Judd Apatow Is Ready for ‘Superbad 2’ Despite Seth Rogen and Michael Cera’s Sequel Fears
Could a “Superbad” sequel really be super good? The cast seems to differ.
Producer Judd Apatow singlehandedly dominated the comedy space for decades, and now, he’s ready to return to one of his most iconic films: “Superbad.”
The 2007 high school buddy comedy directed by Greg Mottola and starring Jonah Hill and Michael Cera as desperate seniors looking to lose their virginity before college raked in $170 million at the box office and is considered to be one of the best comedies of the 21st century.
Earlier this year, lead star Hill said he wants to do a sequel when the cast is geriatric, pitching an idea of their spouses dying and Hill and Cera’s characters being single again in an “old folks’ home.” Hill added, “That’s the only way I would ever make it.”
Now, producer Apatow is setting the record straight: “I always wanted them to do a sequel to ‘Superbad,'” Apatow explained on the “Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum” podcast. “I know that Jonah said, ‘Oh, it’ll be funny to do it when we’re 70 or 80,’ but I really wanted them to do a ‘Superbad’ in college where Jonah flunks out of college and just shows up and visits Michael Cera at college.”
Apatow continued, “But everyone was like, ‘Nah, we don’t want to screw up “Superbad” by accidentally making a crappy second one,’ and I would always say the same thing, ‘Well, that’s like saying don’t make the second episode of the “The Sopranos.”‘ Like, so why do you think we would screw up the second one?'”
Cera said during Esquire’s Explain This video series that he prefers to make another film with the same cast but separate from “Superbad” and that most of the original stars are “staunchly against” a sequel.
“I mean, I would be open to just doing anything with that group of people,” Cera shared. “I think that everybody is pretty staunchly against this, just because we feel good about the movie. It could only tarnish something that is a good memory. That said, I would just love to do something with the same group of people, even if it’s not ‘Superbad.'”
Co-star Christopher Mintz-Plasse said last year that “if there was a way to do it, [a female version] would be the way, for sure.” But the actor added, “I’ve heard from some of the people who made the first one, and I don’t think they want to touch it.”
Meanwhile, co-writer and star Seth Rogen shut down any involvement in a follow-up film. “Superbad” is the one movie he would “100% percent probably never touch” for a sequel or reboot.
“Honestly, I don’t think it requires improvement or anything to be built upon it,” Rogen said. “I’m unbelievably proud of it. It really holds up — people still watch it, high school kids come up to me telling me that they watched it for the first time and how they loved it. It’s worked its way into being viewed as one of the better high school movies that’s out there. I’m so terrified of subtracting from it in any way with a bad sequel or spinoff that I’d never do it. I have so few actual good accomplishments that I’m horrified to fuck with the ones I have.”
