Judd Apatow claims responsibility for Emma Stone’s red hair

Today we pay tribute to one of the greatest teen comedies ever produced, Superbad. The film’s success seems even more improbable now that theatrically released comedies are a rarity. Can you believe people used to pay $15 to go to a theater and laugh at the same thing as someone else? Of course, in our meme-eat-meme world, where most comedy is a content creator lip-syncing to someone’s lousy sketch on TikTok, Superbad is nothing short of a miracle.

In celebration of the film’s anniversary, Vanity Fair put together a remarkable oral history that offers some behind-the-scenes goodness for all the Superfreaks out there. And there’s a lot of gold in this, including such gossip as Jonah Hill found Christopher Mintz-Plasse so annoying that Judd Apatow felt compelled to cast Mintz-Plasse as McLovin’.

Speaking of Apatow, the producer wasn’t only on set to offer inspired casting opinions like “hire this man because our lead thinks he’s annoying,” he also cursed Oscar-winner Emma Stone with her trademark red hair.

“I feel like it’s a real testament to the power of casting directors and all of these auditions that you think are failed auditions and these parts you don’t get,” Stone told Vanity Fair. “Sometimes someone remembers you, and asks you to come in for something and changes your whole life.” And how did Judd Apatow change her life? He suggested that they change her hair color.

“There was a concern that she had the same color hair as [co-star] Martha MacIsaac’s. And I said, ‘Well, maybe it could be like red or something.’” Apatow said. “So we dyed her hair red, which I think she had never done before. And since then, she has cursed me because now people love her with red hair and she’s had to live with that for a lot of her adult life.”

Apparently, we have Apatow to thank for everyone complaining about how Sony cast a redhead as Gwen Stacy in those Andrew Garfield Spider-Man movies. And we thought we were so smart.