Ken Marino did 'Wanderlust' research for Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rudd flick

When LI native Ken Marino toured his first and only commune, he was enthralled by the notion of shared spaces, homegrown food and relaxed living. Within 20 minutes of leaving the grounds, though, reality sank in. "You can't do that for long," he says, laughing. "You have to be a certain type of person."

Marino's brief flirtation with commune life sums up "Wanderlust" (in theaters Friday), which he wrote with longtime collaborator and director David Wain. The movie stars Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston as George and Linda, a married couple that leaves New York City after suffering a series of financial woes. En route to Atlanta, where George's wealthy brother (played by Marino) lives, they stumble upon Elysium, a commune ruled by free love, shared chores and rooms without doors. Tired of materialism, they decide to give Elysium a whirl.

Marino and Wain researched commune life on the Internet and by visiting the aforementioned commune south of Los Angeles for an afternoon. Mostly, though, they were inspired by the idea of adults bonding in a camp-like setting. "Dave loves camp movies, where you're out in the woods, dealing with life, semi-roughing it," Marino explains.

The lead role was written specifically for Rudd, whom Marino has known for more than a decade. "We just tried to come up with scenarios that we thought Paul would make a meal out of," Marino says. While writing the character of George, they recited lines out loud, alternating between impressions of Rudd and, curiously, Albert Brooks. "We thought of Paul's character as kind of a young Albert Brooks type," Marino explains.

Marino, 43, met Wain at New York University in the late 1980s, and they formed the short-lived but popular comedy troupe The State in 1993. Since then, they've worked together on several projects, from the 2001 cult hit "Wet Hot American Summer" to the 2008 movie "Role Models."

While Marino has appeared in dozens of TV shows and movies over the past two decades, "Wanderlust" is only the fourth film he has written. His first screenwriting project was "Diggers," a movie about clam diggers on Long Island in the 1970s. It was a passion project for Marino, who lives in Los Angeles but was raised in West Islip and Moriches -- his father, grandfather and uncle were all clam diggers in the Great South Bay. "I always say it's a love letter to my dad, and what that time and place meant to me."