The pic above is of Todd Phillips when he directed Starsky and Hutch, and you may remember such films as Road Trip and Old School, yeah, those are Todd’s films as well. Suffice to say this guy has made some funny flicks and he made a trip to Seattle this week to chat it up as his next film School for Scoundrels is ready to hit theaters come September 29 a film that stars the likes of Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Heder, Jacinda Barrett, Michael Clarke Duncan and Dan Fogler.
Now, I could have gone the traditional route and asked Todd a bunch of questions about the movie, but instead we get a bit more of Todd… Some information you probably don’t know about the man and some information you might not have ever even thought to ask, but trust me I do get a scoop on Old School 2 and even a word on Six Million Dollar Man… So sit back and enjoy 10 Questions with Todd Phillips!
1. What is your favorite film?
2. Is it all about comedy for you and will you ever venture into drama or action?
Comedy right now is what I am into. There are several different genres within comedy and comedy has layers to it they I want to explore.
3. Who have you not worked with but want to?
4. Who do you believe is the funniest actor alive and working right now and why?
5. What movie made you cry?
6. What do you think of director’s cuts of movies? Old School saw an Unrated version get released, was that your idea and did you like it?
No, and you bring up an interesting point and this is something I think the Director’s Guild needs to look into. They released a fullscreen version of the cut that was in the theaters and then they go and release this Unrated cut in both fullscreen and the letter box. I understand why they need to release fullscreen, they have to show it on TV and not everyone has a widescreen television, but as far as the Unrated goes, Old School was rated R and they just went and jammed in an extra 90 seconds and called it Unrated. It isn’t like those 90 seconds made it NC-17 and if we had wanted it in the movie we would have put it in the movie.
7. What do you think of the state of Hollywood right now?
Everything goes in cycles. I don’t pay much attention. I don’t read Variety and I don’t watch the box-office.
8. Old School and Road Trip both have “rotten” as their RottenTomatoes ranking yet both of these films are loved and adored. What are your thoughts on film reviews?
9. Do you plan on directing a movie that you have not written?
I want to because I think that will take a part of your directing brain. I haven’t been resisting it, it is just a matter of finding the right project. You see when you write a movie and someone asks you what someone is wearing you can answer because you wrote it, but with another script you have to interpret what they wrote and it will be very interesting. I will do it.
10. Old School 2 is it happening, are you writing it and if so what is the storyline?
BONUS: You were once attached to Six Million Dollar Man… is that a lost cause?
That is one of those things that is just in development. Some friends of mine wrote a script and it wasn’t perfect and it needed some work. If it does get made I won’t direct it I will probably produce because I already did Starsky and Hutch and I don’t want to become that person that does TV shows into movies.
