Judd Apatow and Steve Carell interviewed

Judd Apatow and Steve Carell, creators of the hit film The 40-Year-Old Virgin, talk to Lisa Rosen for the Writers Guild of America, west.

When it came time to figure out the ending of the movie...the writers were stumped. They knew it would involve Andy finally having sex and that the audience would know it too, but how to best convey the scene emotionally? Garry Shandling, whom Carell had worked with on The Larry Sanders Show, came to a table read and articulated the matter perfectly: Somehow they had to show the audience that the virgin’s sex was better than everyone else’s sex because he was in love.

“It was a simple idea,” says Apatow, “but it was really hard to crack because how do you show that? I didn’t think we could figure it out. One day, Steve said, ‘Maybe I should just sing a song.’ Carell was certain they wouldn’t end this movie with a big song and dance, “but I threw it out there because in my opinion there was no other way to end the movie. It was the complete and ultimate expression of his experience.”