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Paul (film)

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Paul
Two men and a small grey alien lit up by an spotlight
UK release poster
Directed byGreg Mottola
Written bySimon Pegg
Nick Frost
Produced byNira Park
Tim Bevan
Eric Fellner
StarringSimon Pegg
Nick Frost
Seth Rogen
CinematographyLawrence Sher
Edited byChris Dickens
Music byDavid Arnold
Production
companies
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
  • 14 February 2011 (2011-02-14) (United Kingdom)
  • 18 March 2011 (2011-03-18) (United States)
Running time
104 minutes
CountriesTemplate:Film UK
Template:Film US
Template:Film France
Template:Film Spain
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40 million[1][2]
Box office$97,591,665[3]

Paul is a 2011 science fiction comedy film directed by Greg Mottola, written by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. It stars Pegg, Frost, and the voice of Seth Rogen as the title character. The film contains numerous references to other science fiction films, especially those of Steven Spielberg, as well as to general science fiction fandom.

Plot

Graeme Willy and Clive Gollings are two English comic book nerds and best friends who have travelled to America to attend the annual San Diego Comic-Con International and to take a road trip in their recreational vehicle (RV) to visit all the sites of major extraterrestrial importance. At night along the highway they investigate a crashed car and they meet and discover an alien named Paul who is in desperate need of their help. Although shocked by the appearance of Paul, Graeme agrees to give Paul a ride, but Clive is not happy about the idea. Later, Lorenzo Zoil, arrives at the site of the crashed car and informs his mysterious female superior over the radio that he is closing in on Paul, and she recommends using local law enforcement as back-up. Zoil then recruits two inept FBI agents, Haggard and O'Reilly, to aid in his mission, without telling them the nature of their target.

Graeme, Clive and Paul pull into a motor park run by Ruth Buggs, a Christian fundamentalist, and her controlling father, Moses. The trio bond around their campgrill and Paul reveals that since he was captured by the government, he had been advising them in all manner of scientific and sociological achievements. Yet Paul had outlived his usefulness as a receptacle of knowledge, and his captors were intending to surgically remove Paul's brain in an attempt to harness his abilities. With help from a friend inside Area 51, Paul sent an S.O.S. to his home planet, and he was escaping to meet up with them. The next morning, Paul intentionally reveals himself to Ruth, and the trio are forced to kidnap her and make a hasty escape. Paul then shatters Ruth's faith by sharing his knowledge of the universe via telepathic link; at first horrified, Ruth suddenly becomes eager to sin, which her father had raised her to fear doing. She initially does not trust Paul, but he heals her left eye, as she has lost her vision in it at the age of four. (It's interesting to notice that while healing both Ruth and Graeme in the movie, Paul never cared to heal Clive, who suffers urinary incontinence).

Eventually, Paul reveals his intention to return to the girl whose dog he crashed his ship on in 1947 and who subsequently saved his life, who is now an old woman, Tara Walton. After spending her life being ridiculed for what she said she saw, Tara seems grateful to see that Paul simply exists. She turns her gas cooker on to make tea, but is interrupted by Haggard and O'Reilly on one side of the house, and Zoil on the other. As the motley crew escapes and drives off with Paul, O'Reilly shoots at them, and the gas ignites, destroying the house. A winded Zoil tries to follow, but Haggard takes off first, running Moses (who had also been tracking the RV) off the road, and catching up to the RV. However, thanks to an error of judgement, Haggard accidentally drives off a cliff, and is killed, leaving Zoil in hot pursuit. He reassures his superior that he will have Paul within an hour, but she declares herself tired of waiting, and informs Zoil that she has ordered a military response.

When Paul, Graeme, Clive, Ruth and Tara arrive at the rendezvous, they set off a signal and wait. Eventually, eerie orange lights show up over the surrounding trees, and everyone believes that it is Paul's race. However, it is an army helicopter, with 'the Big Guy', Zoil's shadowy superior, on board. As she and three troops move to shoot Paul, Zoil arrives, and it is revealed that he was Paul's inside contact who had helped him to escape. Zoil disarms the men, but is shot in the shoulder. Tara punches out 'the Big Guy', but Moses appears with a shotgun and shoots Graeme dead. Paul heals him and then collapses, exhausted. Paul seems to be dead and everyone is silent until he coughs and relieves everyone. 'The Big Guy' regains consciousness, but is immediately crushed by the arriving alien ship. Paul begins to depart and informs Tara that she is going with him to live a better life and bids farewell to his friends hoping to meet them again one day. Two years later, Graeme, Clive, Ruth and even O'Reilly are shown again at the 2011 Comic-Con convention, when Graeme and Clive are promoting Paul, their new novel.

Cast

Seth Rogen provides the voice and motion capture work for Paul.

In an interview for the DVD release of Paul, Pegg and Frost made the film to demonstrate their love for Steven Spielberg's films Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, as well as their favorite science fiction films.[8] After they mentioned the project to Spielberg, he suggested he might make a cameo appearance, and a scene was added to include him as a voice on a speakerphone in 1980 discussing ideas with Paul for his soon to become box office hit E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.[9][10] According to Robert Kirkman, he, along with Invincible co-creator Cory Walker and current Invincible artist Ryan Ottley, had a cameo in the film as The Big Guy's henchmen.[11]

Production

The premise for Paul came from Pegg and Frost in 2003, while they were filming Shaun of the Dead.[1]

To help with the script, Pegg and Frost went on their own road trip across America and used ideas from it to add to the script.[12]

According to Mottola, the film was given the green-light shortly before the late-2000s recession; if had been delayed, "they probably wouldn’t have made the movie."[1] The budget for the film was around $40 million, which included about $15 million for 550 effects shots from Double Negative.[1]

Principal photography, including 50 days in the New Mexico desert,[1] wrapped on September 9, 2009,[13] with additional scenes filmed in July 2010 at the Albuquerque Convention Center, which was designed to look like the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con.[14] After obtaining permission to use the Comic-Con brand, the settings had to be changed to avoid crowds, and extras were used to portray attendees since there had been some issues regarding filming inside San Diego's actual convention center. As a result, only exterior shots of the San Diego Convention Center were filmed on the streets of downtown San Diego.[citation needed]

During filming, Joe Lo Truglio was a stand-in for the character Paul, the only character who was created by CGI. Seth Rogen did some motion capture in pre-production and voice work during post-production.[15]

The cover art for the fictional comic book Encounter Briefs was drawn by alternative comics artist Daniel Clowes.[16]

Numerous scenes throughout the film deal with the controversy of Darwin and Evolution vs. Religion and Creationism, with the character of Paul the alien being the proverbial 'fly-in-the-ointment' of conservative Judeo/Christian/Islamic doctrine. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, who are atheists,[17] have alluded in BBC Radio interviews they had wished to delve deeper into the controversy but cut several scenes short in favor of flow and timing on film.[citation needed]

Release

A teaser trailer was released on October 18, 2010.[18] The teaser trailer featured the song "Just the Two of Us" by Grover Washington, Jr. and "Run With the Wolves" by The Prodigy. It was shown before certain screenings of Vampires Suck, Let Me In, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, Burke and Hare, The Green Hornet and The Social Network in the United Kingdom.[citation needed]

The American trailer featured "It Came Out of the Sky" by Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Human Rocket" by Devo, and "All Over the World" by the Electric Light Orchestra.[citation needed]

The film had its world premiere in London on February 7, 2011.[19]

Reception

As of September 2011, the film has received generally positive reviews; Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 72% based on 184 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3 out of 10; it fared less well among 36 of that website's "top critics", scoring a 58% (21 fresh reviews and 15 rotten).[20]

Empire rated the film "excellent" (four stars out of five) stating, "Broader and more accessible than either Shaun Of The Dead or Hot Fuzz, Paul is pure Pegg and Frost – clever, cheeky and very, very funny. You'll never look at E.T. in the same way again."[21] SFX also gives the film four stars out of five, saying "the film veers dangerously close to alienating (no pun intended) all but its geek core audience, [though] the more obvious concessions to a mainstream crowd [are] never enough to derail the film's laugh-a-minute ride"; SFX also calls it a "triumph of visual effects, convincing characterisation and bad taste humour."[22]

Peter Bradshaw gave the film (two stars out of five) and called it a "goofy, amiable piece of silliness" exhibiting "self-indulgence" and possessing a "distinct shortage of real gags".[23] On the same scale Nigel Andrews gave the film (only one star), calling it a "faltering extraterrestrial knockabout".[19] The Independent grades the film two stars out of five, saying "Pegg is likeable as usual, Frost more doltish than usual, and Kristen Wiig an appealing convert from Bible thumper to ladette", and notes that "from time to time, clever ideas rear their heads – like the idea that 'Paul' has been the brains behind all science fiction and UFO initiatives for the last 30 years, including Close Encounters and The X-Files – but they soon return to the film's default setting of laddish japes and a conviction that the word 'cocksucker' will always get a laugh."[24] Common Sense Media gave the film three stars and an iffy rating for ages 16–17. Saying "Cheerfully dumb sci-fi comedy has sex, drug humor."[25] IGN also gave the film three stars, stating "Simon Pegg and Nick Frost send up everything from Star Wars to E.T. in this sci-fi comedy."[citation needed]

Upon its U.S. release, Roger Ebert gave Paul a mixed review of (two and a half stars out of four), saying it's a "movie that teeters on the edge of being really pretty good and loses its way. I'm not sure quite what goes wrong, but you can see that it might have gone right."[26] According to Manohla Dargis, "As genial, foolish and demographically engineered as it sounds (hailing all fan boys and girls), Paul is at once a buddy flick and a classic American road movie of self- (and other) discovery, interspersed with buckets of expletives and some startling (especially for a big-studio release) pokes at Christian fundamentalism....The movie has its attractions, notably Mr. Pegg and Mr. Frost (and of course Mr. Bateman), whose ductile, (noncomputer) animated and open faces were made for comedy....Paul proves the weak link. One problem is that Mr. Rogen, however comically inclined, has become overexposed, and there’s just something too familiar and predictable about this voice coming out of that body. Yet while Paul seems great conceptually, he’s not particularly interesting or surprising, despite a funny recap of what he’s been doing on his time on Earth. With his vibe and vocabulary, shorts and weed, juvenilia and sentimentality, Paul turns out to be not much different from a lot of guys who have wreaked comedy havoc on American screens lately, even if this one only wants to beam up, not knock up."[27]

Box office

In North America, Paul opened in March 2011 at #5, with $13,043,310 behind Limitless, Rango, Battle: Los Angeles, and The Lincoln Lawyer.[28] The film closed after 63 days in theaters, grossing $37,412,945 domestically, just below its $40 million budget. With the international $57 million gross, the film is considered a success.[3]

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on 13 June 2011 and was for released in North America on 9 August 2011. There are three versions of the film.[citation needed]

The DVD release features an audio commentary with director Greg Mottola, stars Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Bill Hader, and producer Nira Park; 2 featurettes; "Simon's Silly Faces"; photo galleries; storyboards and posters; and a blooper reel. The US Blu-ray release features all the DVD supplements with nine more featurettes and a digital copy.[29]

Soundtrack

Paul: Music From The Original Motion Picture was released on February 21, 2011 by Universal Music.[30] It intersperses David Arnold's score with the rock songs appearing in the film.

All tracks are written by David Arnold, except as noted

No.TitleWriter(s)Performer(s)Length
1."Paul Opening Title" David Arnold1:56
2."Another Girl, Another Planet" (from The Only Ones, 1978)Peter PerrettThe Only Ones3:00
3."Road Trip Number 1" David Arnold0:57
4."Just the Two of Us"Withers, Ralph MacDonald, William SalterBill Withers and Grover Washington, Jr.3:57
5."Passport" David Arnold1:18
6."Road Trip Number 2" David Arnold1:34
7."Flying Saucers Rock 'N' Roll" (single, 1957)Harold Ray ScottBilly Lee Riley2:02
8."Window Shopping" David Arnold0:51
9."Hello It's Me" (from Something/Anything?, 1972)RundgrenTodd Rundgren4:20
10."End of the Road Trip" David Arnold1:38
11."Dancing in the Moonlight" (from Dancing In The Moonlight, 1973)Sherman KellyKing Harvest2:56
12."Campfire Confession" David Arnold1:24
13."Got to Give It Up" (from Live at the London Palladium, 1977)GayeMarvin Gaye6:01
14."A Little Talk with Paul" David Arnold1:21
15."I Chase the Devil" (from War Ina Babylon, 1976)Lee Perry, RomeoMax Romeo3:22
16."Chase" David Arnold1:18
17."Cantina Band"John WilliamsSyd Masters & The Swing Riders3:42
18."You Gotta Try" David Arnold2:51
19."1st Contact" David Arnold1:17
20."Planet Claire" (from The B-52's, 1979)Fred Schneider, Keith StricklandThe B-52's4:33
21."Goodbye (It's a Little Awkward)" David Arnold4:42
22."All Over the World" (from Xanadu, 1980)Jeff LynneElectric Light Orchestra4:05

Potential sequel

Simon Pegg has stated that although he would like to film a sequel to Paul, the time and expense it would take means it is unlikely to happen.[31]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Kohn, Eric (March 11, 2011). "Right Man to Handle an Irreverent Alien". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-17.
  2. ^ Kaufman, Amy (2011-03-17). "Movie Projector: Matthew McConaughey, Bradley Cooper and an alien battle for No. 1". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved 2011-03-17.
  3. ^ a b Paul at Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2011-09-17.
  4. ^ "Paul - Jason Bateman interview". Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  5. ^ a b c Variety staff (2009-06-17). "Sigourney Weaver, Blythe Danner, Joe Lo Truglio". Variety. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  6. ^ "Sigourney Weaver: Paul role is dream come true". Retrieved November 16, 2011.
  7. ^ Fleming, Michael (2009-05-26). "Seth Rogen to voice 'Paul' for Pegg". Variety. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  8. ^ "Simon Pegg and Nick Frost hilariously help 'Paul' phone home". Retrieved November 16, 2011.
  9. ^ http://entertainment.ie/pages/Paul/paul-interview.asp
  10. ^ Sweeney, Ken (February 11, 2011). "Stars invade for alien film 'Paul' -- and reveal love for Spielberg". Independent.
  11. ^ Kirkman, Robert (August 9, 2009). "Flying out tomorrow to New Mexico..." Twitter (via Echofon). Retrieved 2010-07-25.
  12. ^ Paul featurette Matt's Movie Reviews Paul trailer. Matt's Movie Reviews. 2010-10-18.
  13. ^ Lance Bangs (September 9, 2009). Principal Photography Wraps!. What Is Paul? – The Paul Production Blogs. Retrieved 2010-07-25. {{cite AV media}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help) Paul – Principal Photography Wrap-up Blog on YouTube
  14. ^ George 'El Guapo' Roush (July 15, 2010). "Paul Set Visit Report. The New Simon Pegg/Nick Frost Comedy!". LatinoReview.com. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
  15. ^ "Paul - Joe Lo Truglio interview". Retrieved November 16, 2011.
  16. ^ "The Cover to Daniel Clowes' Encounter Briefs #23, as Featured in Paul!". Hypergeek.
  17. ^ "Night of the Laughing Dead: An interview with Writer/Actor Simon Pegg". Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  18. ^ "Matt's Movie Reviews Paul trailer". Matt's Movie Reviews. 2010-10-18.
  19. ^ a b Andrews, Nigel (9 February 2011). "Film releases: February 10". Financial Times. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  20. ^ "Paul (2011)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 2011-09-17.
  21. ^ Hewitt, Chris. "Paul Review". Empire. Emap.
  22. ^ Farley, Jordan (11 February 2011). "Paul – film review". SFX. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  23. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (10 February 2011). "Paul – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  24. ^ Walsh, John (11 February 2011). "Paul (15)". The Independent. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  25. ^ Review on Common Sense Media
  26. ^ Ebert, Roger (March 16, 2011). "Paul". Chicago Sun-Times.
  27. ^ Dargis, Manohla (March 17, 2011). "Calm Down, People; He Comes in Peace". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-17.
  28. ^ Weekend Box Office Results for March 18-20, 2011 - Box Office Mojo
  29. ^ "Paul - DVDActive/News". DVDActive. 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2011-07-29.
  30. ^ "Paul: Music from the Motion Picture". February 4, 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-17.
  31. ^ http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/movies/movie-news/Simon+Pegg-95499.html
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