Jason Segal plays the field

Jason Segal: Well, it’s the Judd style which we’ve sort of honed for the past 10 years, our little group. We come in and we shoot the script. From there, I think the idea is that you hire talented actors. They might be able to say it funnier than you were able to write it so you just kind of let it go free.

Crave Online: So references to Flava of Love and P Diddy?

Jason Segal: Yeah, they’re all either coming from us or from Nick the director or Rodney, one of the producers. So it’s all kind of spontaneous which is fun.

Crave Online: Will Hostel 2 make it into the film?

Jason Segal: Who knows? It’s so funny with all of these movies, until you get into test screenings and see what people think is funny, you just never know.

Crave Online: What kind of ex is Sarah Marshall? Does everyone think she’s wrong for you?

Jason Segal: No, I don’t think so. I think part of what’s good about the movie I hope is that nobody’s written to be the villain. As the movie progresses, you start to see of course she left this guy. He’s a mess. Drunk all the time and lost all his ambition. I think it’s neat because at the beginning you always side with the person who’s been cheated on but slowly you start to see that maybe she had her reasons.

Crave Online: The director told you to be freaked out and you asked if he meant movie freaked out. What is “movie freaked out”?

Jason Segal: Well, Nick and I have a running joke that movie emotions are always much bigger and more exaggerated than actual human emotions. When he wants me to do something really big, he’ll say “movie scared.” It’s usually a joke.

Crave Online: So Kristen plays an actress who plays a detective?

Jason Segal: Yeah, she’s on a show that’s called Crime Scene: The Scene of the Crime. So she plays a young detective along with Billy Baldwin as her partner.

Crave Online: Did you write that for her?

Jason Segal: Yeah, yeah. I think originally it was a sitcom that she was on and we decided you’ve seen that before. The new trend are those crime shows so we switched it up. Writing the fake scenes for the crime show was especially fun.

Crave Online: But also because she was Veronica Mars?

Jason Segal: That didn’t have much to do with it but she’s able to do that stuff pretty well so it worked out.

Crave Online: Did hanging off a cliff in Hawaii get you over your fear of heights?

Jason Segal: No, not even close. Even thinking about it terrifies me still. They put me on this tension wire, I’m hanging from the side of this cliff and at the end I’m supposed to launch myself off and just hang from this wire. They’re like, “Just trust the wire. Trust your equipment.” And that’s bullshit. I’m sorry. It’s like someone telling you, “Oh, this spider has been defanged. Don’t worry, it can crawl all over you.” If you’re scared of spiders, I don’t care if it’s been defanged. Same with the heights. Wire did not help at all.

Crave Online: Were they at least careful in setting you up?

Jason Segal: Yeah, they did a great job and all that but they were also kind of razzing me a little bit because they’re all like brave stuntmen and I’m, like, me. So I’d be hanging from the wire shaking and they wouldn’t be hooked up at all. They’d kind of just like repel down on a rope and be like, “It’s fine, look” and just hang from one arm. They just had to rub in that they’re real men and I’m not. That’s basically what was happening.

Crave Online: As the writer, how does it feel hearing people speak your words?

Jason Segal: It’s been a dream come true which I know sounds cliché but I can’t believe it. What I like more than hearing the words I’ve written out loud is hearing stuff I‘ve written improved by the actors. These guys are just amazing. I got really, really lucky. Kristen and Mila [Kunis] couldn’t be better. This guy Russell Brand is going to be a huge star. He’s a genius so I’m surrounded by great people.

Crave Online: Did you set it in Hawaii just for the free trip?

Jason Segal: Absolutely. My first thought was where is a fun place to shoot a movie? It was really fun to write it there too. As soon as I sold the pitch, I rented a house in Hawaii for a month and went and finished it out there. It was awesome.

Crave Online: Was this always intended for you as the lead?

Jason Segal: Yeah, yeah. Judd and I had a talk and he basically said, “I can get movies made now. If you have any ideas, let me know.” I gave him a short pitch of this and I think three days later contracts arrived, so then it was my job to get the script in order.

Crave Online: All the Freaks are playing lead roles now.

Jason Segal: That’s right, that’s right. We’re doing all right.

Crave Online: Have you had this story in your mind for a while?

Jason Segal: No. It all happened very quickly over the past couple years, the idea, the kernel sort of came in my mind. I wrote the first 20 pages earlier, like a year and a half ago. And then I finished the rest once I went to Hawaii which was several months later. But no, it’s all just as I have terrible dates, more ideas come. That’s basically how it happened.

Crave Online: Why is it called a romantic disaster comedy?

Jason Segal: Well, unlike your typical romantic comedy, it’s not just a relationship unfolding. It’s a guy having to deal with literally his worst nightmare while all that’s going on, so I think there’s an extra added element of it being your worst nightmare which a lot of romantic comedies don’t have. I show up in Hawaii to clear my head and my ex-girlfriend, Sarah Marshall, is there with her new boyfriend. That’s the plot of the movie.

Crave Online: How did the buzz on Knocked Up change things? Did you get more money?

Jason Segal: Judd is his own little studio in a way at the moment so even before the success of Knocked Up, I think there’s the sense in the community that Judd knows how to make comedies and they weren’t going to interfere. So they were just so cool to us from the get go. Universal has been a dream to work with.

Crave Online: What rating is this going for?

Jason Segal: Oh, this is an R. Absolutely.

Crave Online: But we heard you do clean versions?

Jason Segal: We always do a clean version for when they have to air things on television or on the airplane, but it’s definitely going to be a hard R.

Crave Online: What were your best experiences in Hawaii?

Jason Segal: Well, first of all, the crew is like the nicest group of people on earth. It was so laid back because we were shooting at the hotel where we were staying. So you would wake up and roll out of bed and shoot for 10 hours and then go have mai tais all together at the pool bar. I think the camaraderie was the best part. I got to fight a boar which is pretty exciting and I got to do some really beautiful scenes with Kristin Bell while I was in Hawaii which was really fun. It’s a comedy but there’s also some pretty serious relationship stuff so it was really nice to act that stuff with her.