It’s been nearly 12 years since the world lost the talented comedian George Carlin (Dogma, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) and now Golden Globe-nominated director Judd Apatow is ready to dive into his 50-year career and the legacy it left in a new documentary.
In an interview with The Boston Globe for his upcoming dramedy The King of Staten Island, Apatow revealed that he’s already prepared to dive into his next project by heading back into the documentary genre with a focus on the iconic stand-up comic.
“I’m about to start work with my partner Michael Bonfiglio on a documentary about George Carlin,” Apatow said. “So I’m looking forward to watching a lot of Carlin interviews and specials. I think his work turned out to be very prophetic.”
During his break from feature-length filmmaking between the Amy Schumer-written and starring hit Trainwreck and the Pete Davidson-co-written and starring dramedy Staten Island, Apatow tried his hand at the documentary format on two separate projects. The first came in 2017 with May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers, a chronicling of the making of the titular band’s album “True Sadness,” which aired on HBO in January 2018 and later won the SXSW Audience Award.
His second venture, The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling, was a two-part documentary focused on the late comic and featured interviews from nearly four dozen friends, family and colleagues including Jim Carrey, Conan O’Brien, Sarah Silverman and more, as well as a lifetime of personal journals, private letters and home audio and video footage. The documentary received rave reviews from critics and was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, winning one for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special.