Judd Apatow Has An 'Amazing Idea' For Pineapple Express 2

Comedy director and producer Judd Apatow says he 'fought so hard' to make Pineapple Express 2 and has 'an amazing idea for it', but he's not sure if it'll get made.

Apatow - who produced and co-wrote the story for the classic 2008 stoner comedy - says he has the perfect idea for a new challenge Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) and his weed-dealing buddy Saul Silver (James Franco) could face.

He tells LADbible: "I fought so hard to make a sequel to Pineapple Express for many years. I was a big proponent of it and I never could get it to fall together.

"I have an amazing idea for it and it deserves to happen, but I don't know if it will.

"There was so much happening with the legalisation of marijuana in California and we thought there was a funny story about how they would deal with it - the pot dealer community having to handle the fact that suddenly it was legal."

Recreational cannabis was legalised in the state in 2018 and California now has the largest legal marijuana market in the world - which you'd imagine would pose a bit of a problem for Silver's source of income.

When asked if he could see the long-awaited Pineapple Express sequel going ahead, Apatow says: "My phone isn't ringing, let me say that, but I want to do it."

However, he's less keen to revisit his much-loved high school comedy series Freaks and Geeks, which ran for just one season between 1999 and 2000.

Reflecting on the idea of new episodes, the 52-year-old says: "I think sometimes you finish things off in such a perfect way that you don't want to reopen it again.

"The show was made in kind of a panic. In the middle of the season we shot the end of the series because we thought they were going to cancel us so we had to shoot the finale.

"It's a really amazing moment that we never want to change; we don't really want you to know anything after that."

Apatow's latest film The King of Staten Island stars Saturday Night Live favourite Pete Davidson as Scott, a 24-year-old still living at home and grappling with the death of his firefighter father when a new man enters his mother's life.

The movie is an especially personal one for Davidson, whose own father - a firefighter who was also called Scott - died in service in the 9/11 World Trade Centre attack.

Apatow says of the film: "[Scott's] life isn't going the way he wants, he's kind of lost. Only by letting go of some of his friends who are taking him in a bad direction can he evolve and grow up.

"We all have turning point moments in our lives where we can make good decisions or really bad decisions, and this is about him hitting bottom in a bunch of ways."

The King of Staten Island will be available to Rent at Home from 12 June from Sky Store, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play and other digital retailers.