The first publicity image has been released from Judd Apatow’s This is Forty, a movie about Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd’s characters set a few years after Knocked Up. And yes, Judd Apatow cast his real wife and kids again (Maude and Iris, 14 and 9), with Paul Rudd as his stand in. Which isn’t that weird a fetish when you think about it.

Apatow’s first directing effort since 2009′s “Funny People” — picks up with the family a few years after “Knocked Up.” 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.

Holy sh*t, this sounds incredible! Wait, what’s ‘comely’ mean?

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.” [LATimes]

Well sure, that would be hard, what with everyone wanting to f*ck Babe Ruth. A ‘Coney Island Party,’ I believe it’s called. Anyway, it’s nice to see that Megan Fox is expanding her roles from hot temptress who drives married men crazy to hot temptress who drives married men crazy who works at a dress shop.

Huh, I wonder what happened to Katherine Heigl’s character. Maybe she got hit by a truck.