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Overview (2) |
Mini Bio (1) |
Spouse (1) |
Trade Mark (2) |
Trivia (15) |
Personal Quotes (10)
Overview (2)
| Date of Birth | 17 September 1962, Mount Clemens, Michigan, USA |
| Height | 6' (1.83 m) |
Mini Bio (1)
Paul Feig was born on September 17, 1962 in Mount Clemens, Michigan, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Spy (2015), Bridesmaids (2011) and The Heat (2013). He has been married to Laurie Karon since September 23, 1994.
Spouse (1)
| Laurie Karon | (23 September 1994 - present) |
Trade Mark (2)
Always wears a suit and tie when he directs
After _Bridesmaids (2011)_, his work largely consists of female-driven comedies, usually featuring Melissa McCarthy.
Trivia (15)
Graduated from USC School of Cinema-Television (1984).
Once worked as a tour guide at Universal Studios in Hollywood.
Graduated Chippewa Valley High School Class of 1980.
Raised in Mt. Clemens, Michigan.
In 1985 he won $29,000 on The $10,000 Pyramid (1973) game show (renamed at that time as "The $25,000 Pyaramid") and used the money to finance a run at stand-up comedy.
In his television series Freaks and Geeks (1999), the fictitious town of Chippewa was loosely based on the area surrounding Mt. Clemens, Michigan, where he grew up.
The title of his memoir "Superstud" is based on a line from the Freaks and Geeks (1999) episode "Looks and Books".
His last name is pronounced Feeg.
Has directed 1 actress to an Oscar nomination: Melissa McCarthy (Best Supporting Actress, Bridesmaids (2011)).
Saw Woody Allen's Take the Money and Run (1969) when he was 9 years old and was so enthralled by it, he still remembers how "It came on and it was like a religious experience".
Paul's father was of Ashkenazi Jewish descent (from Hungary and Romania). Paul's mother had British ancestry.
Describes himself as the world's biggest Mystery Science Theater geek.
Feig used to do stand-up and says he puts his movies together like he used to do his shows. He screens them multiple times, keeping the jokes that get big laughs and reworking those that don't.
Grew up next door to a family of 8 with six children.
Thinks movies should open with a big, showy scene.
Personal Quotes (10)
Every director should take an acting class.
At the end of the day the question comes, what are you doing for the world? You have to try to do something that's going to add something positive.
What's great about the geek spirit is that life never seems to stop us, and they never seem to kill our enthusiasm, our optimism and our hunger to experience the world. We keep our sense of humor, we protect our dignity, we talk to our friends about the experience and then we start again fresh the very next day.
The director is the only person on the set who has seen the film. Your job as a director is to show up every day and know where everything will fit into the film.
When I was a kid, I used to hate watching kids on TV who were smart or snappy. I liked watching adults being stupid. That's why I liked Monty Python, because these were adults acting insane, whereas when a kid came on, hey, he knew everything, and I was like, 'I don't wanna see that, because I don't know everything, and I don't wanna see a kid who's more together than me.'
I think TV is better than movies these days. It has finally embraced serializations, so basically what you are getting is a never-ending movie on television. I am obsessed with trying to figure out what's a great serialized comedy, and how to do it.
When I was an actor, I was in this horrendous movie called Ski Patrol (1990). And I have so many young people come up to me and say it's their favorite movie. I guess it just depends when you watched it and what your relationship was to it at the age you saw it. Time seems to be the great equalizer.
The mockumentary is a perfect form for comedy, because it allows it to be behavioral and real and feel in the moment. Since things are supposed to be happening in the real world and captured in the moment by handheld cameras that are surprised by the unexpected actions of the characters, it allows you to create looser situations that play funnier if they're done right. I've used this form on The Office (2005) and Arrested Development (2003), and the tone is great. Plus it allows you to work with no budget.
[re Take the Money and Run (1969)] I had never seen comedy like that. It was subversive and smart, and yet so silly at the same time. I wanted to be an actor at that point in my life [9 years old] and when I realized that [Woody] Allen wrote and directed and starred in this film, that really kind of set the course for what I thought my life was going to be.
To me, comedy is drama.