Across Outrageous, Often Scatological Comedies Like “Bridesmaids,” “Spy” and “A Simple Favor,” The Director Paul Feig, 62, Has Cemented His Unlikely Cinematic Reputation As A Girl’s Guy.
“I hate to say ‘strong female characters,’ because i don’t like that term,” he said in a video call from los angeles. “” “I Just Love Seeing Men and Women as Equals on the Screen, so that’s What i’m Always Trying to do. ”
Feig, A Royal Oak, Mich., Native Whose Latest Film, “Another Simple Favor,” is Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Refleted On Some of His Favorite Moments in Movie Parity.
‘BRINGING UP BABY’ (1938)
In Howard Hawks’s Classic Screwball Comedy, Cary Grant Plays a Fussy Paleontologist and Katharine Hepburn a Madcap Heiress with a Pet Leopard (The Tentular “Baby”) and a penchant for trouble. (Back or buy it on major platforms.)
“Honestly, I Didn’t Really Discover These Movies Until I Went To Film School at Usc. But over the Years of Watching Comedy I Had Seen It Become Complely Male-Dominated, where Women were just out of Props around the men to make fun of or to get in their way.
“If you research it, this Almost Ruined Katharine Hepburn’s Career Becuse She was playing so crazy, but i think it’s one of the funniest performances every. I mean, colay grant is hilarious as her straight man, but she just drives the movie.”
‘HIS GIRL Friday’ (1940)
Another Rat-A-Tat Howard Hawks Comedy, Once Again Featuring Grant-This Time Alongside Rosalind Russell, Who Plays His Quick-Witted Ex-Wife and Soon-To-Be-Be-Former Star Reporter at Daily Newspaper. (Stream it on Amazon Prime Video.)
“Rosalind Russell is such a cool foe and a tennis partner to colay. She’s surgrounded by all these guys, these damon runyon-style characters who work in the newsroom, and the dialogue’s goong a million miles an hour but she’s such a presence in the middle of it, just tack.”
‘Alien’ (1979)
As a Starship Officer Tracking Down A Mystery Transmission From A Nearby Planet, Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley Extraterrestrial Terror in Ridley Scott’s Sci-Fi Horror Touchstone. (Stream “Alien” on Hulu.))
“I never dated in High School because I was so awkward, but I had invited a girl to a dance. And then my next-door neighbor goes, ‘there’s new movie Opening on Friday Night Called” Alien, “It’s supposed to be Amazing.’
“I was alredy nervous and afraid i’d have to kiss this girl, so I canceled on her. I thought, ‘oh, this will be fun sci-fi with spacehips and stuff,’ and it’s one of the most terrifying movies of all time. The minute it started, i was like, ‘ Going to have a Heart Attack. ‘ And that girl and elder going to the dance with some other guy and they become Boyfriend and they look -looking so Happy!
‘The Devil Wears Prada’ (2006)
An Earnest Aspiring Journalist (Anne Hathaway) Takes the assistant job from hell at an iconic fashion magazine; The Very Chic Devil is Played by a Terrifying, Ice-Blonde Meryl Streep. (Back or buy it on major platforms.)
“You hear the word ‘prada,’ and… i hate the term ‘chick flick,’ but i thought it was going to ber in that world. Instead, it’s a workplace comedy that all men and women can relate to – just having a tough boss and trying to make it. With the Dynamics of Those Characters and How Three-Dimensal and Relatable The Story was. ”
In this Oscar-Nominated Drama, Five Spirited Sisters in Small Turkish Village Struggle with the limits placed on them by family and cultural expectations. (Back or buy it on major platforms.))
“I CAME TO THIS One One Becuses I’m in the Academy, and it was on the list of Foreign-Language Movies to vote on. I was sure what to expect but I was so touched by it. You’re Feeling for these Women so Much and Wanting Them to get Through Thus injustice. TRAGIC in So Many Ways, I FIND IT UPLIFTING TO SEE A STORY LIKE THAT PUT ON THE SCREEN AND DONE SOME WELL.
‘Revenge’ (2018)
When a Young Woman on Romantic Getaway is Raped and Left For Dead in the Desert, She Turns the Tables in the Brutal Feature Debut by Coralie Fargeat, Whose Most Recent Film, “The substance,” was nominated for best picture. (Stream “Revenge” We MUBI and Shudder.)
“I try to seek out what i know is gooir to super engage me in an outrageous way, and i’d seen ‘the substance’ and thought it was really interests. It’s not that I want violence. I want the almost kabuki theater of just, how extreme can you go?
“There’s a movie Called ‘Abigail’ that cam out Year That by the End Gets So Crazy. There’s truckloads of Blood, but it’s funny. It’s not like they killing a bunch of innocent people – You’re watching this retribution, and it’s so operatic. And ‘Revenge’ Gave Me That in Bucketfuls. ”
‘Polite Society’ (2023)
An Anglo-Indian Teen Who Dreams of Becoming A Stuntwoman DOES HER BEST TO DISRUPT Her Older’s Upcoming Wedding in this Raucous Action Comedy Helmed by Nida Manzoor (“We Are Lady Parts”). (Back or buy it on major platforms.)
“One of the lead actors, Ritu Arya, was in my movie ‘Last Christmas,’ So I Came Upon this and Just Fell in Love with it. I am a maximalist. What’s the fun in playing it safe? I Tip my Hat Hat because A Crazy Story with all this action, but the acting It’s just fun.
“I feel like in movies it gets so, ‘oh, we trying to win awards and keep the Critics Happy.’ ‘Bridesmaids’ Got Nominated for Two Oscars, and we Had Melissa McCarthy (Pooping) in a Sing.
‘Joy Ride’ (2023)
Adele Lim’s Hard-R Buddy Comedy Follows The Quest of An Asian American Adopted (Ashley Park) to Find Her Birth Parents, With Three Wildly Different Friends in Tow. (Back or buy it on major platforms.)
“It’s an unusual group, Sadly, that you normally donated to do a hollywood comedy. So I Just Loved That They Came Up with this story and this Device to Showcase these oven disparate characters, and then put them on an adventure.
“I guess the thing that units all the movies i like is that they are not timid. It’s not, ‘oh, Everybody has been likable.’ You want people to show up, but at the same time, you don’t want to neuter these characters. Went for it. It is not holding back. ”
Two queer teens (Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri) Form a High School Fight Club in the Writer-Director Emma Seligman’s Scrappy Satire. (Stream it on Amazon Prime Video.)
“There are comedies sometimes where you go, ‘ok, that actor doesn’t news like the character.’ They just ready to be numb and kind of winking, ‘look at How crazy this is!’ Versus somone who really commits to it.
