take an overdue break over the American summer. So what does Segel do on holidays?
“I’m going to write.”
The Five-Year Engagement is screening nationally.
REPORT: Adam Kamien
PHOTO: Jason Segel, in Australia last month for the premiere of his new film, The Five-Year Engagement. Photo: Peter Haskin
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