SXSWorld
Issue link: https://sxsw.uberflip.com/i/842100
2 4 SXS W O R L D | M A R C H 2 0 1 7 M U S I C | SXSW.COM Making Lasting Connections with Apatow and the Avetts By david MencOni S ome say that South by Southwest's growth over the years has made it hard to do the sort of net- working that can launch projects that show up on stages and screens. But director Judd Apatow—who is in Austin showing two films this year, the romantic comedy The Big Sick and the music documentary May It Last—can tell you that those key connections still happen. In 2012, Apatow came to SXSW to premiere the HBO series Girls (which he executive produced) and appeared on comedian Pete Holmes' "You Made It Weird" podcast alongside Kumail Nanjiani and Chris Gethard. And in the years since that one meeting, Apatow has gone on to do projects with all of them. "They were all just fantastic," Apatow recalls. "After we did the podcast, Kumail pitched me on this idea related to his wife Emily and their relationship. That turned into The Big Sick. We've also got Pete Holmes' Crashing (TV series) coming up on HBO, and we're shooting Chris Gethard's one-man show, Career Suicide, for HBO. "So yeah," he concludes with a laugh, "it was the most successful podcast of all time." Directed by Michael Showalter and co-produced by Apatow, The Big Sick premiered to acclaim at this year's Sundance Film Festival, where it was acquired by Amazon for release this summer. In acknowledgement of where the whole thing got started, the film will also show at SXSW. May It Last, which Apatow co-directed with Michael Bonfiglio, is a documentary about the North Carolina folk-rock group Avett Brothers, and a seeming departure for a filmmaker best-known for bawdy romantic come- dies like Bridesmaids and Knocked Up. But in another example of the power of casual networking, the project grew out of a 2013 backstage conversation at an Avett Brothers concert between Apatow and their producer, Rick Rubin. A major fan, Apatow had already used the Avetts' song "Live and Die" as end-credits music for his 2012 comedy This Is 40. When he mentioned that he'd love Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio, photo by Michael Richard Martin