First image from Knocked Up spin-off, This is Forty

The first pic and some new details on Judd Apatow’s “This is Forty” – a spin-off of “Knocked Up” fixing on Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann’s characters – has emerged over at The L.A Times.

Firstly, here’s the low-down on the plot courtesy the stone tablet :

“Pete’s music label is struggling and Debbie’s vanity business, a dress shop staffed by the comely Desi (Megan Fox) and the awkward Jodi (Charlyne Yi), needs to help cover the household budget.”

And Mann, married to director Apatow, says the movie is about ”the the kind of stuff about marriage that you don’t get to see in movies.”

“It’s about getting older. What the hell happened? Am I making all the right choices? Is this where I’m supposed to be? Is this it? All of those dreams that you had when you were young, all of the possibilities, when you lock into marriage and kids, do the possibilities dwindle or go away?

Sounds like the film has the dramatic elements of Apatow’s previous pic, “Funny People” but it’s also, we’re promised, quite funny.
Here’s a bit from the article on some of the improv Apatow encouraged.

In keeping with the rest of Apatow’s oeuvre, “This Is 40” relies heavily on improvised comedy. In a Pacific Palisades dress shop last August, on day 40 of the production, Apatow and Mann’s rapport as director and star and husband and wife was on full display. Apatow called out one-liners from the director’s chair as Mann and Yi riffed a scene about Desi’s assets as a saleswoman.

“She’s way hotter than me. It’s like having Babe Ruth working at your store,” Apatow suggested to Mann.

“She’s hotter than me,” Mann slightly modified the line, with an arched eyebrow. “It’s like having Babe Ruth working at your store.”

“Judd’s behind the monitors listening and watching and writing as we go,” Mann said later describing her husband’s creative process. “You have to totally surrender and trust that he will catch you and support you.”

Paul and Debbie’s travails, Mann said, are partly are based on their 14-year marriage. “The good moments are me and Judd.”