Photo: W.Breiteneicher/Schneider/RexUSA.
For anyone who's ever seen a Judd Apatow movie, the idea of art imitating life is an all too familiar one. For many, flicks like This Is 40 hit a little too close to home; off the top of our heads, we're thinking about pretty much every bathroom scene. They're comedies, sure, but not without a large dose of slap-you-in-the-face reality. But, if you were to talk to Apatow or his wife Leslie Mann (who plays out their fights and mishaps onscreen), that's exactly the beauty of it. Life isn't always perfect, but there's something hilarious in the ups-and-downs. Mann's newest release, The Other Woman, isn't an Apatow vehicle, but many of his favorite themes are present — mainly, marital spats. But, there's a marked difference: The Other Woman, written by relative newbie Melissa Stack, is told from a female point of view.
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"It seems like movies that are written or directed by men tend to perpetuate this idea of women fighting over them," Mann said with a laugh at the film's recent press conference. "It's like they're trying to brainwash us into believing that that's what we're supposed to do."
The Other Woman follows three New Yorkers (Mann, Cameron Diaz, and Kate Upton) who discover that they're all being played by the same man. They decide to take revenge and in the process, end up finding that they actually like each other a whole lot more than they ever liked the man who screwed them over. The costars have constantly referred to the movie's three heroines as soulmates, though Mann admits that the idea of a soulmate isn't one she's completely bought into.
"I've asked my therapist about soulmates before," she said. "I was like, 'Marriage is really tough. Like, really hard.' And he said that means we're meant to be together, to work out all of our problems together.
"I'm like, really? I thought a soulmate meant you're just supposed to be happy all the time. So, I guess Judd's my soulmate. Because we have a lot of hard times — but it's great at times too — so maybe that means he's my soulmate?"
Photo: Courtesy of Fox.
Regardless of the tough times, Apatow and Mann certainly have one of the more successful marriages in Hollywood. Not only have they been married for what is basically an eternity in Tinseltown years, but their creative partnership has spawned several box office hits. But, even the best partnerships need a little breathing room — which is precisely why Mann turns to acting.
"This movie was super exciting for me because I got to make out with the hot guy from Game of Thrones [Nikolaj Coster-Waldau]," said Mann. "I've been married for 17 years so I was like, yes! You know how actors say sex scenes are so technical and it's like work or whatever? That's bullshit. So, it was really exciting for me to make out with him."
But, at the end of the day, its all about the women on the set. Mann and costar Cameron Diaz are in almost every scene together, and although they hadn't formally met before The Other Woman's casting, they made up for lost time. "We hit it off right away," Mann said of her costars. "Cameron and I had like a four-hour dinner and talked about everything. I think we're different but we're very similar in a lot of ways, too, and we really compliment each other. Cameron's kind of like my teacher and Kate's like my daughter — she's only five years older than my real daughter!"
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