Gregory J. Mottola (born July 11, 1964) is an American film director, screenwriter, and television director.

Life and career

Mottola grew up in Dix Hills, New York, in a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

family of

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and

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

descent. He received his BFA in art from Carnegie Mellon University and MFA in film from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He wrote and directed the 1996 independent film ''

The Daytrippers ''The Daytrippers'' is a 1996 independent comedy-drama film written and directed by Greg Mottola in his feature directorial debut. It stars Hope Davis, Stanley Tucci, Anne Meara, Parker Posey and Liev Schreiber. Plot Eliza ( Hope Davis) discove ...

'', then concentrated for several years on directing in television for series such as '' Undeclared'' and ''

Arrested Development The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was first used, ''circa'' 1835–1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be use ...

''. More recently, he has directed the feature films '' Superbad'', '' Adventureland'', and ''

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

''. '' Adventureland'' (2009) is a "first love" story about a group of college-age kids working at an amusement park in the 1980s. The film starred

Jesse Eisenberg Jesse Adam Eisenberg (; born October 5, 1983) is an American actor, writer, and director. He has received various accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. ...

Kristen Stewart Kristen Jaymes Stewart (born April 9, 1990) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2012, she has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and a César Award, in addition to nominations for an Aca ...

Bill Hader William Thomas Hader Jr.''Finding Your Roots'', January 26, 2016, PBS. (born June 7, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is the creator, producer, writer, director, and star of the HBO dark comedy series ''Barry'' (201 ...

and

Kristen Wiig Kristen Carroll Wiig (; born August 22, 1973) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Born in Canandaigua, New York, she was raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Rochester, New York. She moved to Los Angeles, where she jo ...

. It premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and received critical praise. He directed ''

'', a science fiction/comedy film about two comic book nerds (played by the film's screenwriters

Simon Pegg Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. H ...

and

Nick Frost Nicholas Jonathan Frost (born 28 March 1972) is a British actor, author, comedian, painter, producer and screenwriter. He has appeared in the ''Three Flavours Cornetto'' trilogy of films, consisting of ''Shaun of the Dead'' (2004), ''Hot Fuzz ...

) who meet an alien named Paul while vacationing in the US. , Mottola is writing a screenplay based on

Leanne Shapton Leanne Shapton (born June 25, 1973) in Mississauga, Ontario is a Canadian artist and graphic novelist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoon ...

's ''Important Artifacts and Personal Property From the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion and Jewelry'', to be produced by Natalie Portman and

Plan B Entertainment Plan B Entertainment, Inc., more commonly known as Plan B, is an American production company founded in November in 2001 by Brad Grey, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston and Kristin Hahn. In 2005, after Pitt and Aniston divorced, Grey became the CEO o ...

. Later on, he returned to TV series, such as '' The Dangerous Book for Boys''.

Personal life

Mottola is married to Sarah Allentuch and has three children.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* *
Greg Mottola
on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

American film directors American male screenwriters American television directors 1964 births Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts alumni Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Comedy film directors Living people American people of Irish descent Princess Grace Awards winners People from Dix Hills, New York Screenwriters from New York (state) {{US-film-director-1960s-stub