Greg Mottola Movies and Career Information

Gregory J. "Greg" Mottola (born July 11, 1964) is an American filmmaker, screenwriter and television director. Mottola wrote and directed the 1996 independent film The Daytrippers, then concentrated for several years on directing in television for series such as Undeclared and Arrested Development. More recently, he has focused on directing the feature films Superbad, Adventureland, and Paul. Mottola grew up in Dix Hills, New York, in a Catholic family of Irish-Italian descent. He received his BFA in art from Carnegie Mellon University and MFA in film from Columbia University. Mottola directed Adventureland, set in the 1980s, a "first love" story about a group of college-age kids working at an amusement park. The protagonist's plans go awry when circumstances cause him to miss out on a backpacking trip to Europe with his friends. It premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and received critical praise. His most recently released film, Paul, is about two comic book nerds (played by the film's screenwriters Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) who find an alien named Paul while vacationing in the US. As of 2011, Mottola is writing a screenplay based on Leanne Shapton's Important Artifacts