Tagline: Meet your ancestors.
When a couple of lazy hunter-gatherers (Jack Black and Michael Cera) are banished from their primitive village, they set off on an epic journey through the ancient world in Columbia Pictures’ comedy “Year One.” Harold Ramis directs. The screenplay is by Harold Ramis & Gene Stupnitsky & Lee Eisenberg (The Office) from a story by Harold Ramis. The film is produced by Harold Ramis, Judd Apatow, and Clayton Townsend.
Written and directed by Harold Ramis, this comedy stars Jack Black and Michael Cera. “Year One” is being produced by Ramis and Judd Apatow after the former appeared in the latter’s Knocked Up. Oliver Platt, Olivia Wilde, Vinnie Jones, David Cross, and “Superbad’s” Christopher Mintz-Plasse co-star in the Columbia Pictures production.
About the Production
In the beginning, there was nothing. Then, Harold Ramis had an idea. “I was thinking about two things in comedy that I love,” says the writer-director-producer. “One was Mel Brooks’ Two-Thousand-Year-Old Man, and the other was an improvisation I staged 35 years ago with John Belushi and Bill Murray. Bill played a Cro-Magnon man with a completely hip and contemporary vibe, and John played a Neanderthal Man as an idiot. For this movie, I had those inspirations in mind when I thought it would be really interesting to put someone with a contemporary consciousness in an ancient setting.”
That’s when he hit upon the idea for Year One. In his words: “Two innocent, know-nothing Paleolithic hunter-gatherers, Zed and Oh, get kicked out of their Garden of Eden paradise and begin a search for what life is all about.” Taking that trek is none other than Jack Black. “Zed is living a very tribal lifestyle in his primitive village with hunters and gatherers,” he says, “but he’s wondering if there’s more to life than just hunting, gathering, and sleeping.”
Joining Zed on the first road trip in history is Oh, played by Michael Cera. While Zed is aggressive in his pursuit of meaning, Oh dragged into the unknown kicking and screaming. “We called this character ‘Oh’ because he’s completely reacting to life and everything in life that is a threat to his character — and he does suffer a lot in the movie,” the director chuckles. Shepherding the project is producer Judd Apatow, who teams with Ramis for the first time.
Read the Full Production Notes
The Year One
Starring: Jack Black, Olivia Wilde, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Oliver Platt, David Cross, Vinnie Jones, Juno Temple, June Diane Rapheal, Eden Riegel
Directed by: Harold Ramis
Screenplay by: Harold Ramis, Gene Stupnitsky, Lee Eisenberg
Release Date: June 19th, 2009
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, brief strong language, comic violence.
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Box Office Totals
Domestic: $43,337,279 (80.5%)
Foreign: $10,465,845 (19.5%)
Total: $53,803,124 (Worldwide)