Judd Apatow calls It Ends with Us 'a terrible movie' during DGA Awards

Judd Apatow described It Ends with Us as "a terrible movie" as he hosted the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards over the weekend.

The Knocked Up director made a joke at the romantic drama's expense during his opening monologue at the annual filmmaking awards in Los Angeles on Saturday.

"I loved Wicked. I saw it four times in the first four days," Apatow said. "It was the highest-grossing movie musical of all time. Do you know that? Usually to make that much money, you have to sue Blake Lively."

The audience laughed as Apatow referenced the messy, highly-publicised legal battle between Lively and her It Ends with Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni.

She sued him for sexual harassment and waging a smear campaign against her and he countersued Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds for extortion and defamation, among other actions.

After the laughter died down, Apatow added, "So much hazarai (junk) over such a terrible movie."

Elsewhere in his monologue, The 40-Year-Old Virgin director called Spanish-language crime musical Emilia Pérez the "first movie that Trump is trying to deport" and noted, "Hollywood hasn't had a new idea in decades and then suddenly we cram all of them into one f**king movie."

He also teased Kevin Costner for investing his own money into his passion project, the Horizon franchise, which he directed and starred in.

"Imagine being Kevin Costner's kids and realising you don't get a trust fund, but you do get to watch Horizon one and two whenever you like," he quipped.

During the ceremony, Sean Baker took home the coveted Feature Film prize for Anora, solidifying his chances of winning Best Director at the Oscars in March. He beat the likes of Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez), Edward Berger (Conclave), Brady Corbet (The Brutalist) and James Mangold (A Complete Unknown).