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15 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Forgetting Sarah Marshall

15 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Forgetting Sarah Marshall

15 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Forgetting Sarah Marshall
27 April 2014

It's one of the best break-up movies ever and one of the few that looks at heartbreak from the male perspective and that's one of the reasons why Forgetting Sarah Marshall stands up to repeat viewings. We should know, we've seen it a fair new times and even made notes...

But even we found ourselves a tad surprised by some of these lesser known facts about the 2008 comedy hit...

Why not try your hand at the Forgetting Sarah Marshall quiz too?

(Images: All Star)

1.

While Jason Segel provides all his nudity without a body double, the topless picture of Mila Kunis is the result of some digital trickery.


2.

The restaurant scene where Aldous and Peter ridicule Sarah's film about a killer phone, originally irked Kirsten Bell as she was convinced that they were making fun of her 2006 horror movie Pulse, which has a similar premise. But Segel insisted that they hadn't seen the movie and were instead coming up with a dumb idea for a movie.


3.

Mila Kunis originally auditioned for the lead in Knocked Up but was unsuccessful. This then led Judd Apatow to cast her in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.


4.

Kirsten Bell learned that her show Veronica Mars was cancelled the day before her character learns her show is cancelled in the film.


5.

The hotel that is used throughout the film is actually the Turtle Bay Resort, on Oahu.


6.

Mila Kunis got into a jet ski accident while shooting the film, which resulted in a scar across her neck.


7.

Jason Segel didn't tell his mother about the nude scene before the screening and she apparently left in tears after seeing it and didn't return for several minutes.


8.

The role of Aldous Snow was actually written with Charlie Hunnam in mind and was a posher, more refined type but was entirely rewritten for Russell Brand.


9.

The character of Sarah Marshall originally starred in a long-running sitcom but it was changed to a crime show as it was seen as a fresher angle.


10.

After Jason Segel sold the pitch, he spent a month in Hawaii to write the first draft.


11.

The song 'Inside of You' was thought up by Segel after he wanted to create "the worst song that your girlfriend's new boyfriend can sing in front of you."


12.

The initial promotion of the film involved billboards with the words 'I hate Sarah Marshall' and 'You suck Sarah Marshall' which actually ended up upsetting real Sarah Marshalls in the US. In particular, a 70-year-old New York woman said "I'm very very upset. I'm an old person. It's today's lingo and today's jargon but it's a little rough for my taste."


13.

Aldous Snow's band Infant Sorrow is named after a William Blake poem which is a counterpoint to the poem 'Infant Joy'.


14.

In the unrated cut, Kristen Wiig has a cameo role as a yoga instructor who takes a liking to Aldous Snow. You can see it here.


15.

While writing the script, Segel was given this advice from Judd Apatow: “I want the first draft you give me to be a drama. We’ll make it funny. It’s going to be funny because we’re funny and we’re going to add jokes, and the people we cast will be funny. The reason people will see it – and see it again and again, or connect to it – is because there’s an underlying drama."