Well I’m very proud to say pre-production has begun on WanderLust.

This will be my fourth feature film as director, and the third in partnership with Ken Marino, with whom I wrote the script and with whom I will be producing the film.

Starring in the film (and also producing) is Paul Rudd, continuing is unbroken record of appearing in every movie I’ve made.  He’s the Keener to my Holofcener.

And there are (so far) two new major players in the family: Jennifer Aniston, who co-starred with Paul in Object of My Affection and Friends, is the female lead. She is awesome and funny and you’ll see cool new sides of her in this one.

And finally, producer Judd Apatow, who I have dreamed of one day working with since first becoming aware of his work through my obsession with Larry Sanders Show, Ben Stiller Show and Freaks & Geeks.

I snuck onto the set of Freaks & Geeks about ten years ago, when I was trying to put together the financing for Wet Hot American Summer. Judd was amazingly nice to me, a total stranger. He showed me around the sets, the edit room, the offices – I was so impressed and starstruck.

I ran into him over the years,  did a tiny (deleted) cameo in his movie Anchorman, and solicited bits and pieces of great advice from him as I ventured into the studio system for the first time during Role Models.

Ken and I wrote the first draft of this script a few years ago – the same way we did the first draft of The Ten: We locked ourselves in a room for 12 hours day, without even an idea, committed to emerging with a first draft of SOMETHING within a week.  And that we did.  It was a total mess but it was the basic DNA of what became WanderLust. Since that first week we’ve spent countless thousands more hours rewriting and rewriting and rewriting.

So now we’re in the thick of casting, hiring crew, scouting locations and more rewriting  — always an overwhelming amount of work, but so exciting to see the material come to life, little by little, as talented collaborators start to get involved. We’re planning to start shooting in September!

So I thought I would use this blog to chart our progress, for the record. OK?

P.S. In the shorter term, look for Childrens Hospital on Adult Swim starting July 11 (promo here)

More latest news always on my Twitter feed and on the home page.