Trivia / Knocked Up

• Actor-Inspired Element: Paul Rudd contributed much to the discussions and arguments between Pete and Debbie in the film, based on real-life interactions with his wife. The character was loosely autobiographical for Judd Apatow to begin with.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Harold Ramis agreed to appear in this film because he'd loved The 40-Year-Old Virgin and wanted to help out a new generation of comedic creators.
• Cast the Expert:
  • Ken Jeong actually is a doctor.
  • Bill Hader, who plays an editor, was actually a TV editor in that same building and had actually worked on E! shows prior to becoming an actor. He was also a PA on The Scorpion King.
• Completely Different Title: "Knocked up" doesn't mean anything in most languages. The film's translated Russia title is "A Little Bit Pregnant." In Brazil it's "Slightly Pregnant." In Italy it's "Very Pregnant" ('Molto Incinta'). The Chinese title translates to "One Night, Big Belly".
• Creator Backlash: Katherine Heigl accused the movie of being "a bit sexist" after its release. Let's just say that the internet at large vehemently disagreed with her, and leave it at that.
• The Danza: Ben's friends all share the same name as the actor who plays them: Jason (Segel), Jay (Baruchel), Jonah (Hill) and Martin (Starr).
• Deleted Scene: Originally, a moment was included where Ben revealed to the doctors that he hadn't actually read the baby books. He had only read twelve pages and forgot half of it. However, Judd Apatow felt this could hurt Seth Rogen's new-found likability with the audience, and the moment was cut.
• Divorced Installment: This was originally a sequel to The 40-Year-Old Virgin, with Seth Rogen and co. reprising their roles as the Smart Tech team.
• Enforced Method Acting: Jay Baruchel is terrified of roller coasters and was initially not going to partake in the roller coaster scenes used for the opening montage. When co-star Jonah Hill was running late, director Judd Apatow convinced Baruchel to go on the coaster just once for a take. According to Apatow (and the behind-the-scenes footage), Jay's panicked "IWANNAGETOFF!" that made the final cut of the film is a legitimate Jay Baruchel freak-out and not actually being in character. (Fortunately they omitted the vomit.)
• Real-Life Relative: Debbie's kids are played by Iris and Maude Apatow, the real-life daughters of Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann.
• Separated-at-Birth Casting: Harold Ramis and Seth Rogen are incredibly believable as a father and son.
• Star-Making Role: For Seth Rogen, and to a lesser extent, Katherine Heigl, who was already a television star, but her success here led to a run as a bankable leading lady for a few years.
• Throw It In!:
  • Young Maude Apatow ad-libbed her dialogue about Googling "murder".
  • The scene with the doorman was filmed for a long period with everyone improvising a ton as usual with Apatow, until Leslie Mann completely ran out of ideas and just kept shouting "You're a doorman!"
  • Ryan Seacrest wasn't initially going to be in the movie. Apatow and crew visited the E! News set one day to see how things worked and noticed the occupied Seacrest continuously trying to leave, pissed off that someone was late. They found this so funny that they worked it into the film.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Judd Apatow wanted to use footage from a real birth intercut with the scripted scenes, but balked when he found out that it would require the unborn child to have an worker's permit.
  • Anne Hathaway was originally cast as Alison Scott but left due to 'Creative Differences'. In an interview, she revealed that she objected to Judd Apatow's plan to use footage of a real birth. Drew Barrymore, Rachael Leigh Cook, Claire Danes, Cameron Diaz, Juliette Lewis, Tiffani Thiessen, Uma Thurman and Renée Zellweger all dropped out or were booted out. Christina Aguilera turned it down in order to focus on her music career. Jennifer Connelly, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer and Brooke Shields, were deemed too old. Mila Kunis auditioned. She did not get the role but Apatow remembered her and cast her in Forgetting Sarah Marshall which he produced.
  • Kim Basinger, Frances Fisher, Melanie Griffith and Debra Winger were offered the role of Alison's mom, but they all turned down the part.
  • Jodie Foster was considered to play Debbie, but was later discarded.
  • Kristen Wiig's part was originally written for a man until Judd Apatow thought it would be funnier to turn the part into a woman who hates other women.
  • David Krumholtz was supposed to play one of Ben's roommates, but he dropped out so he could star in a Woody Allen movie in Paris that wound up getting cancelled.
  • During the red carpet scene, Apatow wanted to get a moment where Alison cursed out Jennifer Garner who was pregnant at the time. Alison would yell at Garner, as Garner would be complaining about being pregnant and a huge verbal explosion would erupt between them. Garner said no, but Apatow and crew went to the red carpet, an actual red carpet for the MTV Movie Awards and got a lot of interviews with people who were actually there.
• Write What You Know:
  • Judd Apatow said that a lot of the sequences from when Allison goes into labor, from the doctor being away when his client is ready to deliver to the annoyed replacement doctor, are based on what he and Leslie Mann experienced when she was pregnant.
  • The idea of the "dirty man competition" came from a contest Seth Rogen would have with writing partner Evan Goldberg. "It's basically an excuse to justify why no woman wants to talk to you," says Rogen. The rules are you can't shave or cut your hair, and whoever does first loses. This was part of Apatow's pre-production with the cast, as he asked them about "jackass" things they did to each other. They initially planned to put Jay Baruchel in a Vanilla Ice-like hairstyle, and the competition would have been Martin Starr having to grow his beard and Jay having to stay looking like Vanilla Ice.

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