Leslie Mann Was 'So Proud' Watching Daughter Maude Apatow Direct for First Time: 'Felt So Safe in Her Hands' (Exclusive) Benjamin VanHooseSeptember 12, 2025 at 3:35 AM 0 Earl Gibson III/Shutterstock Maude Apatow; Leslie Mann on Sept.
- - Leslie Mann Was 'So Proud' Watching Daughter Maude Apatow Direct for First Time: 'Felt So Safe in Her Hands' (Exclusive)
Benjamin VanHooseSeptember 12, 2025 at 3:35 AM
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Maude Apatow; Leslie Mann on Sept. 6, 2025 -
Maude Apatow makes her directorial debut with Poetic License, a film starring her mom Leslie Mann that premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival
The cast also includes Cooper Hoffman, Andrew Barth Feldman and Nico Parker
"I'm so proud. I just enjoyed every moment of it, truly," Mann says of working with Maude on the film
Leslie Mann was in awe of daughter Maude Apatow's directing skills on the set of Poetic License.
Maude, the Euphoria actress who is the eldest of two daughters shared by Mann and director Judd Apatow, makes her directorial debut with the college-set comedy led by a charming performance from her mother.
Poetic License also stars Cooper Hoffman, Andrew Barth Feldman and Nico Parker, and it made its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. The cast recapped their memorable experience together while visiting the PEOPLE/EW and Shutterstock studio at TIFF on Saturday, Sept. 6.
Mann, 53, tells PEOPLE it was "thrilling" to see Maude, 27, be the boss behind the camera.
"I'm so proud. I just enjoyed every moment of it, truly," says Mann. "I was so excited to be able to go to work and see her every day, all day long, which is my dream always, as a creepy mom! She's so nurturing and so funny. I felt like I was in really good hands with her."
Ben Trivett/Shutterstock
Leslie Mann on Sept. 6, 2025
After decades of acting, collaborating with her daughter in this way was unique for Mann, who has also been directed by husband Judd, 57, whom she married in 1997.
"I felt so safe in her hands," says Mann. "I feel like maybe on other movies there's a lot of other noise that wasn't there working with Maude. Because I just trust her."
"We can read each other's minds, so it just felt like no noise, just pure creative space," she adds. "That was really fun for me as an actor."
Maude admits they "weren't sure how it was going to be when we started" working together. However, "It was seamless. It really was."
Ben Trivett/Shutterstock
Maude Apatow on Sept. 6, 2025
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The rest of the cast can attest to the mother-daughter dynamic lighting up the entire process. Hoffman, 22, "confirms" the two worked well together, and No Hard Feelings actor Feldman, 23, says it made for "such a wonderful set."
Parker, 20, plays daughter to Mann in Poetic License, which was at first "slightly stressful" for the How to Train Your Dragon actress, since a real-life mother-daughter duo was nearby.
"You don't want to do that dynamic a disservice," says Parker, who is also the daughter of an actress, Thandiwe Newton. "But I think once we actually started filming and speaking about it, it felt very natural in there anyway, and I'd phone my mum all the time. I feel like any young woman that has a mother figure in their life kind of knows what that looks like. It was just really fun, honestly."
Ben Trivett/Shutterstock
From left: Leslie Mann, Nico Parker, Andrew Barth Feldman, Cooper Hoffman and Maude Apatow
In the film, Mann plays former therapist Liz, who is trying to find her place in a new town while preparing to become an empty-nester. She enrolls as an auditor in a poetry class at the local college, soon hitting it off with two classmates (Feldman and Hoffman), upending their friendship as they vie for her attention.
Maude says the script, by Raffi Donatich, felt "familiar and nostalgic" for her, showcasing an authentic take on modern, Gen-Z characters.
"I read a lot of movies that are written about young people that feel a little bit stale, and I thought this felt very fresh," says Maude. Mann adds with a laugh, "Like it wasn't written by an older man?" Maude agrees, "Yeah. Raffi was 27 when she wrote the movie, and you could feel that she's a young person but is also so smart and writes every age very well and carefully and thoughtfully."
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