U of M touts famous teacher
Film director Tom Shadyac offers service
From “Nutty Professor” to Bluff City professor?
In something of a coup for the University of Memphis, film director Tom Shadyac — whose movie comedies have grossed close to $2 billion worldwide — will teach a course this semester titled “Storytelling and Life.”
Shadyac’s credits as a director include such Jim Carrey, Robin Williams and Eddie Murphy hits as “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,” “Patch Adams,” “Bruce Almighty,” “The Nutty Professor” and “Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.”
Shadyac, 54, has taught courses on screenwriting and other topics for several years at California’s Pepperdine University. In a recent meeting with David Cox, executive assistant in the president’s office at the U of M, Shadyac essentially volunteered to teach for a semester in Memphis because of his familiarity with the city: His brother, Richard Shadyac Jr., is the current CEO of ALSAC, the fundraising arm of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a job previously held by Richard’s and Tom’s father.
“He just likes to do this, and we were fortunate enough he wants to do it here,” said Dr. Richard Ranta, dean of the U of M College of Communication and Fine arts. “He’s donating his services — we’re not paying him a nickel.”
This altruism apparently is typical of the post-blockbuster Shadyac. In recent years, the filmmaker has traded “consumerism for compassion,” as he writes in his recent memoir, “Life’s Operating Manual.” He’s given up Hollywood comedies to make philosophical documentaries with a positive message, such as the autobiographical “I Am,” inspired by a serious bicycle accident that caused him to examine his movie-industry lifestyle.
Shadyac’s quickly approved course, which begins Thursday, “will use film, both documentary and narrative, as an access point to start a conversation about the power of story, and to introduce each student to the story they are telling with their lives,” according to an e-mail sent Wednesday by the U of M to College of Communication and Fine Arts students.
At Shadyac’s request, the course was limited to 25 students, Ranta said. It immediately filled up. The course will meet every Thursday night through December.