Tom Shadyac
Tom Shadyac
Thomas Peter "Tom" Shadyacis an American comedian, director, screenwriter, producer, author and occasional film actor. Shadyac, who was the youngest joke-writer ever for comedian Bob Hope, is widely known for writing and directing the comedy films Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Nutty Professor, Liar Liar, and Bruce Almighty. In 2010, Shadyac departed from past comedic work to write, direct and narrate the documentary I Am, in which he explores his abandonment of a materialistic lifestyle following a bicycle accident in...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth11 December 1958
CityFalls Church, VA
CountryUnited States of America
Truth can be a matter of perspective, but I also think there's a truth that exists, that there are laws to the universe the way Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King believed.
I come from a family of lawyers. I was expected to be a professional of some sort, not an artist. I was never uplifted for my art.
The mystics will tell you death is perfectly safe. A violent act will beget a violent act; it is simply a law.
I'm from the Madeleine L'Engle school. The more she delves into science, the more she knows there's a creator who's behind these amazing laws, these amazing events. The symmetry of nature, the structure and order of it.
Theres one fundamental law that all of nature obeys that mankind breaks every day. Now, this is a law thats evolved over billions of years, and the law is this: Nothing in nature takes more than it needs.
Nature is very clear on this. In fact, there's one fundamental law that all of nature obeys that mankind breaks everyday. Now this is a law that's evolved over billions of years and the law is this: nothing in nature takes more than it needs. A redwood tree doesn't take all of the soil's nutrients, just what it needs to grow. A lion doesn't kill every gazelle, just one. We have a term for something in the body when it takes more than its share. We call it cancer.
I was paid $8 or $9 million for 'Evan Almighty.' I didn't want that money.
The second we define someone as a Democrat or Republican, it creates a whole set of limitations.
I don't see making films to entertain and making films to inform as separate things.
One of the challenges of the church is to accept humanity for all it is.
Show business is part of a larger culture, a world-wide culture that must make up to the fact that the accumulation of things doesn't make a life necessary any happier or purposeful.
Someone asked me the other day, 'What's the biggest influence on your filmmaking career?' And they started naming filmmakers. I went 'Naw, it's Jesus actually.'
To me, 'Ace Ventura' is as scriptural and sacred as any movie I've ever done because it's childlike.
There is no 'I.' That's an illusion we've got to get beyond.