When Leslie Mann first started auditioning for dramatic roles, people laughed at her, she remembers, which surprised her because she never considered herself a comedic actor. She still doesn’t, even as she admits she never takes herself too seriously. Regardless, Mann rolled into the comedy world almost by accident, landing early parts alongside 1990s giants of the genre: Jim Carrey and Ben Stiller in The Cable Guy in 1996, and Adam Sandler in Big Daddy in 1999. From there her comedic talent became undeniable.
Mann, 54, has now dominated the genre for decades, starring in box-office hits including Knocked Up, I Love You Phillip Morris, This Is 40 and The Other Woman. She forms one half of a Hollywood comedy power couple with Judd Apatow, whom she met while auditioning for The Cable Guy. Over the years her two daughters, Iris and Maude, have appeared in several of her films.
Now the tables have turned. Maude recently took the director’s chair for Poetic License, a comedy starring her mother that is slated for 2027. Mann describes the experience as heaven, in part because it means spending every second with her daughter. In the film she plays Liz, a therapist who unassumingly wins the affections of two best friends, a project she calls Maude’s own flavor of comedy.
She also has a new release at hand. Spa Weekend follows four women escaping strained everyday lives, marked by divorce, loneliness and demanding jobs, at a luxury resort stocked with hot-yoga teachers and cocktails. Directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the film stars Isla Fisher, Anna Faris and Michelle Buteau alongside Mann.
The premise doubles as something of a personal thesis. Women really want to get away and take a break, Mann says, and too often they do not give themselves enough of one. It is a fitting note from a performer whose long career has quietly argued that comedy, and rest, deserve to be taken seriously.
