20 Things You Didn't Know About The 40-Year-Old Virgin

7. A Million Feet Of Film Was Shot

The 40-Year-Old Virgin Steve Carell
Universal

Digital filmmaking was still in its infancy when The 40-Year-Old Virgin was released, and so it was instead shot on traditional film, with the production ultimately shooting over a million feet of film, hitting the impressive milestone on the very last day of the shoot.

To provide some context, that equates to a mind-boggling 96:1 ratio between footage shot and footage actually included in the final movie.

Considering that Francis Ford Coppola shot 1.5 million feet of film for Apocalypse Now, that Apatow got two-thirds of the way there on a decidedly more modest, lower-budget comedy is nothing short of insane.

To celebrate shooting a million feet, Technicolour even sent the cast and crew champagne.

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Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.