Beauty might be in the eye of the beholder and age is just a construct, but Judd Apatow might disagree with both those assertions when it comes to being friends with Paul Rudd. The two have been collaborators for almost two decades now, first working together when Rudd was cast in Apatow's breakout film, The 40-Year Old Virgin. Rudd and Seth Rogen were selected relatively early in the casting process because of their chemistry together and were kept in the audition room for hours on end to read opposite cycles of other actors trying out for the roles of Andy's friends.
That experience was just the beginning 0f a fruitful friendship that would see the three of them work together continually in the ensuing decades, first in Knocked Up, then its sequel This is 40, with Apatow planning This is 50 as a capper to the loose trilogy. Both previous films have seen Rudd's character married to Leslie Mann, Apatow's real-life wife. Apatow and Rudd have worked together less as of late, likely because Rudd has been so busy getting worked through the Marvel machinery and appearing in other franchises like Ghostbusters.
In a recent The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon appearance, Apatow spoke about his friendship with Rudd. The director discussed the planning stages of This is 50 and how both its leads "don't age," making it a struggle to have them portray the film's couple a decade later. Apatow also joins a chorus of others, including their alarmed buddy Seth Rogen, and roughly the entire internet, who've noticed that Paul Rudd is apparently ageless. Apatow's full quote can be read, below:
"I have one big problem, is that Paul Rudd and Leslie don't age. So, it's 10 years later and they look exactly the same. And I think it would annoy people, right?
"The worst part about being friends with Paul Rudd, as the guy who doesn't age, is [that] I age. So every picture with him — like, I have pictures with him for the last like 20 years, and he just doesn't change and I'm slowly falling apart. He looks exactly the same right now, and I look like his dad."
Apatow seems good-spirited about the whole matter, but what else can one do when one of their best friends has seemingly won the genetic lottery? Rudd's joked in the past on his looks, saying that his secret to staying youthful is two things, "I’m 80 years old on the inside. In here, pure darkness — and a little moisturizer." While it's not likely that there's some portrait in Rudd's attic aging Dorian Grey-style in his place, moisturizer could have something to do with it. To be fair, Rudd is a movie star and a superhero in a franchise that prizes keeping its stars in tip-top shape — he's bound to be privy to beauty routines that the rest of the world can only dream of (not to mention dieticians and personal trainers).
Apatow does have some merit in worrying about the agelessness of his stars, however. The entire premise of This is 40 was to cast a relatable light on parenting, marriage, and romance during a specific time in a person's life, albeit through a certain heteronormative, upper-middle class lens. Having the winner of People's Sexiest Man Alive in 2021 as the "everyman" on top of that hardly seems relatable. Despite this, Paul Rudd is an effortlessly charming performer, so no matter what film he's in, Judd Apatow directed or not, people are bound to enjoy watching it.