Biography

A huge fan of Elia Kazan's 1957 political classic A Face in the Crowd (1957), which he carefully analyzed before making Game Change (2012) for HBO in 2012.

Among the many projects he is attached to direct are, "Austin Powers 4", which is in development with Mike Myers. "Used Guys" with Ben Stiller and Jim Carrey. "The Party", a remake of the Peter Sellers comedy. Among other projects.

Directed one Oscar nominated performance: Bryan Cranston in Trumbo (2015).

Has directed one Emmy Award-winning performance: Julianne Moore in Game Change (2012).

Graduate of Stanford University.

Why comedies can't have as big budgets as action films is a long story, but evidently they can't.

I think we'll all keep pushing each other, which is a great thing.

When I'm shooting, really the audience I'm thinking the hardest about is that first test screening audience who I want to like the film and that first opening weekend audience.

My favorite laser disk ever was the laser disk for The Graduate, which had a commentary track that wasn't even the filmmakers, it was a professor, some film criticism guy who just happen to be this amazing commentator who went off into the whole theory of comedy.

On the other track I got to talk with Jon Poll, my editor, and we go into more detail about the decisions we made in both the production and the post-production. So I hope the combination becomes something worth collecting.