Funnyman Jason Segel couldn’t wait to get out of town after filming wrapped on the New Orleans, Louisiana set of his new comedy drama Jeff Who Lives At Home – because he packed on more than 20 pounds during the four months of shooting.
The Forgetting Sarah Marshall star reveals the movie is set over the course of one day, but they spent months shooting on location and he couldn’t help but indulge in all of the famous fried and fatty Southern foods. But the finishing result meant Segel’s waistline expanded with each take – and his weight gain was captured on camera.
He says, “It was my first sort of drama, it was pretty awesome. There’s comedy and drama. I loved New Orleans, however, it’s not a very healthy city. Everything’s cooked in butter, everything’s fried, there’s a lot of alcohol around. But the problem was the movie is placed over one day but we shot over four months and we shot it in order, so slowly you see my character gain like 30 pounds over one day! I gained like 23, 24 pounds.
“So (in the movie) I wake up in the morning, a fresh, just-arrived-in-New Orleans Jason Segel, and then the last scene of the movie, I’d been here four months, to a someone-get-me-out-of-here-quick Jason Segel! It was really bad.”