Representative Albums: "Timeframe," "Released," "In the Pines"
Biography
Todd Phillips has revolutionized the role of the bass in bluegrass music. A founding member, along with Tony Rice, Darol Anger and Joe Carroll, of the innovative David Grisman Quintet, Phillips has gone on to play with such progressive bands as J.D. Crowe & The New South, Psychograss, Montreaux, The Bluegrass Album Band and Kathy Kallick's Little Big Band. A five time winner of the readers' poll conducted by Frets magazine and a two-time Grammy winner, Phillips has been as effective a jazz bassist as he is playing bluegrass. Phillips' three solo albums
Phillips' first instrument was the electric bass, which he began playing at the age of eleven. By the age of fifteen, Phillips was proficient enough on the instrument to make his recording debut. During his senior year of high school, Phillips became enchanted by bluegrass and jazz and switched to the acoustic, stand-up, bass.
Soon after meeting mandolinist David Grisman, Phillips began taking lessons on the mandolin. Jam sessions on Grisman's back porch soon evolved into the Grisman Quintet. Phillips remained with the group for five years.
Career Highlights: The Hangover, Borat, Starsky & Hutch
First Major Screen Credit: Hated: G.G. Allin & the Murder Junkies (1993)
Biography
Raised on a steady diet of such goofy '80s comedy staples as Revenge of the Nerds (1984), Stripes (1981), and Just One of the Guys (1985), fearless filmmaker Todd Phillips didn't even see a Bergman or Welles film until he hit his early twenties -- a fact that's relentlessly obvious when watching his debut fiction feature, the raunchy retro-reeking teen-comedy Road Trip. Born Todd Bunzel in Long Island, NY, and inspired by his junk-food movie addiction, Phillips enrolled in N.Y.U. to pursue a career as a filmmaker. Fascinated by the revolting antics of extreme punk rocker G.G. Allin, Phillips set out to film a documentary about the controversial feces-slinging musician while still a student at N.Y.U. With such a unique subject matter to begin with, it would have been hard to make the documentary uninteresting, though with Phillips' no-holds-barred, guerilla approach and keen editing skills, the film became an instant underground sensation (pegged by many as a funnier, true-to-life version of Spinal Tap) and paved the way for Phillips to continue honing his notable documentarian skills. After next producing an insightful look into the life of Screw magazine publisher Al Goldstein (Screwed) in 1996, Phillips returned to the director's chair with a scathing and unflinchingly graphic portrayal of college hazing rituals in Frat House (1998). Produced as an installment of HBO's popular America Undercover series, the film took the Grand Jury Prize for Documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival before becoming marred in controversy and shelved by HBO due to questions of authenticity and complaints from the subjects. Asked to leave and later threatened with physical harm by their subjects in a jarring scene, Phillips and partner Andrew Gurland were forced to continue production by finding another willing fraternity and actually taking part in the extreme hazing process (Gurland was later hospitalized as a result of one of the rituals), a situation Phillips claims to have given him a new perspective by breaking the boundaries and actually experiencing that which he documented. Though he admits to feelings of disappointment over the fact that the film never reached a large audience, the film continues to circulate heavily on the gray market and Phillips continues to push for a suitable release for the acclaimed film. It wasn't long before Phillips decided to expand his horizons, and after meeting producer Ivan Reitman and directing polarizing MTV funnyman Tom Green in a series of Pepsi One commercials, the established documentary filmmaker made a leap to fictional features with Road Trip in 2000. Simultaneously producing and directing Bittersweet Motel, a documentary on musical cult phenomenon Phish, Phillips' debut feature gained a lukewarm reception at the box office though his further documentary pursuits gained positive receptions from legions of rabid Phish-heads. Regardless of the less-than overzealous reaction to Road Trip, Phillips continued his celluloid tributes to the zany comedies of the Me decade with Old School in 2002. The unabashedly low-brow comedy proved a hit at the box office thanks in no small part to a fearless comic performance by former Saturday Night Live leading-man Will Ferrell, and it wasn't long before Phillips was gearing up for his next feature comedy.
If Road Trip and Old School only hinted at referencing the "anything goes" comedies of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Phillips' next film would find him taking the helm for a direct (at least in name) remake of the beloved 1970s cop show Starsky & Hutch. With Ben Stiller stepping into Paul Michael Glaser's wooly sweater and Owen Wilson donning David Soul's trademark 1970s mop top, it seemed as if everything were in place for another comedy hit. Though anticipation ran high for Phillips' version of Starsky & Hutch, the excitement was somewhat dampened by the fact that the film received only fair to middling reviews upon release in early 2003. Nevertheless, Phillips would stick with frequent screenwriter Scot Armstrong to tell the tale of a shy meter-reader who enrolls in a confidence-building class in order to get the attention of the girl he longs for, only to discover that his teacher also has eyes for the girl, in a modern-day adaptation of the 1960 comedy School for Scoundrels or How to Win Without Actually Cheating! entitled The Better Man in 2006. With a cast that included Billy Bob Thornton and Napoleon Dynamite sensation Jon Heder - as well as an impressive supporting cast of comic talents including David Cross, Sarah Silverman, and Luis Guzmán - Phillips kept audiences laughing as he began preparations for the eagerly anticipated sequel to his 2003 hit Old School. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Around this time, Phillips worked in St. Mark's Place at an all-night video store that specialized in explicit material and hard to find films.[citation needed]
Phillips also appeared as one of the drivers in the first seasons of Taxicab Confessions on HBO.[2]
Filmmaker
His first film was the feature-length documentary Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies, about the life and death of punk rocker GG Allin. Phillips made the film while a junior at NYU and it went on to become one of the biggest grossing student films at the time, even getting a limited theatrical release.[1]
Phillips followed that up with Frat House a documentary about college fraternities that he produced and directed with then-partner, Andrew Gurland. Frat House premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival and would win the Grand Jury Prize for documentary features.[3]
Bittersweet Motel (2000) was Phillips' third documentary and centered on the infamous jam band, Phish. It covered the band's summer and fall 1997 tours, plus footage from their 1998 spring tour of Europe. The documentary ends at the The Great Went, a giant two-day festival held in upstate Maine which attracted 70,000 people.
While at Sundance with Frat House, Phillips met director-producer Ivan Reitman, which led to Phillips writing and directing his first two features, Road Trip and Old School, for Reitmans' Montecito Picture Company.
In 2005 Details Magazine cited Judd Apatow, Adam McKay and Todd Phillips as "The Frat Packagers",[4]
Phillips worked on Borat (2006); however, he resigned his position as director of the movie in early 2005, due to creative differences.[5] Nevertheless, he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for his role in fashioning the story.
In 2009, Phillips directed and produced The Hangover which was made for a reported $35 million dollars. The film went on to become the highest grossing R-Rated Comedy of all time. It's worldwide gross currently stands at $460 million dollars.[6]
Acting
In the film Road Trip he made an appearance as "Foot Lover on Bus". He is wearing a track suit and a curly black wig.
He made a cameo near the start of Old School and is at the door asking "I'm, uh, here for the gangbang" and is credited as "Gang Bang Guy". Again he is wearing a track suit and the same curly black wig.
Phillips also appeared briefly in The Hangover. His character Mr. Creepy is dressed in a tracksuit and is wearing a black curly wig. He is seen as the elevator doors open, he appears to have been crouched in front of her.
