JASON SEGEL is about that things [in a relationship] change, and over fi ve years, how a dynamic changes,’ he says. ‘It’s about choosing a partner-in-crime for life, rather than the moment of just now.’
‘I STARTED WRITING, AND THAT CHANGED
Having also reprised his Knocked Up role in forthcoming sequel-of- sorts This is 40, Segel has still had time to make TV sitcom How I Met Your Mother, in which he plays easy- going optimist Marshall Eriksen. After eight seasons on the show, his contract now up, he admits he’s unsure whether to continue. ‘We’ll see what happens. Eight years . . . it’s longer than any relationship I’ve had!’ exhausted? Isn’t he
EVERYTHING’
J ason Segel may well look back on 2012 as his year. Already the 32-year-old actor-writer has seen The Muppets, his nostalgia- tinged feature fi lm revival of the beloved TV show, gross $158m around the world. Even better, the fi lm’s signature tune ‘Man or Muppet’, which he sings in the movie, won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. ‘It’s the fi rst Muppet Oscar,’ he grins. ‘I was very proud of that. It was the perfect culmination of what we were trying to achieve.’
To come, he has The Five-Year Engagement, a rom-com that’s already being touted as this year’s Bridesmaids – but fi rst, Jeff, Who Lives At Home, a low-key comedy from directors Mark and Jay Duplass (Cyrus, The Puffy Chair), in which he stars in the title role – a dope- smoking slacker who puts his faith in signs from the universe. ‘He reminded me a lot on fi rst read of Chauncey Gardiner,’ says Segel, referring to Peter Sellers’ sage-like Being There character. ‘He’s a watcher, Jeff. The challenge of that part was to do nothing. My whole job was just to listen.’
Raised in California, the son of a lawyer, Segel admits he saw some personal parallels in a fi gure that just seems to go with the fl ow. ‘I was very much like Jeff in my early 20s. I was waiting to be cast. That was my equivalent of a sign. I was waiting for someone to cast me. And I’d think, “Fate will take care of it – I’m meant to be an actor.” And then all of a sudden I realised if I keep waiting, I’m going to wait forever. So then I started writing, and that changed everything.’ It was comedy king Judd Apatow who fi rst encouraged him to write. They met when Segel was just 17, shortly after he’d staged an eye- catching version of Edward Albee’s play The Zoo Story at his high school. After casting Segel in cult TV comedy shows Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, not to mention in his hit fi lm Knocked Up, Apatow gave him the gig writing and starring in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. A huge hit, grossing $105m and spawning spin-off Get Him to the Greek, it nevertheless left Segel with a dilemma.
‘It would’ve been really easy after Sarah Marshall to start
He nods. ‘I’m really tired. That’s
my honest answer. I don’t really sleep very much. I write at night. I do movies, every little break I have. It might be time for a nap pretty soon.’ Jeff, Who Lives At Home is on general release from Fri 11 May. The Five- Year Engagement is released on Fri 22 June.
churning out R-rated comedies,’ he says. ‘Instead, I jumped to Muppets and Jeff, Who Lives At Home. I like the idea that you can do a little bit of everything.’ Next month’s The Five-Year Engagement, which pairs Segel with Emily Blunt, is a case in point. ‘The movie Home truths
He’s done everything from The Muppets to How I Met Your Mother. Now Jason Segel tells James Mottram about fi nding his inner slacker in Jeff, Who Lives at Home
26 Apr–24 May 2012 THE LIST 23