Paul
Short description
Paul is a comedy about two British science-fiction fans, Graeme Willy and Clive Gollings, who travel to the United States for a fan convention and a tour of alien landmarks. Near Area 51 they meet Paul, a smart-mouthed extraterrestrial voiced by Seth Rogen, who has spent sixty years confined at a secret military base advising American officials about his kind. Fearing he has become expendable, Paul takes off in the visitors' RV and asks the pair to help him reach the ship that can carry him home, while government agents give chase and the travellers pick up a young woman along the way.
Greg Mottola directed the film, which sits between Adventureland and Clear History in his filmography. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost wrote the screenplay and star as the two leads, with Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader in supporting roles. It was produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Nira Park, with 50 credited cast members and 97 credited crew.
Released in 2011, the film cost about 40 million dollars and took roughly 98 million dollars worldwide, a solid return. On IMDb it holds 6.9 from 281,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.7 from 6,483 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 6.3 from 204 reviews, placing critical and audience responses fairly close together.
What's left behind the scenes
- When the main characters enter the roadside diner, musicians are performing the song “Star Wars Cantina Song,” which also played in the bar in the film *Star Wars: A New Hope*.
- The idea for this film originated with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (who wrote the screenplay and played the lead roles of Graham Wheeler and Clive Gollings, respectively) during a forced break in filming Edgar Wright's comedy "Shaun of the Dead" (2004). They gave producer Nira Park a drawing depicting Paul in an FBI t-shirt with the inscription "We're all aliens here in the USA." The drawing can be seen during the end credits.
- For a significant portion of the filming period, Seth Rogen was busy working with Michel Gondry on the comedic action film "The Green Hornet" (2011), where Rogen played the title role and was one of the screenwriters. This is why he couldn't fully dedicate himself to creating the character of Paul in Greg Mottola's film and interacting with the other actors. He was replaced by Joe Lo Truglio, who played O'Reilly and completed work on Rogen's role. He studied Rogen himself to more accurately convey his image, and sometimes even improvised. After filming was completed, Rogen came to the studio and voiced his character.
- Simon Pegg and Nick Frost wrote the screenplay for this film and starred in it themselves as a testament to their love of classic science fiction, specifically the films 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' (1977) and 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial' (1982) by Steven Spielberg. Upon learning of their decision, Spielberg was very pleased and offered his own participation in the project, for example, in a cameo role.
- The sword that Nick Frost's character looks at with envy during the ComicCon convention and then eventually buys in Vancouver was intended as a reference to Steven Norrington's fantasy action film 'Blade' (1998). Unfortunately, the filmmakers were unable to obtain permission for this, so they simply gave the sword the name 'Black Vampire,' reasonably assuming that the audience would understand what they were referring to.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
