Now that we have passed the 15th anniversary of the film, The 40-Year-Old Virgin , we thought it was only right to celebrate by digging into some behind-the-scenes action!
Although it is one of the most famous comedies of our time, there is still so much that we didn’t know about it.
Here are some of our favorite BTS secrets that you may not know!
1. The scene where Steve yells “Kelly Clarkson” while getting waxed was a prank set up by Seth Rogen.
“I’m gonna blame Seth Rogen because there’s a picture I think you have of a piece of paper with all the curses that we gave him to scream when he gets waxed,” Judd Apatow told Cinema Blend .
“And in the middle in the column that says clean words, right in the middle, it says ‘Kelly Clarkson’ in Seth’s handwriting.”
2. The waxing scene was completely real.
Five cameras were used to shoot the scene because Steve insisted that it needed to look as authentic as possible.
“It has to be real. It won’t be as funny if it’s mocked up, or if it’s special effect. You have to see that this is really happening,” he revealed on The Graham Norton Show .
3. Steve had to lose 30 pounds for the movie.
Originally, Judd wasn’t optimistic about Steve’s body transformation. He admitted to IGN that he was “nervous about it, because I don’t think comedians wanting to look good is ever good for the comedy .”
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But ultimately, it helped convey that Steve’s character was a virgin because of his personality, and not because of his looks.
On the other hand, Paul Rudd was deemed too overweight by Universal, and they shut down production temporarily for him to drop a few pounds.
While Judd encouraged Paul to gain weight for the role, because he thought the character would seem funnier if he was rocking a dad-bod, Universal strongly disagreed.
Production was shut down and Paul fasted for 48 hours to appease them.
4. Production of the movie was shut down one week after they started.
“We were actually shut down after the first week of shooting because the studio was freaking out,” Steve Carell told Entertainment Weekly .
The only scene the studio had seen at that point was “where I’m like walking down the street, looking at images of like breasts and things and freaking out.”
The cast and crew had to convince the production company to let them continue filming.
They “had to go in the studio and plead our case,” Steve explained .
Eventually Universal agreed, under the condition that they controlled the editing done to the film.
5. Universal Studios provided Steve Carell and Judd Apatow with statistics and case studies on middle-aged virginity prior to filming.
According to Steve’s understanding, middle-aged virgins are typically normal people who “at some point just gave up on the whole notion; it was more difficult to keep attempting than to give up,” IGN reported.
“And so, that’s kind of the research that we did. In terms of meeting any? Not that I know of,” he added.
“That’s a hard thing. It’s not something you wear on your sleeve. Who knows how many virgins we’ve met in our lives? (Laughs) It sounds like they are aliens !”
6. Universal Studios refused to let Jason Segel be apart of the movie.
Having Steve Carell, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, and Jason Segel all in one movie would have been a dream come true. Unfortunately, at the time, Judd Apatow wasn’t yet able to make the executive decisions, and so, Jason did not make the cut .
But as we know, he later went on to accomplish great things nonetheless.
7. Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd improvised a scene.
It is not at all surprising that Seth and Paul were able to perfectly execute an improvised scene! It’s in their blood!
The “you know how I know you’re gay,” scene was done on the fly!
8. It was Leslie Mann’s idea to vomit on Steve’s face.
Initially, the scene was supposed to show Leslie and Steve getting pulled over by the police while she was secretly concealing a gun under her seat.
But she thought it would be funnier to throw up instead. The fake vomit was made up of strawberry yogurt and “some kind of kefir.”
9. The studio thought Steve Carell’s look resembled that of a serial killer.
Part of the reason Steve decided to lose weight for the film and try to build some muscle was because he was told his pre-production body was not serving him well — that it was, in fact, making him look like a murderer .
“Steve decided the character would be a little more Buster Keaton-esque,” Judd told Business Insider . “He was low-energy and everyone else was spinning around him.”
10. Jonah Hill had to go to the hospital after the musical number because of heat exhaustion.
The famous musical scene ended up sending Jonah Hill to the hospital with heatstroke.
It was nearly 100 degrees outside, and Jonah had to wear a beanie and a poncho — so it makes complete sense!
11. Steve Carell was in his 40s when the film came out.
Although we can safely assume that he wasn’t a virgin at the time, since he happened to already be a father of two, he was in his early 40s at the time which I can only imagine gave him some closer insight.
His daughter said she was “a little freaked out” seeing her dad’s face on billboards promoting the film.
