by Fred Topel
“It’s becoming almost survival of the kindest.”
– Tom Shadyac
Director Tom Shadyac is playing up the fact that the director of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective has made a philosophical documentary. It shouldn’t be such a shock to people. Anyone deserves a voice in matters of humanity, and someone who’s already in touch with how to inspire laughter and happiness doubly so.
A bicycle accident left Shadyac with Post Concussion Syndrome. The resulting hypersensitivity to light and sound made it impossible for him to even go outside. Thinking he was near the end, Shadyac began pondering what he would leave the world. Then, the symptoms subsided, leaving him empowered to turn his question into a film.
In I Am, Shadyac interviews great thinkers like Noam Chomsky, Desmond Tutu, Lynne McTaggart, and the late Howard Zinn, and finds out that the individualism of modern society is counter natural. In nature, flocks and herds act in the interest of the group, not the alpha.
Shadyac gave me a hug after discussing these concepts further with him. ” I like talking about comedy, but I need to talk about compassion,” he told me. For the themes that went beyond the film, when answers failed Shadyac, he had some interesting ideas about new constructive questions we could ask.
Read our exclusive interview with Tom Shadyac on SuicideGirls.com.
