Judd Apatow’s guest-edited Vanity Fair Comedy Issue has something to do with Leslie Mann in a bikini and Megan Fox dressed as a Shriner, but it’s also a Freaks and Geeks reunion!
Inside (and online) you’ll find exclusive set photos, interviews with cast and crew and the entire reunited cast (including the Weir parents, Samaire Armstrong, Lizzy Caplan, Millie and Cindy Sanders).
There are also detailed descriptions of what would have happened to every character if the show hadn’t been cancelled after the first season in 2000.
Lindsay Weir (Linda Cardellini) becomes a performance artist in New York while brother Sam Weir (John Francis Daley) explores a strange relationship with his alcoholic drama teacher.
Bill (Martin Starr) slowly becomes a jock, Kim Kelly (Busy Philipps) is impregnated by a Deadhead, Franco’s character goes to jail (or becomes a teen father). Ken (Rogen) tries to date Lindsay and Neal (Samm Levine) joins swing choir.
Feig would have made all of the potentially cliche scenarios painfully real and not cliche at all.
John Francis Daley: “Linda and I spent a lot of time between scenes giving each other a hard time. I probably had a bit of a crush on her, too, which you don’t want to hear when we’re playing brother and sister. But it’s hard not to have a crush on her.”
Judd Apatow: “I loved writing for Jason. That’s what I felt like in high school. I felt goofy and ambitious and not sure if I had any talent, and I would be in love with these women and didn’t actually know if they liked me that much . . . Jason really captured that desperation I felt when I was younger.”
Segel: “We didn’t really have to be told we were being canceled. We watched the craft-service table: it started out with, like, cold cuts and delicious snacks, and it was reduced to half a thing of creamer and some Corn Pops by the end.”
Busy Philipps: “I was reading things in the press about how we were the anti–Dawson’s Creek. There was one quote I remember very clearly, like, ‘You won’t find any pretty people on Freaks and Geeks.’ That was interesting as a 19-year-old girl to read.”
Seth Rogen: “Busy scared me at first. She’s just kind of intimidating. She’s a little loud and she’s kind of physical. She’ll punch you and smack you if she doesn’t like what you did, as an exclamation.”
Philipps on working with Franco: “Presumably both of our characters come from abusive households, and you parrot what your family does. We had a really intense thing when we worked together.”
Seth Rogen: “James would do stuff at times just to push people’s buttons. I think he threw milk in someone’s face as an improv, and I remember thinking, That’s not the best improv.”
Daley: “Franco went to Michigan for two weeks to get into character and we were joking that he lived under an overpass for a few nights. He was always the one that had a Camus novel, heavily dog-eared, and his car was so full of junk that it looked like he lived out of it.”
Judd Apatow: “The show was the kids’ entire life. It was their high school: They’re literally going to school on the set. They’re falling in love on the set . . .”
“And those relationships are still happening; they’re still close.”
Paul Feig: “I remember looking at Judd right before we took the kids into network and saying, ‘Are we about to ruin these kids’ lives? What do we do to not let that happen?’”
Take a five-second break of thankfulness and move onto the next thing – praying for an Undeclared reunion! In the meantime, read this charming 12-year-old Apatow story about the time he asked Steve Martin for an autograph!
Read: 2 Good 2 Be 4Gotten: An Oral History of Freaks and Geeks By Robert Lloyd
