Lynn Shelton: The female Judd Apatow?

In this era of guy-centric bromantic dude-fests, who would have thought the future of Hollywood comedy just might be a married, fortysomething mother from Seattle? With her film “Humpday,” which has been turning the festival circuit on its ear since its premiere at Sundance on its way toward hitting theaters in July, Lynn Shelton has managed to both outdo the dudes and create a style all her own.

Built from a series of sharply edited, structured improvisations, with her actors using their own words to get the story where it needs to go, Shelton’s film follows two old college friends who are reunited for a few days. One (Mark Duplass) has a wife and an increasingly settled-down life while the other (Joshua Leonard) is still a free-ranging party guy. In a pique of off-handed competitiveness, the guys decide to make a gay porno film. Together. “Humpday” takes a somewhat lowbrow, high-concept premise and turns it into a startling honest exploration of male friendship and personal identity.

Since January, Shelton has picked up a special jury prize at Sundance, took home the Someone to Watch Award at the Spirit Awards and found herself one of only three American filmmakers selected for the Director’s Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival.

She’s also landed an agent and a manager and is fielding what her next project might be. Although she may develop one of the many scripts coming her way for a more conventional Hollywood movie with bona fide stars, she also might make another improvised project with friends.

“I had no idea what it meant to get into Sundance,” Shelton said of the whirlwind last few months. “This whole experience post-Sundance has been absolutely unexpected, and it was never something I had the ambition to do. It’s all wonderful, but it’s just not something I ever thought I’d have the opportunity to do.”

-- Mark Olsen