MovieChat Forums > Knocked Up (2007) Discussion > Judd Apatow bullied Jay Baruchel into ri...

Judd Apatow bullied Jay Baruchel into riding a roller coaster for the Knott's Berry Farm montage

posted 2 years ago by RustyShacklefurd (2039)
6 replies | jump to latest

Jay Baruchel is scared of roller coasters and didn't want to ride any of them for the Knotts Berry Farm montage from the beginning of the movie. But director Judd Apatow wanted everyone playing one of Ben's roommates to be in the montage so he basically forced Jay to ride one of the coasters. The movie shows Jay at the end of the ride repeatedly declaring that he has to get off. He wasn't acting when he said that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WpwxeBmdbo&ab_channel=MarlonScott

[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) 2 years ago

If Tarantino had done this to, say, Uma Thurman, for example, we'd never hear the end of it, but hey, because it's loveable Judd Apatow (*sigh*) doing it to a guy (and Jay Baruchel truly is a genuine mensch), it's written-off as nothing.

[–] RustyShacklefurd (2039) 2 years ago

That's kind of a weird comparison. What Tarantino forced Thurman to do when they made Kill Bill was a lot worse than being forced to ride a roller coaster.

[–] Burk48917 (11356) 2 years ago

Yeah, it's part of a director's job to push actors out of their comfort zone. This happens all the time. Not a big deal. It's a roller-coaster, not a wing suit. He was perfectly safe, for all practical purposes. Jay sounds like a giant pussy.

[–] RustyShacklefurd (2039) 2 years ago

I don't know if you watched the video I linked to but in the beginning it shows Jay stating that he had an agreement with Apatow that he wouldn't ride any roller coasters for the movie. I don't believe it's right for a director to try to push an actor out of his comfort zone if doing so goes against a specific agreement already made with the actor. I know that the roller coaster was safe. I've been on that same coaster several times myself. I don't think it was an issue of safety for Jay. I think he was just scared of feeling scared on the roller coaster. His actual experience on the coaster would seem to validate that fear.

[–] blue1981 (7740) 2 years ago

I knew this from watching the dvd extras. Apatow was right to push him like that as it made the scene better.

[–] RustyShacklefurd (2039) 2 years ago

In fairness to your point I would agree that it made the scene better since we got to see someone on a roller coaster being genuinely scared instead of just pretending to be scared.