Jay (Jason Segel) and Annie (Cameron Diaz) are a married couple still very much in love, but ten years and two kids have cooled the passion. To get it back, they decide – why not? – to make a video of themselves trying out every position in one marathon three-hour session.
Kate Angelo, a veteran writer of such television shows as “Will and Grace” and “Becker,” says, “Writing ‘Sex Tape‘ was perhaps the most fun I’ve ever had writing a script, particularly because the idea of making, and then losing, a sex tape is so outrageous and cringe-worthy, it just keeps driving the story forward.”
The idea for Sex Tape began in the offices of producers Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal during a meeting with writer Kate Angelo. After working with Angelo on the film The Back-up Plan, the producers were eager to work with Angelo again, so the writer came in to discuss possible ideas. “We were coming up with ideas, she was coming up with ideas, and then Jason wondered what would happen if an ordinary married couple made a sex tape and they woke up the next day and the tape was missing,” Black remembers. “My mouth literally dropped open, Kate’s mouth dropped open and Jason sat there smiling. We proceeded to stay in my office for hours, riffing on this great concept.”
In putting the project together, the producers reunited the Bad Teacher team – stars Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel and director Jake Kasdan. Segel would write a new draft of the screenplay with Nicholas Stoller.
Behind the scenes, Jake Kasdan reunited with two key collaborators – production designer Jefferson Sage and costume designer Debra McGuire, both of whom have collaborated with Kasdan on several feature films and on the television show “Freaks and Geeks.” They were joined by Tim Suhrstedt, the film’s director of photography. Sage says that the entire production team was committed to creating a very real world that would serve as a backdrop for the big, madcap comedy adventure.
As a result, for the most part, Sage played it straight. “The sets are very character driven. My interest is getting the sets right for the characters and not to try to be funny because what happens to them is what’s going to be funny.”
Finding Hank’s house was a challenge. The film was shot in Boston, but takes place in Los Angeles. “Where in Boston would we find a Los Angeles-style CEO’s mansion?” Sage wondered. “Ultimately we stumbled onto one in the wealthy western suburb of Weston – it was somebody’s Italian Mediterranean California fantasy. ”
For the costumes, the director turned to costume designer Debra McGuire, who, in her work on “Freaks and Geeks,” not only worked with Kasdan but, of course, a young Jason Segel as well.
