Jason Segel recalls editing full-frontal scene in ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’

Jason Segel leaves a lasting impression in Forgetting Sarah Marshall’s nude opening scene, which he said went through some “pretty thorough testing.”

Segel recently appeared on the Good One podcast, Vulture’s show about jokes hosted by Jesse David Fox. The pair discussed two of Forgetting Sarah Marshall‘s most iconic scenes: The Dracula musical and the full-frontal opening scene.

For those who haven’t seen the iconic 2008 comedy, the movie opens with composer Peter (Segel), clad in just a towel after a shower, getting dumped by his girlfriend Sarah (Kristen Bell). Shocked, Peter drops his towel, giving audiences a surprise of their own.

Unsurprisingly, Segel said he was met with some resistance over the nude scene. Director Nicholas Stoller previously told Entertainment Weekly that he “literally just didn’t think you could do it.” In the end, Segel got the greenlight to include it in the film.

“The big question in editing was, ‘How often do you cut back to my d—?'” Segel said with a laugh.

Fox asked Segel if he advocated to show more or less of himself in the scene. Segel shared that they tested the scene with audiences ahead of the release, where the movie received mostly positive reactions. Although one viewer had some blunt feedback.

“One guy, it’s always one guy, raises his hand and they’re like, ‘Yes?'” Segel recalled. “He said, ‘Is no one going to talk about this guy’s weird d—?’ It had never occurred to me it was weird ever in my life.”

Segel noted that he has not done many nude scenes since because he doesn’t like repeating himself in his work.

As he has matured and experienced an “existential crisis,” Segel said he tries to remember the version of himself that fought to keep the full-frontal scene and “Dracula’s Lament” in Forgetting Sarah Marshall even when executives weren’t sure if they would work.

“The thing about the full-frontal nudity, it wasn’t just, like, being an exhibitionist. It was that if the opening scene your male lead does full-frontal nudity, because it hadn’t really happened at this point yet, you’re forced to throw out your expectations,” Segel said.

Luckily for Segel, it became one of the most memorable scenes from the film. Nearly two decades after Forgetting Sarah Marshall came out, Segel and Bell recreated the opening scene at this year’s SAG Awards, although they kept it PG.

Listen to the full episode of Good One with Jason Segel below.