Judd Apatow Busy Writing Broadway Play

Judd Apatow says he wants to get in on this Broadway thing.

In an extensive interview with GQ, the filmmaker revealed that he is working on a play.

“I have a great idea,” Apatow says after revealing he is working on a play. “Maybe like the best idea I’ve ever had. It requires me to create characters and situations that have absolutely nothing to do with my experience.”

He says that he is inspired by the relationship with the crowd that the stage provides.

“I’m noticing that I really wish there was another part of my relationships with the crowd,” he said. “I miss doing something where I’m interacting more with the audience. I like the idea of writing something and rewriting it every night based on how it’s playing.”

Apatow would only reveal the subject of the play off the record, but did say that it is “about victims of the criminal justice system and the challenges they face.”

The new play is not autobiographical, unlike many of his films, including the new “This is 40” starring Paul Rudd, which serves as something of a sequel to a previous Apatow film, “Knocked Up.”

“I am excited to write something which has a social conscience,” he says, “That is not something I have attempted before, and I hope I am up for the challenge.

Apatow is best known as a comedy writer – other films he has worked on include “The 40 Year Old Virgin,” “Bridesmaids” and “Funny People” – but he says he doesn’t know yet if the new play will contain humor.

“I don’t know yet,” he says when asked if it will be funny. “I think it will. But it might stop being funny.”

Apatow also has worked extensively in television, notably with “Freaks and Geeks” and most recently as executive producer Lena Dunham’s HBO series “Girls.”