November 27th, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving to all you American fans! Geoffrey loves buckles and getting into the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Tomorrow is Paul's Birthday! If you'd like to spread the Birthday cheer to Paul please email me a MS Paint Cupcake to add to the archive. Check out the past entries by clicking the cupcake!

October 1st, 2008
The short film WHEELS OF FURY by Dan and Paul Dinello will screen Thursday October 2 @ 6pm at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago as part of the Chicago Underground Film Festival Retrospective.
164 North State Street
Chicago, Illinois 60601
Tel: 312-846-2600

September 10th, 2008
Hello everyone and apologies for the lack of updates lately! I hope to have something really cool coming up to make up for it.

I hope you're all excited that Paul's latest directorial effort Gym Teacher: The Movie will be premiering on TV on Nickelodeon THIS FRIDAY September 12th, 2008 at 8pm Eastern time. Be sure to check your local listings so you won't miss it. Also be sure to check out the Nick at Nite website (just as a warning, turn down your volume and it's graphics intensive) to see the preview videos including an interview with Amy Sedaris, who co-stars with Christopher Meloni, that is very Jerri Blank. Check out the youtube preview link here.

There have been some good quotes from Christopher Meloni discussing his starring role of Dave Stewie and how he "felt comedically in synch with" Paul, who helped find the essense of the character:

"[Dave Stewie is] inept in so many ways," says Meloni with a laugh. "He's cocky, but there isn't a very strong foundation for that bravado."

When filming began last winter in Vancouver, Meloni was seeking the right mix of silly and straightforward for his portrayal.

"But then I let go, and I said (to Dinello), 'I am just going to get crazy. You tell me when to pull, and when to go.'

"There were times when he pushed me, like when I was playing dodgeball with the kids, and he wanted me to hit a kid with the ball. I said: 'Wouldn't that be a little irresponsible?' He said: 'YOU'RE a big kid!' And I got it.

"I thought he made great choices, and pushed me in good directions." [source]

Paul also talked about casting Amy for her role as the Principal Abby Hoffman:

The minds behind the subversive 1999–2000 cult TV favorite Strangers With Candy are reuniting this fall on... Nickelodeon?! Amy Sedaris will play a screwy principal who gets moony-eyed over a competitive gymnast–turned–PE teacher (Christopher Meloni) in Gym Teacher: The Movie, airing Sept. 12. Strangers co-creator Paul Dinello not only directed the comedy but specifically requested that his longtime collaborator “pack up her wig” and join the movie, which features Meloni as a redemption-seeking athlete who’s up for Gym Teacher of the Year. “I just point her in a direction, wind her up, and magic happens,” says Dinello. “He knows my bag of tricks,” adds Sedaris, who actually did bring along her own “squirrel-colored” wig to play principal Abby Hoffman. And that’s not all: Nickelodeon has already enlisted Dinello to write a movie that will star Sedaris and Chris Kattan (who has a cameo in Gym Teacher) as cringe-inducing parents. Production is set to begin this fall. [source]

 

June 17th, 2008
Remember today Be Kind Rewind is officially released! Check it out at amazon.com.

Also the Gym Teacher promo has been added to Youtube so check it out!

June15th, 2008
Nick.com has a preview up for Gym Teacher: The Movie directed by Paul and starring Christopher Meloni and Amy Sedaris. Unfortunately they don't offer embedded video so you'll have to visit the site to watch it. Just as a fair warning the site is obnoxious, but the preview is definitely worth the hassle just for Amy's part alone. I'm really looking forward to this, I can't wait to see Paul's take on a kid's movie. [If anyone can pull that video and load it on youtube I'd be grateful since I couldn't grab it.]

This isn't entirely on topic, but youtube user colbnan created a joyful Stephen Colbert fanvid featuring his dancing and Paul/Geoffrey make some appearances so I had to link it.

Also, if you are interested in an RSS feed to be notified of site updates, add http://pauldinello.net/pauldinellodotnetfeed.xml to your feed reader of choice.

June 2nd, 2008

Stephen Colbert's audiobook I Am America (And So Can You!), which Paul abridged and appears on, has won the Humor Audie, the awards given for outstanding audiobooks. Congratulations to Paul, Stephen Colbert & all the writers and performers! If you would like to hear the audiobook for yourself check it out at amazon.com. It features several guests including Amy Sedaris David Pasquesi & Greg Hollimon and is "shouted by the author". Thanks to No Fact Zone for the info

Be Kind Rewind will be released on DVD & Blu-ray on June 17th. Paul plays a lawyer, Mr. Rooney, who is trying to put a stop to movies being remade on the cheap. In the Candy Shop there is a fun widget from amazon filled with items of Paul's projects that you can buy. If you buy anything by clicking through a link I get a (very small) referral fee which helps pay for hosting expenses. So if you plan to buy something please consider using my links. Also the widget is just super fun to click on.

Here are some cute quotes that mention Paul that I'd thought I'd share.

From Amy Sedaris' May 08 Bust magazine interview:
"It ’s easy for me to get into a fight with [kids] for some reason. They can just push my buttons. … [Friend and frequent collaborator] Paul Dinello walked in on me once, and I was having an argument on the phone with somebody, which I never do. He goes, ‘Who are you talking to?’ and I go, ‘This f–king three-year-old!’ Someone had sent me some kind of tools in the mail, and I tracked the number down and was asking him, ‘Why’d you send these to me?’ I said, ‘Is your mother home?’ and he kept saying, ‘No!’ and I was like, ‘Oh, right, you’re three and your mom’s not there?’ … It turned out Paul had ordered the tools off eBay from the three-year-old’s parents."

And from Christopher Meloni about why he choose to be the lead in Paul's latest directorial effort Gym Teacher: The Movie.
"I took it because of Paul Dinello (Strangers with Candy). It was nice, funny, and Paul would bring a necessary edge so that it wouldn’t be sappy. It was fun. I play this good, but sometimes flawed, sometimes selfish type character that becomes the hero at the end." [source]

Amy also talks about the possibility of another Strangers With Candy project. I don't think she was being very serious but it's a funny idea regardless. Read the rest of the funny interview for more.

"We've been asked to do a Christmas movie, but [Stephen] Colbert is really busy right now with [The Colbert Report]. I doubt he'd be able to contribute. If Stephen couldn't be involved, it'd be fun to open up with [his character, Charles Noblet's] funeral. He died, and [Paul Dinello's character] Jellineck meets Chris Meloni. They fall in love, and then the ghost of Noblet can haunt them. Jerri would be in some center trying to eat oatmeal... But I want her to have painted-on eyebrows and her hair to be like a coconut, scattered and brittle, like she just aged incredibly. Paul is who he is, and if Paul ever has a flashback, he can look like Andy Samberg. The flashback could be literally the night before, and it'd be like, "God, you've aged 20 years overnight, man!" Maybe Noblet was murdered, but the case would be about accusing me, but no one ever really investigates."