Tom Shadyac and Happy

I thought I blogged about this earlier, but I don't see it so here goes.

Shadyac was the director of movies such as Ace Ventura and Bruce Almighty.  But then had a bicycle accident that changed his life.

He sold his possessions and made the documentary I Am (available on Netflix, hulu, snagfilms).

I remember learning about him on Oprah.

Anyway, I went searching for my blog entry (that apparently never existed) as I was watching the movie Happy on Netflix (also available on Hulu and HitBliss/Amazon.com) and saw that Shadyac was involved.  I thought he might have created the movie, but looking it up, he was one of the producers.

Here's the wikipedia description.

Happy is a 2011 feature documentary film directed, written, and co-produced by Academy Award nominated film-maker Roko Belic. It explores human happiness through interviews with people from all walks of life in 14 different countries, weaving in the newest findings of positive psychology.

Director Roko Belic was originally inspired to create the film after producer/director Tom Shadyac (Liar, Liar, Patch Adams, Bruce Almighty) showed him an article in the New York Times entitled "A New Measure of Well Being From a Happy Little Kingdom" [which talks about Bhutan]. The article ranks the United States as the 23rd happiest country in the world. Shadyac then suggested that Belic make a documentary about happiness. Belic spent several years interviewing over 20 people, ranging from leading happiness researchers to a rickshaw driver in Kolkatta, a family living in a cohousing community in Denmark, a woman who was run over by a truck, a Cajun fisherman, and more.