Apr 9, 2020
What can I say about my friend and today's guest Tom Shadyac? Here is the opening of an article about him from The Guardian:
Tom Shadyac had it all and was living the dream. Or at least that is what people in Hollywood told him. He was a hugely successful movie director with a string of comedy hits. He had earned himself millions of dollars and had an A-list lifestyle with all the trappings of excess.
Then, in 2007, an already disillusioned Shadyac had a bike accident and became gripped by a profoundly non-showbiz desire: to give his wealth away. Several years later, he has swapped his luxury jetsetting for economy class and his 17,000-square ft mansion in Los Angeles for a trailer park in Malibu.
He has not, however, stopped making films – even if his new one couldn't be more different from the goofball comedies of his big box office days. I Am, coming out in the United States next month, is a documentary that explores not only Shadyac's remarkable journey from riches to rags but the world's ever-growing addiction to materialism.