Judd Apatow Hopes ‘The Big Sick’ Makes People More “Compassionate” About Immigrants | Producer Roundtable

Judd Apatow told The Hollywood Reporter it took Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon three years to write The Big Sick. The husband-wife writing duo weren’t getting paid during the writing process. “We just thought it was a good idea, and a very difficult idea to execute well,” said Apatow.

“A lot of it takes place at a hospital, there’s something kind of dark and sad about a woman in a coma, [and] the immigrant experience in America wasn’t something that you felt like the world was dying to have a movie about,” said Apatow, listing the reasons why it was difficult to do the project well.

Apatow claimed to be unsure of how film and television effects social change, arguing that there is no movie to convince someone to suddenly not like Trump, for example. But his hopes for The Big Sick audience is that it may encourage them to think. “I don’t know that much about a lot of people who immigrate to this country, and maybe I could tune in a little bit and more compassionate,” he said.

The Big Sick stars Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, and Ray Romano. Tune in to THR.com/roundtables for more roundtables featuring creators from the year’s top films.