LOS ANGELES |
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood movie director Tom Shadyac is best known for blockbuster comedies such as "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," "Liar Liar," "The Nutty Professor" and "Bruce Almighty" among other films.
But this Friday, Shadyac enters the world of documentary filmmaking with "I Am," which was inspired by a cycling accident that left him with Post Concussion Syndrome, in which symptoms of the concussion don't go away.
After facing death, Shadyac embarked on a quest for enlightenment, meeting with experts in science, philosophy and faith, among other areas. He spoke with the likes of David Suzuki, Noam Chomsky and Desmond Tutu, asking what's wrong with the world and what can people do to make it right.
The 52-year-old filmmaker, who sold his mansion and now lives in a mobile home community in Malibu, California, sat down with Reuters to talk about his personal transformation.
Q: Most filmmakers start off making low-budget independent films and graduate to big studio blockbusters. You're doing it backwards. Did your bike accident knock the sense into you, or out of you, for you to be doing this?
A: "It knocked me out of my head, but I think I called that into my life. I hit my head 'cause I had to get out of my head. What better way to get a person out of their head and into their heart than to make their head so filled with pain and noise? It dropped me into my heart. And that's why I did this movie because I faced my own death."
Q: What in your life did you feel needed changing?
A: "I looked at my life and how I was doing my own business. I was standing above and saying 'I'm more valuable, I'm the director, pay me more, give me more spoils.' That to me was break from the morality that I believe in."
Q: What do you believe in?
A: "We're all in this together. Nothing in nature takes more than it needs, yet I was participating in a system which valued the fact that I took as much as I possibly could."
Q: You are one of the reasons stars like Jim Carrey, Eddie Murphy and Steve Carrell are able to command high salaries because of the successful films you worked on together. Have any of them reached out to you since you began this journey?
A: "A lot of people didn't know that I had the accident. I was very isolated. Some people may have called, but I didn't call back. I couldn't even do a phone call. It was quite painful to even do that. So I don't blame them. They simply didn't know. And the film is only coming out now."
Q: If the bike accident led to this documentary, what led to the shift in your outlook and attitude?
A: "Morgan Freeman opened me up to all these ideas. After 'Bruce Almighty,' he shattered my paradigm by turning me on to certain authors. I came back to him and said, 'I'm seeing things differently now. What do I do?' He said, 'I have no idea, son.' I was like, 'Are you kidding me? You're going to shatter my paradigm and not give me a program?'"
Q: This coming from the man who played God in your movies.
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