Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer
Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer | |
---|---|
Born | Jason Friedberg October 13, 1971 Newark, New Jersey, U.S. Aaron Seltzer January 12, 1974 Mississauga, Ontario, Canada |
Alma mater | University of California, Santa Barbara |
Occupation(s) | Directors, screenwriters |
Years active | 1996–present |
Jason Friedberg (born October 13, 1971) and Aaron Seltzer (born January 12, 1974) are American and Canadian filmmakers. They have primarily worked on parody films, which they began writing and directing during the mid-2000s. Friedberg and Seltzer's first five films between 2006 and 2010 received wide theatrical releases to mostly commercial success, but universally negative reviews; their films Epic Movie (2007), Meet the Spartans and Disaster Movie (both 2008) are considered among the worst ever made. Except for Vampires Suck (2010), their next films during the 2010s drew less attention due to receiving limited theatrical releases.
Biography
Interviews with the duo are rare, but in an exclusive 2014 interview with the publication
Spy Hard, Scary Movie and screenwriting
While writing screenplays at night, both spent the day attending jobs to pay their
Friedberg and Seltzer then spent some years as screenwriters for hire, with Seltzer estimating the duo sold "upward of 40 scripts". The only finished project was an uncredited rewrite to the
Directing
Tired of unmade projects as screenwriters, and with Regency Enterprises unable to find a director for their romantic comedy spoof, Seltzer and Friedberg opted to direct Date Movie (2006) themselves.[1] Date Movie opened with $12.1 million and earned $48.9 million overall.[3] Moving forward, they would direct their own scripts, leading to a long tract of parody films, spoofing major blockbusters. Disaster Movie opened with $5.8 million and earned $14.2 million total in the United States.[3] Vampires Suck, which opened on a Wednesday, earned an estimated $19.7 million in its first five days.[3]
Announced projects
In May 2014, Friedberg and Seltzer announced their intention to release Who the F#@K Took My Daughter?, a parody of Taken.[4] In February 2017 they were reportedly developing a parody of Star Wars titled Star Worlds Episode XXXIVE=MC2: The Force Awakens The Last Jedi Who Went Rogue,[5] whose filming was scheduled for late 2017.[6]
Filmography
Year | Film | Directors | Writers | Producers | Rotten Tomatoes Approval Rating |
Metacritic Score | Budget | Worldwide Gross |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1996 | Spy Hard | No | Yes | No | 8%[7] | 25/100[8] | $18 million | $26,960,191[citation needed] |
2000 | Scary Movie | No | Yes | No | 51%[9] | 48/100[10] | $19 million | $278,019,771[citation needed] |
2006 | Date Movie | Yes [a] | Yes | Yes [b] | 7%[11] | 11/100[12] | $20 million | $84,795,656[13] |
2007 | Epic Movie | Yes | Yes | Executive | 2%[14] | 17/100[15] | $86,865,564[16] | |
2008 | Meet the Spartans | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2%[17] | 9/100[18] | $30 million | $84,646,831[19] |
Disaster Movie | Yes | Yes | Yes | 1%[20] | 15/100[21] | $20 million | $34,816,824[22] | |
2010 | Vampires Suck | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4%[23] | 18/100[24] | $80,547,866[25] | |
2013 | The Starving Games[26] | Yes | Yes | No | 0%[27] | $4.5 million | $3,889,688[28] | |
2014 | Best Night Ever[29] | Yes | Yes | Yes | 0%[30] | 17/100[31] | $289,511[32] | |
2015 | Superfast! | Yes | Yes | Yes | $2,075,731[33] |
Other
Year | Film | Notes | Budget | Worldwide Gross |
---|---|---|---|---|
1996 | Maximum Risk | Uncredited rewrite | $25 million | $51,639,438[34] |
2001 | Scary Movie 2 | Based on characters created by | $45 million | $141,220,678 |
2003 | Scary Movie 3 | Based on characters created by; also wrote a draft[1] | $48 million | $220,673,217 |
2006 | Scary Movie 4 | Based on characters created by | $45 million | $178,262,620 |
2013 | Scary Movie 5 | Based on characters created by | $20 million | $78,378,744 |
Recurring cast members
Crista Flanagan and Nick Steele have been the duo's most frequent collaborators, appearing in five of their films, followed by Carmen Electra (4 films) and Tony Cox, Ike Barinholtz, and Diedrich Bader (3 films each).
Awards and nominations
Golden Raspberry Awards
Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | Epic Movie | Worst Prequel or Sequel ("rip-off of every movie it rips off")
|
Nominated |
Worst Screenplay | |||
2009 | Disaster Movie | Worst Picture | |
Worst Prequel or Sequel
| |||
Worst Director | |||
Worst Screenplay | |||
Meet the Spartans | Worst Picture | ||
Worst Prequel or Sequel
| |||
Worst Director | |||
Worst Screenplay | |||
2011 | Vampires Suck | Worst Picture | |
Worst Prequel or Sequel
| |||
Worst Director | |||
Worst Screenplay |
Criticism
The critical reception of Friedberg and Seltzer's directorial efforts have been overwhelmingly negative.
Flavorwire collectively lists the duo's entire filmography at #9 in its list of the 50 worst films of all time, saying:
"You may as well lump them all together, because they all bleed together in cinematic hell: the 'parody' efforts of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, which include Date Movie, Epic Movie, Disaster Movie, Meet the Spartans, Vampires Suck. They're sad, limp affairs that have all but single-handedly reduced the 'spoof movie' from parody to mere quotation: From Napoleon Dynamite to Borat to the 'Leave Britney alone!' guy, no payoff delights these comic geniuses more than cutting away to the flavor of the month, presumably causing the audience to roar with laughter, smack themselves on the forehead, and exclaim, 'Hot damn, how the hell'd the Kardashians end up in thar? Hyuck, hyuck!' Their most recent efforts, the Hunger Games parody The Starving Games and the Hangover riff Best Night Ever, both sunk without a trace, meaning the jig might finally be up for these two rip-off artists."[40]
The two are frequent nominees of the Golden Raspberry Awards. The first was a Worst Screenplay nomination for Epic Movie at the 2007 Razzies[41] and the following year the pair were nominated for Worst Picture, Worst Director, and Worst Screenplay for both Meet the Spartans and Disaster Movie.[42] At the 2011 Razzies, Vampires Suck was nominated for Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, and Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel.
Critic
Critic Nathan Rabin also gave their work an indignant condemnation, calling them "comedy antichrists"[46] and saying about their films:
"Spoof movies, as practiced by the cultural blight that is Seltzer-Friedberg, aren't just troubling from an aesthetic viewpoint. They're horrifying from a moral standpoint as well. The parody of the Zucker brothers and Mel Brooks is defined by love, knowledge, and appreciation: The Zucker brothers and Mel Brooks love, know, and appreciate the source material they're spoofing enough to get all the details perfect. The comedy of Seltzer-Friedberg, in sharp contrast, is defined by contempt: contempt for the attention span, intelligence, maturity, and frame of reference for the audience, and an even more raging contempt for the source material they're spoofing. Friedberg and Seltzer aren't writers; they're comic terrorists who cavalierly destroy what others create for their own ugly self-interest. Their success is entirely dependent on making comedy a dumber, crasser, less dignified place."[47]
Notes
References
- ^ Grantland.com. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
- ^ 3/3/2016 – You Done Quit That Good Job!! by Thepoplifepodcast on Soundcloud
- ^ a b c Stewart, Andrew (August 22, 2010). "'Expendables' tops crowded B.O". Variety.
- ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (May 15, 2014). "Cannes: Spoof Specialists Take On 'Taken' With 'Who The F#@k Took My Daughter?'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
- ^ Chitwood, Adam (February 8, 2017). "'Star Wars' Spoof in the Works from 'Epic Movie' and 'Meet the Spartans' Filmmakers". Retrieved February 8, 2017.
- ^ McNary, Dave (February 8, 2017). "'Star Wars' Spoof 'Star Worlds' in the Works From 'Scary Movie' Duo". Variety. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
- ^ "Spy Hard (1996)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. July 3, 2005. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- ^ "Scary Movie (2000)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. July 7, 2000. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- ^ "Date Movie (2006)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. February 17, 2006. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- ^ "Date Movie on Box Office Mojo". Retrieved October 14, 2010.
- ^ "Epic Movie (2007)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. January 26, 2007. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- ^ "Epic Movie on Box Office Mojo". Retrieved October 14, 2010.
- ^ "Meet the Spartans (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. January 25, 2008. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- ^ "Meet the Spartans on Box Office Mojo". Retrieved October 14, 2010.
- ^ "Disaster Movie (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. August 29, 2008. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- ^ "Disaster Movie on Box Office Mojo". Retrieved October 13, 2010.
- ^ "Vampires Suck (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. August 18, 2010. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- ^ "Vampires Suck Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- ^ "Vampires Suck". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 13, 2010.
- ^ "Hunger Games Gets the Scary Movie Treatment". May 10, 2012.
- ^ "The Starving Games (2013)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. November 8, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- ^ "The Starving Games (2013) – International Box Office Results – Box Office Mojo". Retrieved September 24, 2014.
- ^ "Best Night Ever (2014)". IMDb.com. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
- ^ "Best Night Ever (2014)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. January 31, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- ^ "Best Night Ever (2014) – International Box Office Results – Box Office Mojo". Retrieved September 24, 2014.
- ^ Superfast! – Box Office Mojo
- ^ "Maximum Risk". The Numbers. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
- ^ Catsoulis, Jeannette (January 26, 2008). "Doing Battle on the Field of Parody". The New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
- ^ Scott, A. O. (January 27, 2007). "Bravely Setting Out to Mock Others". The New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
- ^ The 100 Worst Movies of 2008 The Times Retrieved December 12, 2008
- ^ "Worst of the Worst 2009 – Fear Dot Com". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on February 10, 2010. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
- ^ Helen O'Hara; Alastair Plumb; Phil De Semlyen (January 29, 2010). "The 50 Worst Movies Ever". Empire Magazine. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
- ^ "The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made". Flavorwire. September 17, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
- John Wilson (January 21, 2008). "Razzies – 2007 Nominees for Worst Screenplay". Razzie Awards. Archived from the originalon January 26, 2009. Retrieved January 22, 2009.
- ^ John Wilson (January 21, 2009). "RAZZIES.COM 2008 Nominations". Razzie Awards. Retrieved January 22, 2009.
- ^ Levin, Josh (August 28, 2008). "Yet another terrible spoof movie from Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. – By Josh Levin – Slate Magazine". Slate.com. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
- ^ "Film Listings". AustinChronicle.com. September 5, 2008. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
- ^ Vampires Suck Audio Review | Spill.com Archived July 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Rabin, Nathan (March 28, 2008). "Superhero Movie". Film. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ Rabin, Nathan (January 29, 2013). "The surreally incompetent Not Another Not Another Movie is beneath contempt · Dispatches From Direct To DVD Purgatory · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
External links
- Jason Friedberg at IMDb
- Aaron Seltzer at IMDb