What Do The Critics Say?

"A madcap ride with hilarious and occasionally touching references to many other films about aliens. This is a madcap ride with hilarious and occasionally touching references to many other films about aliens. There is deliciousness to be had from this close encounter. I think it's really a very fun film." Margaret Pomeranz ABC AT THE MOVIES "The eponymous Paul couldn’t be further from the innocent ET. A pot-smoking, beer-drinking wiseass in board-shorts and flip-floPaul is slacker than the duo's previous efforts, but the gags still come thick and fast. Paul is slacker than the duo's previous efforts, but the gags still come thick and fast." Jason Best MOVIE TALK "How strange that two of my favorite movies so far this year star little green men. 'Paul,' the latest Simon Pegg/Nick Frost movie, is a science-fiction comedy that's strictly for grownups. It's raunchy, rude and raucous. As for Paul, he's completely believable even though he is a CGI creation. At times, the melding of live-action and CGI is so seamless that I forgot I was watching an animated character." Linda Cook KWQC-TV "Packed with references to other films instead of original jokes, this goofy comedy at least keeps us laughing all the way through. The idea itself is hilarious, and the movie's assembled with skill and energy. Pegg and Frost maintain the earthy humour of their earlier films, with constant gags that are delivered with impeccable timing." Rich Cline SHADOWS ON THE WALL "First, a warning to genteel elderly aunts who may offer to take the nieces and nephews along for a Sunday afternoon movie with a sweet family film about a cute alien befriended by two nerds. Take your ear plugs; the language is not family friendly. But it's used as a tool for comedy: and it is funny." Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE

"I didn't know at all what to expect but this kind of clash of British and American cultures. I love the idea of taking these two slackers, plunking them down in Nevada, in what must be a fascinating part of America where there really are these UFO sites and so on, and having them confront the locals on all sorts of levels. It is fun and I think Kristen Wiig as Ruth Buggs is marvellous." David Stratton ABC AT THE MOVIES "It has to be said that Pegg and Frost are an awesome pairing on-screen. Their real-life mateship shines through in every scene they share and it is a highly infectious kind of fun just to watch them interact. There are numerous ET-themed gags and references throughout the film, including a voice cameo from Spielberg himself. In typical Pegg/Frost fashion there is also a healthy smattering of Star Wars gags for the really hardcore fans, but you'll need to keep an eye out for them." Tim Martain THE MERCURY "Some of the brightest comedic stars in the galaxy unite for this clever, irreverent and thoroughly entertaining extraterrestrial romp. "Paul" blasts something fresh into the sci-fi genre thanks to its irresistible title character and whimsical: albeit decidedly adult; humor. Aimed primarily at comic-book fans and cosmos-loving adults who aren't easily offended. But the phenomenal cast, funny script and solid pacing help make Paul a stellar cinematic excursion for even the most down to earth humans." Tyler Hanley PALO ALTO WEEKLY "Goofball but not gormless, there's something refreshing about Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's style of comedy. It ambles along harmlessly and with great simplicity until we somehow get into their mindset and rhythms and start giggling at the sheer charm of it all. Paul is one such film." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE

The Inside Story The notoriously rainy English climate has spoiled picnics, caused plenty of traffic jams on British highways and wreaked havoc on the schedule of more than one film production. One of the unexpected benefits of the inclement weather, however, is that it indirectly gave rise to the comedy-adventure "Paul". During the rain-soaked shooting of Simon Pegg’s first film, the rom-zom-com "Shaun of the Dead", producer Nira Park asked him what he was planning for his next project. Fed up with rain delays, Pegg swore he wanted his next movie to be shot in a warm, dry climate. Pegg responded with, "Let’s make a film somewhere it never rains, like a desert." That day, over lunch, Pegg handed Park this drawing of an alien with the tagline, In America, everyone’s an alien, telling Park "This is our next movie: a road trip with an alien." "We talked about it a bit and how the film would be shot in the American Southwest. After that, I pinned the piece of paper on my drawing board and kept thinking about it," says Park ("Scott Pilgrim vs the World"). She remembers thinking, "What a brilliant idea." In the years that passed, Pegg and his frequent director and collaborator, Edgar Wright, moved onto other projects for the production company they share with Park, Big Talk Pictures. The most prominent of these was the action-comedy "Hot Fuzz", the company’s second hit. At the end of Hot Fuzz, Park reminded Pegg again about the idea, asking, "Why don’t you just write up the first scene; just to see?" Pegg returned ten minutes later with a scene, Park describes as "just fantastic." She sent the copy to Eric Fellner ("Senna") at Working Title Films, the successful British production company that had funded previous Big Talk efforts. 2008 BAFTA winner Fellner ("Atonement") remembers that day well. "Nira sent over the treatment, and I was eager to find out what Nick and Simon were cooking up. By its very nature, a road trip is about exploration and discovering places and people you’ve never encountered. When I read how this concept had been married with an alien comedy, I thought it was brilliant." After she heard back from Fellner, Park phoned Pegg, telling him, "He wants to do it!" Pegg asked, "Who wants to do what?" "That thing!," Park replied. "By the time we started filming, we realized it had been six years since he gave me that piece of paper. I had it scanned and gave it to the director, Greg Mottola, on the first day of filming." "Paul" marks the first screenplay Pegg and his frequent co-star and close friend Nick Frost have written as partners. "Nick and I have worked together for ten years and we’ve been friends for much longer," Pegg revealed. "The collaboration has been an interesting experience, because we’ve slightly changed the dynamic of our characters in this one. In the other movies, which I wrote with Edgar Wright, I played the main character and Nick is the sidekick. But this film is very much a doubleheader. If anything, Nick’s character, Clive, is slightly more dominant and confident, whereas my character, Graeme, is a bit of a wallflower at first." Before putting pen to paper, Pegg and Frost took a road trip in an RV across the American West, starting in Los Angeles, California, and weaving their way through several states until they ended up in Denver, Colorado. The excursion proved to be invaluable in the creation of the film’s story. Ironically, they encountered terrible weather, including heavy snow and temperatures so low that their RV’s battery froze. Nonetheless, Pegg found the trip extraordinary and inspirational. "We learned so much about the landscape. It was extraordinarily beautiful, hospitable and inhospitable at the same time, remarkable country." Pegg and Frost wove several of their experiences from the trip into the script. "We actually went to a place called the Little A’Le’Inn, and the incident in the film with the meatheads happened to us," Pegg notes. "There were these two guys who came in who were perhaps not quite as threatening as the characters in the movie, but they certainly made the atmosphere turn cold. The bird hitting the windshield also happened. Every day there was a new experience. We had a real adventure. It was vital and brilliant fun, and we never could have written the movie without it." Since it was a bit difficult to locate an actual extraterrestrial to take the trip with them, the duo came up with a suitable substitute. One of Pegg’s friends sculpted a bust of an alien and called him Paul. "All the photos they sent were framed in such a way that Paul looked like he was with them," says Park. "That inspired them, brought it to life." Pegg and Frost started thinking: "You know, this could really work." Once the excursion was over, the two watched more than fifty movies about aliens and about road trips. "Then we just sat opposite one another and banged it out, line by line," Frost recalls. "For a time Simon went off to do "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People", and since we needed a draft of the script, I went away for a couple of weeks and wrote a big one hundred and eighty page script. When Simon returned, we took that behemoth and completely deconstructed it. We kept what was good, and what was bad was elbowed. Simon had a big monitor so I could see what he was typing. We discussed every single line, sometimes for hours." What emerged was a comedy-adventure that is actually about more than one visitor who’s far from home. "In one respect, everyone in this film is slightly alien," says Pegg. "That was a key factor in the writing: this idea of people not being where they belong and learning to live where they don’t belong." The search for a director began and ended when Greg Mottola was proposed. At the time, Mottola’s only theatrical release was "The Daytrippers", an independent film that Park and Pegg both hugely admired. But he also had a new movie in the wings called "Superbad", and when the comedy was screened for them, they knew they had their man. "Greg’s films have a certain feel, a certain lightness of touch," Pegg offered. "He is able to bring indie feel to a more mainstream film." Mottola first met Pegg at a hotel restaurant in New York City the day that "Superbad" opened. Pegg walked him through their concept for Paul and Mottola responded to Pegg and Frost’s story breakdown. Six months later, Mottola received the script for Paul. "Just as "Shaun of the Dead" is about zombies and "Hot Fuzz" is about action movies, this was an homage to late '70s science-fiction films and the genre of science fiction in general. This was something that had tremendous nostalgia for me. They were writing about it from the inside as two fans of the genre." He decided to join the production because of his gut instinct about the material. Big Talk and Working Title’s subsequent meetings with Mottola only confirmed their belief that he was the right choice to craft both a comedy, as well as an actioner in which the sequences were very choreographed. "It was clear that he got the kind of film we wanted to make," Park explained. "Another thing that sold us on Greg is that he’s incredibly visual. He wanted to make Paul in a very Spielberg-like manner, and the way he talked about it, we just knew that he got it. Once we’d met Greg, we never met with anyone else. He was very interested in character, and that was very important to us." The filmmakers next task was to cast the film. Along with the human protagonists, Graeme and Clive, the crucial third member of the cast is of course Paul himself. Though his physical presence would ultimately be the work of the CGI wizards at Double Negative, his voice needed to be very human. "We knew that the film would never work if Paul felt like a wholly CGI character. That would immediately take people out of the movie," Fellner said. "He had to feel like every other actor in the film." The voice that was decided upon was Seth Rogen, whom Mottola had previously worked on "Superbad". It proved to be an inspired choice. In a fortuitous meeting, Rogen had actually run into Pegg and Frost years ago at San Diego’s Comic-Con and had kept in touch over the years. He found the men to be kindred spirits and enjoyed their writing and unique characterizations. Of course, he’d worked with Mottola on "Superbad", so it was an easy decision for him to join the director’s new production. His friendship with the director ensured that he’d be involved in bringing Paul to the screen. "I’ve known Greg for almost ten years. He actually directed the first thing I wrote that got made, which was an episode of "Undeclared". We got along really well, and he ended up directing a couple more episodes that I wrote of the show that season." Hot on the tail of both the British visitors and otherworldly kind is Special Agent Lorenzo Zoil (read that back again), who has the answers to many questions about Paul’s decades on Earth. Jason Bateman, who dates his relationship with Mottola back to the acclaimed television series "Arrested Development", stepped into the role. Pegg was enthused when Bateman agreed to play Zoil. "Jason is an extraordinary actor. I could watch him act forever. He has something that is hard to put your finger on, because he’s so effortlessly good." Bateman ("Up In The Air") views Zoil as a "humorless, badass boss who’s intolerant of fools. I felt it was important not to deviate a lot from that, which can be somewhat limiting for an actor, but in another sense is very good because it forces you to be disciplined and not chew up the scenery. I was very pleased to be part of the ensemble of a bunch of actors I admire and filmmakers I enjoy." Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio were cast as Zoil's fellow interplanetary bounty hunters. Hader observes: "They’re not the brightest guys, but they’re eager to please." Kristen Wiig ("Date Night"), like co-star Hader, is a veteran of Saturday Night Live. She appeared with Bill Hader, Kristen Stewart and Ryan Reynolds, in Mottola’s 2009 comedy "Adventureland". Wiig ("Whip It") was cast as Ruth, a sheltered young woman who lives an isolated existence at an RV park with her Bible-thumping, gun-toting dad, Moses. "Ruth changed a great deal in the last couple of months before we started production," Park notes. "What we didn’t have in our earlier drafts was her becoming a freed version of herself, which emerged from our conversations with Kristen about the character." Wiig ("Semi-Pro") says filming "Paul" was a unique experience, and not just because of the visual effects. "Greg and Simon and Nick made so many smart choices every step of the way. I loved their vision." "Kristen blew me away on this film," her on-screen love interest, Pegg revealed. "She’s one of the most remarkable actresses I’ve ever met. Certainly comically she’s extraordinary and beguiling, and I followed her around like a puppy the whole time because she made me laugh so much." John Carroll Lynch ("Zodiak") was cast as Ruth’s father, Moses Buggs. "My favorite part about the script was that it was a satire of science-fiction movies, but, at the same time, honors everything in science-fiction movies while it makes you laugh." What's It All About?

Best friends Graeme Willy and Clive Gollings have saved for decades to take their sci-fi fan’s trip of a lifetime: a pilgrimage to America’s UFO heartland to track the legendary hot spots of extraterrestrial activity. But when a close encounter with an alien derails the plans: their dream vacation turns into a road trip that will rock their universe forever. For the past sixty years, alien Paul, has been locked up in a top-secret military base, advising world leaders about his kind and helping them solve their problems. Now he’s outlived his usefulness. The dissection table is drawing uncomfortably close and it's time to escape. While doing so, he overtakes an RV and crashes the car he has stolen. Fortunately, the RV contains the two earthlings who are most likely to rescue and harbor this alien on the run: Graeme and Clive. But with the 'Big Guy'on their tail they may be heading further into trouble.

The Verdict "Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, despite doing a sterling job as the leads in "Paul", are not the real stars in this hilarious alien comedy. No, the real stars in this tale of an Alien on the run are, the CGI creation Paul (the work of the CGI wizards at Double Negative and voiced superbly by Seth Rogen) and, SNL cast member Kristen Wiig (she made her bigscreen debut in "Knocked Up") who plays Ruth Buggs. And the support cast in this road trip with a twist, ain't bad either. There's the Men in Black: Jason Bateman, Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio. Comic actors Jane Lynch and Jeffrey Tambor get key cameo roles. Lynch plays saucy waitress Pat Stevens, while Tambor plays legendary sci-fi author Adam Shadowchild. Legendary actresses Blythe Danner plays Tara, a slightly batty old woman who lives in a house on her own and has a conection to Paul. From the "Alien" series to "Avatar", Sigourney Weaver has been a fan favorite of the genre for years. It was a coup for the filmmakers when she agreed to play The Big Guy, Agent Zoil’s tyrannical and intimidating (and cryptically named) boss. Weaver says the script "picked up a little bit where "Galaxy Quest" left off in terms of Comic-Con and glory to the geeks." And there's plenty of nods to familiar films like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "The Sugarland Express" and "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial", as well as famous UFO locations in the USA. And watch out for the Rednecks played by David Koechner and Jesse Plemons who have a run-in with Graeme and Clive that eventually leads to an Analien encounter of the worse kind. Highly Recommended. 4 STARS." Who Is Playing Who?

Simon Pegg Nick Frost Seth Rogen Jason Bateman Sigourney Weaver Kristen Wiig John Carroll Lynch Jane Lynch David Koechner Jesse Plemons Bill Hader Joe Lo Truglio Jeffrey Tambor Jennifer Granger Nelson Ascencio Steven Spielberg Mia Stallard Blythe Danner

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Graeme Willy Clive Gollings Voice Of Paul Agent Zoil The Big Guy Ruth Buggs Moses Buggs Pat Stevens Gus Jake Haggard O'Reilly Adam Shadowchild Adam Shadowchild Fan Jorge Himself Young Tara Tara Walton

The Production Team Directed by Greg Mottola Written by Nick Frost & Simon Pegg Produced by Tim Bevan/Eric Fellner/Nira Park Original Music by David Arnold Cinematography by Lawrence Sher Film Editing by Chris Dickens Casting by Jo Edna Boldin & Allison Jones Production Design by Jefferson Sage Art Direction by Richard Fojo Set Decoration by Carla Curry Costume Design by Nancy Steiner Run Time 104 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2011 - Universal Pictures - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2011 - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian & International Copyright, Trademark Laws & Intellectual Property Rights.