Greg Mottola is the director behind Superbad and Adventureland, and has also directed episodes of Arrested Development and Undeclared. His new film Paul is out March 18th, and stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
Greg Mottola is a director whose films and TV shows often capture the sweet, funny, embarrassing but very real moments of being an adolescent. He's directed Superbad, starring past guest Michael Cera, Adventureland, The Day Trippers and episodes of Undeclared and Arrested Development. His newest film Paul (which features Bill Hader) is out March 18th and stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as English geeks road-tripping from Comic-Con, living out some of their sci-fi fantasies when an alien joins them on their trip.
JESSE THORN: It’s The Sound of Young America, I’m Jesse Thorn. My guest is the filmmaker Greg Mottola. He’s had an interesting career path. His first film, The Day Trippers, was released in the mid-1990s and was a success in the world of indie film, but it took ten years for him to release his next film. He worked in television on shows like Undeclared, which was part of the launching pad of the vast Judd Apatow comedy empire, and Arrested Development, among others. His first film after his first film was the international megahit, Superbad. He’s since made Adventureland, a really sweet and hilarious coming of age comedy set in an amusement park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and his latest film is a road trip comedy with tones of the 1980s supernatural adventure film called Paul. It’s about two geeks who come to America from England to visit the San Diego Comic-Con and go on a road trip of alien sites and find themselves on the road trip with a real alien in their car. Greg Mottola, welcome to The Sound of Young America.
GREG MOTTOLA: Thank you Jesse, pleasure to be here.
