Todd Phillips Wiki Biography
Todd Phillips (mother’s maiden name) was born Todd Bunzl on 20 December 1970, in New York USA, and is a screenwriter and film director, producer as well as an occasional actor, probably best known for directing films include Old School, Due Date, and Road Trip. He is also the director of the very popular comedy film trilogy The Hangover. Project X, another comedy with international success, is also Todd Phillips` movie. Undoubtedly, these accomplishments have boosted Todd Phillips’ net worth to a solid amount.
So how rich is Todd Phillips? Currently, Todd Phillips’ net worth has been estimated at $80 million. Clearly Todd Phillips wealth has reached such a large amount mostly because of his contributions to the film industry.
Todd Phillips Net Worth $80 Million
Todd Phillips studied at the New York University Film School, for some time in the mid-90s, but was so keen on directing his own movie entitled Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies that he stopped attending classes. His reward was that this biographical movie on GG Allin, a famous person in the music industry, was actually acknowledged as the best movie made by a student, not a professional, so Todd Phillips had a very successful beginning in the film and music industry leading to international fame and considerable net worth.
Frat House was another Todd movie, released in 1998 and shown at the Sundance Film Festival wherein Todd received the Grand Jury Prize for his work. The following Phillips film was a documentary named Bittersweet Motel. The main subject of this documentary was Phish, one of the bands. These early documentaries were easily successful enough for Todd to pursue a career in film directing, and also helped Todd to add large revenues to his early net worth. As mentioned, ‘Todd Bunzl’ sometimes appears as an actor too, usually in cameo roles. As such, he performed in Road Trip, Old School, and Due Date. In The Hangover (2009), Todd played Mr. Creepy. Phillips appeared in the third part of The Hangover, too and Todd also starred in Frat House, and Starsky and Hutch.
Todd Phillips has directed many other well known movies, including Starsky and Hutch (2004), and School for Scoundrels (2006), which he also wrote, thus increasing the total amount of his net worth. Actually, Todd was also supposed to work with a team on the production of Borat, however he left the project soon after starting simply because of creative disagreements between team members.
The Hangover trilogy is known for such actors as Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, and Ken Jeong. The modest budget consisted of approximately $218,000, yet The Hangover Part II grossed about $32 million. With such a great amount, it even replaced Sex and the City as the highest earning series which grossed over $26 million. The Project X cast includes Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper and Jonathan Daniel Brown.
interestingly, Todd himself has admitted that he shoplifted when he was a teenager! Perhaps this is also why Todd keeps his personal life very private!?
| Full Name | Todd Phillips |
| Net Worth | $80 Million |
| Date Of Birth | December 20, 1970 |
| Place Of Birth | New York City, New York, United States |
| Height | 6 ft (1.83 m) |
| Profession | Film director, Screenwriter, Film Producer, Actor |
| Education | New York University, Tisch School of the Arts |
| Nationality | American |
| Parents | Lorette Phillips, Peter Bunzl |
| Siblings | Jill Ginsberg |
| Nicknames | Todd Bunzl , Todd Bunzel |
| https://www.instagram.com/toddphillips1/ | |
| IMDB | http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0680846 |
| Allmusic | www.allmusic.com/artist/todd-phillips-mn0000488351 |
| Awards | Grand Jury Prize |
| Music Groups | Big Spike Hammer, Model Church, Spin The Bottle, David Grisman Quintet, Bluegrass Album Band, Psychograss, Montreux, Bullet LaVolta |
| Nominations | Academy Award for Best Writing Adapted Screenplay (2007), Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (2007) |
| Movies | The Hangover (2009), Old School (2003), Due Date (20100, Road Trip (2000), War Dogs (2016) |
| TV Shows | Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies (1994), Taxicab Confessions (1995) |
| Trademark | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Often makes coming of age comedies |
| 2 | Frequently casts Matt Walsh, ‘Juliette Lewis’, Zach Galifianakis, Vince Vaughn, and Will Ferrell. |
| 3 | A scene where characters encounter an animal |
| 4 | Uses famous actors in a cameo |
| Title | Salary |
|---|---|
| The Hangover Part II (2011) | $15,000,000 |
| Quote | |
|---|---|
| 1 | You’re only as good as your body of work, and everybody has issues, whether it’s Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese. I’m not comparing myself to those guys, but you learn more from the misses than the hits. |
| 2 | I think reviewers have become particularly venomous because, in a way, the power has been sucked from them. A 15-year-old can write a review on the Internet and it means as much as Roger Ebert’s review, and that just makes Roger Ebert mad, so he comes out harder and stronger. |
| 3 | I take it very seriously, music. I think it’s one of the tools that a director has with which to kind of paint. The right music can sometimes do five pages of scripted dialogue. |
| 4 | I tend to make movies about my peer group. I couldn’t see myself now going back and making a movie about a bunch of college kids, necessarily. I kind of always operate in the things I’m observing around me, whether it’s friends having babies now in my life or what have you. |
| 5 | I remember that when I got to NYU, everyone was writing scripts. But I was 18 at the time, and when you write a script, so much of it is about what you pull from life, and this sounds sort of cheesy, but I felt like I didn’t have enough life experience at that point to write a movie. |
| 6 | Well, it’s so cheesy to say but you can’t find a comedy director who makes movies for critics. When a movie does $580 million worldwide, I’m not saying that proves anything except people were enjoying the experience. |
| 7 | When I’m writing, I’m writing for a particular actor. When a lot of writers are writing, they’re writing an idea. So they’re not really writing in a specific voice. |
| 8 | With comedy especially, it feels like such a clear-cut thing to be a writer-director. There is so much nuance and tone in a comedy that it’s hard to contextualise it in a script. |
| 9 | When I was younger I didn’t really know what a director did: I knew I loved movies and I figured the actors made it up! And then when you get to 12 years old you start thinking, What does a director do? It was really an organic beginning: this looks like something I want to do, I can’t believe people get paid to do it! |
| 10 | I like – there’s a better word for it, but I like the danger that a comic brings to a role. It has a feeling, even though everything’s scripted and everything’s planned what you’re going to do. When I see Will Ferrell or Sacha Baron Cohen, there’s a feeling that anything could happen. |
| 11 | Not every movie has to serve as every audience member’s need for completion. |
| 12 | When I was younger I was obsessed with ‘Star 80,’ and it’s just a great movie – I think I saw it three times in the theater. |
| 13 | You set the tone on the set that you want to see in the film. |
| 14 | John Goodman’s pretty dark – I love John Goodman. |
| 15 | I think comedy directors tend to feel a need to justify the bad behavior, and I just never think that. I like bad behavior, I’ve always liked bad behavior, I’m a fan of bad behavior, and I don’t think you have to justify bad behavior. |
| 16 | I’m first and foremost a company man, surprising as that is. I love Warner Brothers. That’s where I have a deal. That’s where I’ve been for years. So I don’t really interact too much with other studios and do things with other studios and I don’t necessarily read scripts from other studios. |
| 17 | There are movie sites that love movies and there are movie sites that are just bitter people that just hate movies. I find Movieline to be in the latter. The tone is bizarrely hateful. |
| 18 | I’m not a huge fan of 3-D, though. Honestly, I think that movies are an immersive experience and an audience experience. There’s nothing like seeing a film with 500 people in a theater. And there’s something about putting on 3-D glasses that makes it a very singular experience for me. Suddenly I’m not connected to the audience anymore. |
| 19 | I think any filmmaker looks back and thinks, ‘Boy, if we only had four hours more on that day when the sun was going down,’ or, ‘If we only spent more time and went back.’ |
| 20 | I’d love to do a movie with females in it, and not necessarily the female version of ‘The Hangover,’ but I’d love to. If I did it it’d star Juliette Lewis, because she’s the funniest woman in the world. She’s my favorite actress on the planet. If we did a character-based comedy about women, I don’t see it out of my range. |
| 21 | Comedies are just never that expensive quite frankly. They really aren’t. We aren’t doing green screen shooting, so even Hangover II in Bangkok might seem like it’s expensive, you’re flying over and back, but they’re just not that expensive to make when you do it the way we do it which is very focused and I’ve done it before. |
| 22 | I think that ‘Hangover II’ is as funny as ‘The Hangover I,’ honest to God, but I think that it’s a little bit darker, and the stakes are a little bit higher. |
| 23 | ‘The Hangover’ was lightening in a bottle. We’re aware of that. It went through the roof all over the world. |
| 24 | I never had a ton of male friends and it’s always been something that’s really interesting to me, what brings guys together? The bonding. ‘Old School’ is a good example of that. And even ‘Starsky’ and even ‘Road Trip.’ |
| 25 | I think people like comedies and I think concept driven comedies seem to be working when it’s a clear concept and you deliver funny stuff. |
| 26 | I just love the look of film. But I have nothing against HD. |
| 27 | All my movies, as I get the ability to do it, they tend to go a little darker, a little darker. |
| 28 | I don’t have a horror film in me just because I don’t like to be scared. But I definitely have a documentary in me, and I certainly have dramas. |
| 29 | I was taught that you didn’t want to be part of the group – that it was better to do your own thing. |
| 30 | My dog’s a gentleman. |
| 31 | Reality television hasn’t killed documentaries, because there are so many great documentaries still being made, but it certainly has changed the landscape. There is this breed of gimmicky documentary that is basically a reality show. |
| 32 | Comedy is so subjective. You could be in a room with 400 people laughing at a joke and you could just not think it’s funny. You’re just sitting there like, ‘Am I in the twilight zone? Why is everyone laughing?’ It’s such a personal thing. People have such a personal visceral response to comedy. |
| 33 | It’s heartbreaking when you hear a kid buying a ticket for… I don’t know, whatever movie you’re up against. And you see them sneaking into your film. It’s just heartbreaking. But in the spirit of full disclosure, that is what I did as an 11-year-old sneaking into ‘Stripes.’ |
| 34 | I find I like to work with a lot of the same actors, because I find that there’s sort of shorthand there, and there is this unspoken trust, both ways. They trust me and I trust them. And I know what I’m going to get from them, to an extent. It’s just fun, kind of creating this little family. |
| 35 | I really got into filmmaking through photography. |
| 36 | It’s all about escapism. That’s essentially what all movies are about. It’s a vicarious thrill. |
| 37 | There’s a darkness under ‘The Hangover’ because ultimately there’s a missing person and it’s not really that funny. There’s a sort of darkness under it that I love, and still people are laughing as hard if not harder than they did in ‘Old School.’ |
| 38 | Directors tend to be more underrated than overrated because it’s a quiet job and people don’t really understand it. |
| 39 | Bangkok, like Las Vegas, sounds like a place where you make bad decisions. |
| 40 | I got nominated for an Academy Award(R) for writing ‘Borat.’ |
| 41 | There’s a punk-rock attitude, clearly, to ‘Hated.’ There’s even a punk-rock attitude to ‘The Hangover,’ I think. We start the movie with a Glenn Danzig song. |
| 42 | To be honest with you, since ‘Ocean’s 11,’ ‘The Hangover’ has become a movie that defines Vegas. Anybody in Vegas will tell you that and I’m proud of it. I love that. I think ‘Hangover’ does Vegas right and I think that not only, as you said, it’s the top-grossing R-rated comedy of all-time, it’s also the top-grossing about Vegas or set in Vegas. |
| 43 | You know, if I started worrying about what the critics think, I’d never make another comedy. You couldn’t pick a less funny group than critics – you couldn’t find a more bitter group of people! |
| 44 | The worst thing you can do as a comedy director is be on set and think of something ridiculous, or an actor comes up to you with something ridiculous, and you say ‘No, no that’s too much.’ Let’s not worry if that’s too much, let’s shoot it, and then decide if that’s too much when we see it. |
| 45 | [ on Ed Helms] It’s been said comedy is not action, it’s reaction, and Ed is the KIng of Reaction. Ed, when he wakes up and sees his tattoo on his face or his tooth is missing, or at the end of the movie – no one does reaction better than Ed. He’s the unsung hero of these movies. |
| Fact | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Frequently uses the music of Bill Withers and Wolfmother in his movies. |
| 2 | Has cast Matt Walsh in all of his movies. |
| 3 | A co-creator of the New York Underground Film Festival (along with Andrew Gurland), Phillips was an expert at playing the media and causing sensation. He made a name for himself with Hated: GG Allin & the Murder Junkies (1993) and latched on to the controversy surrounding the documentary ChickenHawk (1994). |
| 4 | Originally meant to direct Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006); however, he quit the production after shooting the infamous rodeo/”Star Spangled Banner” scene, due to creative differences with Sacha Baron Cohen. |
| 5 | Attended NYU Film School but dropped out before graduation to promote his first documentary Hated: GG Allin & the Murder Junkies (1993). |
Producer
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Star Is Born | 2018 | producer pre-production | |
| Atlantic Wall | executive producer pre-production | ||
| Black Flags | TV Mini-Series executive producer announced | ||
| War Dogs | 2016 | producer | |
| Limitless | 2015-2016 | TV Series executive producer – 19 episodes | |
| The Hangover Part III | 2013 | producer | |
| Project X | 2012 | producer | |
| The Hangover Part II | 2011 | producer | |
| Due Date | 2010 | producer | |
| The Hangover | 2009 | producer | |
| The More Things Change… | 2008 | TV Movie executive producer | |
| School for Scoundrels | 2006 | producer | |
| All the King’s Men | 2006 | executive producer | |
| Old School | 2003 | producer | |
| Bittersweet Motel | 2000 | Documentary producer | |
| Frat House | 1998 | Documentary producer | |
| Taxicab Confessions | 1997 | TV Series field producer – 1 episode | |
| Screwed | 1996 | Documentary producer | |
| Hated: GG Allin & the Murder Junkies | 1993 | Documentary producer |
Director
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| War Dogs | 2016 | directed by | |
| The Hangover Part III | 2013 | ||
| The Hangover Part II | 2011 | ||
| Due Date | 2010 | ||
| The Hangover | 2009 | ||
| The More Things Change… | 2008 | TV Movie | |
| School for Scoundrels | 2006 | ||
| Starsky & Hutch | 2004 | ||
| Starsky & Hutch: A Last Look | 2004 | Video short | |
| Old School | 2003 | ||
| Bittersweet Motel | 2000 | Documentary | |
| Road Trip | 2000 | ||
| Frat House | 1998 | Documentary | |
| Hated: GG Allin & the Murder Junkies | 1993 | Documentary |
Writer
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| War Dogs | 2016 | screenplay | |
| The Hangover Part III | 2013 | written by | |
| The Hangover Part II | 2011 | written by | |
| Due Date | 2010 | screenplay | |
| Road Trip: Beer Pong | 2009 | Video motion picture “Road Trip” | |
| School for Scoundrels | 2006 | screenplay | |
| Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan | 2006 | story | |
| Starsky & Hutch | 2004 | screenplay | |
| Old School | 2003 | screenplay / story | |
| Road Trip | 2000 | written by | |
| Hated: GG Allin & the Murder Junkies | 1993 | Documentary by |
Actor
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Off Camera with Sam Jones | 2016 | TV Series | |
| The Hangover Part II | 2011 | Mr. Creepy (uncredited) | |
| Due Date | 2010 | Barry | |
| The Hangover | 2009 | Mr. Creepy | |
| Old School | 2003 | Gang Bang Guy | |
| Road Trip | 2000 | Foot Lover |
Soundtrack
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mike & Mike | 2015-2016 | TV Series writer – 3 episodes | |
| The Hangover Part II | 2011 | lyrics: “Alantown to the tune of ‘Allentown'” | |
| The Hangover | 2009 | writer: “Stu’s Song” | |
| Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan | 2006 | lyrics: “O Kazakhstan” 2006 |
Music Department
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Due Date | 2010 | music consultant |
Thanks
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Words | 2012 | special thanks | |
| The Promotion | 2008 | special thanks | |
| The Motel | 2005 | thanks |
Self
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Made in Hollywood | 2016 | TV Series | Himself |
| Good Morning America | 2016 | TV Series | Himself – Guest |
| The Late Late Show with James Corden | 2016 | TV Series | Himself |
| Domingo Legal | 2013 | TV Series | Himself |
| Vivir de cine | 2013 | TV Series | Himself |
| Reel Junkie | 2013 | TV Series | Himself |
| Up Close with Carrie Keagan | 2009-2013 | TV Series | Himself |
| The Hollywood Fast Lane | 2013 | TV Series | Himself – Interviewee |
| Guys Choice Awards 2012 | 2012 | TV Special | Himself |
| MSN Exclusives | 2012 | TV Series | Himself (2013) |
| The Unauthorized Documentary, Hangover Part II | 2011 | Documentary | Himself |
| Breakfast | 2011 | TV Series | Himself – Director |
| Conan | 2011 | TV Series | Himself – Guest |
| In the House with Peter Bart & Peter Guber | 2011 | TV Series | |
| Janela Indiscreta | 2010 | TV Series | Himself |
| Ask Rhod Gilbert | 2010 | TV Series | Himself |
| Guys Choice | 2010 | TV Movie | Himself |
| The 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards | 2010 | TV Special | Himself – Winner: Best Motion Picture – Musical / Comedy |
| 15th Annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards | 2010 | TV Special | Himself |
| Deep Inside | 2009 | TV Series | Himself |
| Howard Stern on Demand | 2006 | TV Series | Himself – Judge |
| Film School | 2004 | TV Series | Himself |
| HBO First Look | 2004 | TV Series documentary | Himself |
| Starsky & Hutch: A Last Look | 2004 | Video short | Himself |
| ‘Old School’ Orientation | 2003 | Video short | Himself |
| Inside the Actors Studio Spoof | 2003 | Video short | Himself |
| Taxicab Confessions | 1995-1996 | TV Series | Himself – Taxi Driver / Taxi Driver |
| The Geraldo Rivera Show | 1992 | TV Series | Himself |
Archive Footage
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lennon or McCartney | 2014 | Documentary short | Himself |
Won Awards
| Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | AFI Award | AFI Awards, USA | Movie of the Year | The Hangover (2009) |
| 2010 | ShoWest Award | ShoWest Convention, USA | Director of the Year | |
| 1998 | Certificate of Merit | San Francisco International Film Festival | Film & Video – Sociology-U.S. | Frat House (1998) |
| 1998 | Grand Jury Prize | Sundance Film Festival | Documentary | Frat House (1998) |
| 1994 | Lumiere Award | New Orleans Film Festival | Documentary Film | Hated: GG Allin & the Murder Junkies (1993) |
Nominated Awards
| Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Hollywood Movie Award | Hollywood Film Awards | The Hangover Part III (2013) | |
| 2009 | British Comedy Award | British Comedy Awards | Best Comedy Film | The Hangover (2009) |
| 2007 | Oscar | Academy Awards, USA | Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay | Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) |
| 2007 | WGA Award (Screen) | Writers Guild of America, USA | Best Adapted Screenplay | Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) |