Paul Feig went from creating ’90s cult favorite Freaks and Geeks to directing 2011′s comedy hit Bridesmaids, but between those, he directed 2003′s little-known drama I Am David – which he’s still proud of to this day. See what the director had to say about that film, along with his other picks for favorite underrated movies:
Loves of a Blonde
“This first feature film from Amadeus director Milos Forman is the funny and bittersweet tale of a pretty teenage girl living in Communist Czechoslovakia trying desperately to find anything to lift her out of her bleak everyday life. Filled with funny,...
Loves of a Blonde
“This first feature film from Amadeus director Milos Forman is the funny and bittersweet tale of a pretty teenage girl living in Communist Czechoslovakia trying desperately to find anything to lift her out of her bleak everyday life. Filled with funny,...
- 3/14/2014
- by EW staff
- EW - Inside Movies
Artisan Entertainment
MILL VALLEY, Calif. -- Screenwriter-director Paul Feig's (TV's "Freaks and Geeks") new film is a big handsome period production with a prestige cast and a dramatic subject matter -- the escape of an orphaned Bulgarian boy from a 1952 communist labor camp. The audience at the Mill Valley Film Festival responded enthusiastically, and the movie could generate friendly reviews and respectable boxoffice receipts. But despite all this, the picture is essentially a tearjerker, with little originality or insight.
At the story's beginning, David (played by British newcomer Ben Tibber) escapes with the aid of someone unknown to us until later. David has been given a sealed envelope and told to flee south to Greece, stow away on a boat to Italy, then go north to Denmark. Then and only then can he open the envelope and let someone see what's in it. Along the way, he meets many people, including an amiable ship crewman, a friendly and extremely wealthy Italian family and various shopkeepers. When they start asking too many questions, David flees. But after encountering a kindly Swiss widow (Joan Plowright), David learns to trust again.
Tibber is photogenic, but he's an inexpressive actor. No doubt he was instructed to play stoic, but we don't see anything going on beneath his even features. Borrowing from D.W. Griffith's "Broken Blossoms", David practices smiling by using his fingers to push up the corners of his mouth. But the moment is bathetic instead of moving. Plowright provides her trademark warmth in the heavenly grandmother role, but she's not doing anything you haven't seen before.
David's main problem is bad instructions. If David had been able to trust someone in Italy, rather than waiting until Denmark, his troubles would have ended a lot sooner.
Throughout the movie, Feig provides shameless touches like bunnies snuggling David as he sleeps in the woods, too-precious prayers to St. Elizabeth and pity-grabbing statements like "I don't deserve anything good". In the escape and border-crossing scenes, Feig piles on one close shave after another as Stewart Copeland's music crashes all around poor David.
MILL VALLEY, Calif. -- Screenwriter-director Paul Feig's (TV's "Freaks and Geeks") new film is a big handsome period production with a prestige cast and a dramatic subject matter -- the escape of an orphaned Bulgarian boy from a 1952 communist labor camp. The audience at the Mill Valley Film Festival responded enthusiastically, and the movie could generate friendly reviews and respectable boxoffice receipts. But despite all this, the picture is essentially a tearjerker, with little originality or insight.
At the story's beginning, David (played by British newcomer Ben Tibber) escapes with the aid of someone unknown to us until later. David has been given a sealed envelope and told to flee south to Greece, stow away on a boat to Italy, then go north to Denmark. Then and only then can he open the envelope and let someone see what's in it. Along the way, he meets many people, including an amiable ship crewman, a friendly and extremely wealthy Italian family and various shopkeepers. When they start asking too many questions, David flees. But after encountering a kindly Swiss widow (Joan Plowright), David learns to trust again.
Tibber is photogenic, but he's an inexpressive actor. No doubt he was instructed to play stoic, but we don't see anything going on beneath his even features. Borrowing from D.W. Griffith's "Broken Blossoms", David practices smiling by using his fingers to push up the corners of his mouth. But the moment is bathetic instead of moving. Plowright provides her trademark warmth in the heavenly grandmother role, but she's not doing anything you haven't seen before.
David's main problem is bad instructions. If David had been able to trust someone in Italy, rather than waiting until Denmark, his troubles would have ended a lot sooner.
Throughout the movie, Feig provides shameless touches like bunnies snuggling David as he sleeps in the woods, too-precious prayers to St. Elizabeth and pity-grabbing statements like "I don't deserve anything good". In the escape and border-crossing scenes, Feig piles on one close shave after another as Stewart Copeland's music crashes all around poor David.
Artisan Entertainment
MILL VALLEY, Calif. -- Screenwriter-director Paul Feig's (TV's "Freaks and Geeks") new film is a big handsome period production with a prestige cast and a dramatic subject matter -- the escape of an orphaned Bulgarian boy from a 1952 communist labor camp. The audience at the Mill Valley Film Festival responded enthusiastically, and the movie could generate friendly reviews and respectable boxoffice receipts. But despite all this, the picture is essentially a tearjerker, with little originality or insight.
At the story's beginning, David (played by British newcomer Ben Tibber) escapes with the aid of someone unknown to us until later. David has been given a sealed envelope and told to flee south to Greece, stow away on a boat to Italy, then go north to Denmark. Then and only then can he open the envelope and let someone see what's in it. Along the way, he meets many people, including an amiable ship crewman, a friendly and extremely wealthy Italian family and various shopkeepers. When they start asking too many questions, David flees. But after encountering a kindly Swiss widow (Joan Plowright), David learns to trust again.
Tibber is photogenic, but he's an inexpressive actor. No doubt he was instructed to play stoic, but we don't see anything going on beneath his even features. Borrowing from D.W. Griffith's "Broken Blossoms", David practices smiling by using his fingers to push up the corners of his mouth. But the moment is bathetic instead of moving. Plowright provides her trademark warmth in the heavenly grandmother role, but she's not doing anything you haven't seen before.
David's main problem is bad instructions. If David had been able to trust someone in Italy, rather than waiting until Denmark, his troubles would have ended a lot sooner.
Throughout the movie, Feig provides shameless touches like bunnies snuggling David as he sleeps in the woods, too-precious prayers to St. Elizabeth and pity-grabbing statements like "I don't deserve anything good". In the escape and border-crossing scenes, Feig piles on one close shave after another as Stewart Copeland's music crashes all around poor David.
MILL VALLEY, Calif. -- Screenwriter-director Paul Feig's (TV's "Freaks and Geeks") new film is a big handsome period production with a prestige cast and a dramatic subject matter -- the escape of an orphaned Bulgarian boy from a 1952 communist labor camp. The audience at the Mill Valley Film Festival responded enthusiastically, and the movie could generate friendly reviews and respectable boxoffice receipts. But despite all this, the picture is essentially a tearjerker, with little originality or insight.
At the story's beginning, David (played by British newcomer Ben Tibber) escapes with the aid of someone unknown to us until later. David has been given a sealed envelope and told to flee south to Greece, stow away on a boat to Italy, then go north to Denmark. Then and only then can he open the envelope and let someone see what's in it. Along the way, he meets many people, including an amiable ship crewman, a friendly and extremely wealthy Italian family and various shopkeepers. When they start asking too many questions, David flees. But after encountering a kindly Swiss widow (Joan Plowright), David learns to trust again.
Tibber is photogenic, but he's an inexpressive actor. No doubt he was instructed to play stoic, but we don't see anything going on beneath his even features. Borrowing from D.W. Griffith's "Broken Blossoms", David practices smiling by using his fingers to push up the corners of his mouth. But the moment is bathetic instead of moving. Plowright provides her trademark warmth in the heavenly grandmother role, but she's not doing anything you haven't seen before.
David's main problem is bad instructions. If David had been able to trust someone in Italy, rather than waiting until Denmark, his troubles would have ended a lot sooner.
Throughout the movie, Feig provides shameless touches like bunnies snuggling David as he sleeps in the woods, too-precious prayers to St. Elizabeth and pity-grabbing statements like "I don't deserve anything good". In the escape and border-crossing scenes, Feig piles on one close shave after another as Stewart Copeland's music crashes all around poor David.
- 11/12/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Artisan Entertainment and Walden Media have struck a deal to partner on the North American release of I Am David, an adventure story about a young boy's journey in post-World War II Europe written and directed by Paul Feig. Based on the novel North to Freedom by Anne Holm, David stars Joan Plowright, Jim Caviezel and newcomer Ben Tibber. It centers on a boy (Tibber) who escapes from captivity in postwar Bulgaria and his journey across Western Europe. Clive Parsons, Davina Belling and Lauren Levine produced the film. According to the announcement, Artisan and Walden will work together to introduce the film to families and teachers by hosting special screenings, community outreach events and supplemental materials. Artisan is eyeing a 2004 release.
- 10/21/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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