The actress Leslie Mann and her posse flew to Vegas recently to see Barbra Streisand. Actually, "posse" is a funny word to describe the crowd Mann hangs with: Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill, the über-successful wundernerds from movies like Superbad and Knocked Up; Paul Rudd, who played a goober stuck on his ex-girlfriend in The 40-Year-Old Virgin; James Franco, who made his acting breakthrough on the TV comedy Freaks and Geeks; and Judd Apatow, who either directed or produced all those projects and also happens to be Mann's husband of 10 years.
After the Streisand concert, they all tried to go backstage, but Babs had a cold. "Whatever," sighs Mann, 35, best known for playing Katherine Heigl's cougarish older sister in Knocked Up. "I'm not very good with famous people." She pauses and twirls a lock of her hair. We're having lunch at Hugo's in West Hollywood. "To be honest, I'm pretty much uncomfortable and intimidated around everyone."
Mann certainly doesn't act skittish (Recall her run-in with the bouncer in Knocked Up: "You're a doorman, okay? You're a doorman, doorman, doorman, doorman." Beat. "Doorman!"). In her latest comedy, Drillbit Taylor, she plays an English teacher confident enough to take home a homeless guy, played by Owen Wilson.
She's also got the golden good looks — the blonde curls, apple cheeks, and halogen smile — that can make you think she's too pretty to be funny. But something in Mann's sad-clown eyes tell another story — that perhaps she'd rather be home watching Oprah. As Apatow says, "Leslie has no interest in the celebrity aspect of being an actress. I used to try to talk her into going to premieres. I thought it would help get her more work. But she would have none of that."
Not that it matters. Apatow keeps Mann plenty busy acting (Drillbit, another Apatow production, is their fourth film together) and managing their two kids. Lately though, Mann has been fantasizing about a life even less glitzy. A couple of years ago, she and the family spent time in North Carolina, where Apatow was shooting Talladega Nights. Mann, who grew up in Southern California and has been acting since she landed her first commercial at age 17, felt like she'd arrived in paradise. Now she can't get past the idea of moving away from L.A. — even as she and Apatow and their gang are being hailed as the new titans of comedy. "I like the idea of slowing down, of doing outdoorsy things with the kids," Mann says, smiling and twirling her hair again. "But then I think, 'What am I, nuts?' I'd go totally crazy if I wasn't here doing what I'm doing."
