Judd Apatow Co-Writing Iraq War Dramedy With ‘Redeployment’ Author Phil Klay [Updated]
After chronicling the love lives of romantically ambivalent men from every conceivable angle,Judd Apatowis branching out this year by chronicling the love life of a romantically ambivalent woman inTrainwreck. Now his latest new project will take him much further afield, all the way to the front lines of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.
Apatow is currently working on an adaptation ofRedeployment*,Phil Klay’s National Book Award-winning short story collection about American soldiers at war and at home. More on the Judd ApatowRedeploymentmovie after the jump.
- Update:To clarify, Apatow calls his new movie with Klay “an original screenplay.” However, it’s clear the project has very similar themes asRedeploymenteven if it isn’t a direct adaptation. Original story follows.
In the latest episode ofYou Made It Weird with Pete Holmes, Apatow revealed his plans for his new project. He’s co-writingRedeploymentwith Klay himself, and as of now it’s unclear whether Apatow also plans to direct it. He described the project as follows:
[It’s] a comedy with drama or a drama with comedy about those people and what they’ve gone through. Hopefully in an entertaining way so it’s not one of these depressing movies you don’t want to see. But just about, what happens to soldiers who return to a country that isn’t even that aware that we’re at war?
Klay’s book has been acclaimed for its willingness to delve into the kinds of messy and intimate situations that don’t get covered in the mainstream media, but that inform the lives of soldiers past and present. The Iraq War seems to be a hot topic in Hollywood right now. Also in the works areBilly Lynn’s Long Halftime Walkfrom Ang Lee andThe Yellow Birdswith Benedict Cumberbatch.
Apatow can do dramedy very well, as we’ve seen going all the way back toFreaks and Geeks. In that sense,Redeploymentseems like a good match for him. But the stakes are obviously much higher than they are in something likeTrainwreckorThis Is 40, so it should be interesting to watch him grapple with the darker themes that come with a war movie.
And Apatow himself sounds ready to mix it up, as he explained to Holmes:
Other times I do think think, ‘Well, what else is there to cover??’ I did birth and death and marriage and family and comedy. And I realize there’s really not much left. […] But I do feel, I’ve made a pretty good high school show and a college show and a pretty good young adult show, first sex, first relationship, marriage, older marriage, death, comedy. I’ve covered a lot of my bases. So right now I’m like, I’m not sure what to write about.
Whether Apatow directs or just co-writes,Redeploymentsounds like an exciting progression for him. Listen to the entire interviewhereor on iTunes. The quotes above hit around 32:30.
