15 Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About The 40-Year-Old Virgin

The film that made Steve Carell a movie star, The 40-Year-Old Virgin has frequently been voted one of the greatest comedies ever made.

UPDATED:It turns out that the 40-Year-Old Virgin wax scene was actually written by none other than Seth Rogan. While on set, Seth would be given writing tasks and one of these tasks was to write a clean and dirty list of the things Steve Carell would say while having his chest waxed. That's where the infamous Kelly Clarkson came from.

How much do you know about Judd Apatow's first movie? Unless your answer is "literally everything" then we expect at least a few of these facts will be news to you.

(Images: AllStar)

1

Because the (obviously, painfully real) chest-waxing scene could only be done in one shot, five cameras had to be used so that nothing was missed. Because it was one take and Carell's screams were genuine you can also see several cast members breaking character and laughing.

2

Steve Carell's Office co-star Jenna Fischer actually crops up in a deleted scene as a sober girl in a club that Andy tries to chat up.

3

It was Paul Rudd's idea for Carell to scream "KELLY CLARKSON!" during the waxing.

4

During one scene, the characters joke about Matt Damon, something that Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd felt guilty about. Rogen said that Rudd once got into a lift with Damon before he'd seen the movie and while they were catching up, he felt "terrible".

5

After watching dailies from the beginning of filming, Universal decided Paul Rudd was too fat, so he had to go on a diet. You can see in the speed-dating sequence, which was shot first, that Rudd is much heavier.

6

Although he's supposed to be around the same age as his group of friends in the movie, Seth Rogen is actually twenty years younger than Steve Carell.

7

The health clinic counselor is played by Steve Carell's wife, Nancy.

8

Though he's obviously not a 40-year-old virgin (he's married with two kids) the film is based on Judd Apatow's own awkward experiences in dating as a younger man.

9

The 'how I know you're gay' scene was only intended to be a single line of dialogue but Rudd and Rogen improvised the whole thing and ran with it to such an extent that Apatow made it a much longer scene.

10

Over a million feet of film were used in production, equating to around 185 hours of footage. The theatrical cut was two hours long.

11

The 40-Year-Old Virgin is one of the few films not to be given the "No animals were harmed..." disclaimer by the American Humane Association. This was due to the accidental deaths of a small number of tropical fish.

12

The film inspired a Bollywood remake, titled Naughty @ 40.

13

The film marks the first screen appearance of The Office and The Mindy Project star Mindy Kaling.

14

Jane Lynch's role was written for a man, until Steve Carell's wife suggested they cast Lynch. The lines of her "beautiful old Guatemalan love song" translate as, "When I clean my room / I can't find anything / Where are you going in such a hurry/ To the soccer game".

15

It took seven weeks for Steve Carell's chest hair to grow back.