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Pretty funny. I suspect plenty of young directors have financed their early student films and shorts thanks to a decent credit card account - maybe Wes is paying off some debt? Or acknowledging that a piece of plastic can be helpful to up-and-comers without studio backing or grants? I'm sure he doesn't mind the money, either....

Antoine Doinel wrote:I'm pretty sure Wes Anderson did a commercial for Ikea a few years ago as well. So did Spike Jonze if I recall. And Spike Lee has definitely done his fair share of commerical work as well. Hey, if it helps fund their films I'm all for it.

Wes's films LOOK like an IKEA commercial so that makes sense.

As for this campaign, so far Wes and M. Knight have made commercials. It would be nice if some other directors did one as well.

Antoine Doinel wrote:I'm pretty sure Wes Anderson did a commercial for Ikea a few years ago as well. So did Spike Jonze if I recall. And Spike Lee has definitely done his fair share of commerical work as well. Hey, if it helps fund their films I'm all for it.

Exactly. Not to mention David Lynch has directed many commercials as well.I read somewhere that he does 'em to test out new cameras/equipment.

A bunch of those David Lynch commercials can be found at You Tube. I was watching a few of them last night. Good old David Lynch.
I didn't catch that Day For Night reference in the Wes Anderson commercial. Thanks for pointing it out.

I want to say Robert Altman has done a bunch of commercials as well.

And don't forget Errol Morris, who did a great campaign for the 2004 election and they were all scraped. You can watch them at his website.

justeleblanc wrote:I want to say Robert Altman has done a bunch of commercials as well.

And don't forget Errol Morris, who did a great campaign for the 2004 election and they were all scraped. You can watch them at his website.

...and Martin Scorsese's DeNiro AmEx commercial, plus Kurosawa's Suntory commercials included on the Kagemusha dvd, Spike Lee's Nike commercials, Michel Gondry has made some amazing commercials included in his Director's Label dvd, Tim Burton's gnome commercial, etc.

justeleblanc wrote:I want to say Robert Altman has done a bunch of commercials as well.

And don't forget Errol Morris, who did a great campaign for the 2004 election and they were all scraped. You can watch them at his website.

Errol morris has done a TON of commercials. Basically any commercial where someone is speaking and looking directly into the camera in front of a white background is problably him. The funny Miller High-Life commercials are him too, the Apple switcher campaign, PBS-HD commercials... many many more

Didn't Wes do some commercials with people dressed in bear suits? Can't remember what they were for, were those the IKEA ones?

redbill wrote:Didn't Wes do some commercials with people dressed in bear suits? Can't remember what they were for, were those the IKEA ones?

Dasani bottled water. I didn't think the Dasani spots were that great, but I really like the American Express one (even though I'm not a huge Day for Night fan).

justeleblanc wrote:That's DAY FOR NIGHT in the background... right?

Actually the whole thing's a DAY FOR NIGHT tribute. Just about every move he makes was made by Truffaut in the film.

I bet Hou Hsiao Hsien would never make a commercial.

Barmy wrote:I bet Hou Hsiao Hsien would never make a commercial.

No, but he runs a sex service on the side called "Blow an Auteur"

Cronenberg did a Nike commercial years ago. It even had a shoe in a pod, if I remember correctly.

Michael Mann even directed a commercial for Mercedes-Benz starring Benicio Del Toro...

Wong Kar-wai does it too. And why not? It's a way to fund your next film. Believe it or not, making films cost MONEY. And money for independent films nowadays is getting less and less. I totally don't blame people for making commercials.

Michael Mann could make commercials about tuna free baby dolphin burgers and it would be ok with me.

Grimfarrow wrote:Wong Kar-wai does it too. And why not? It's a way to fund your next film. Believe it or not, making films cost MONEY. And money for independent films nowadays is getting less and less. I totally don't blame people for making commercials.

Which of these directors personally funds their next film?

Wong. He produces his own films, and hepartly funds his own projects.

Grimfarrow wrote:Wong Kar-wai does it too. And why not? It's a way to fund your next film. Believe it or not, making films cost MONEY. And money for independent films nowadays is getting less and less. I totally don't blame people for making commercials.

Well, the impression I get from filmmakers like Lynch is that its almost a form of creative exercising, keeps 'em on their game in between films.

Jean-Luc Godard and Sven Nykvist both directed Nike commercials with music by John Zorn.

Speaking of Wong, and commercials, and all that jazz, don't forget the BMW films (The Hire). You used to be able to get a free DVD of them through BMW's website. Some of them are surprisingly good (though Ang Lee's is, if I recall, pretty awful).

Fletch F. Fletch wrote: Well, the impression I get from filmmakers like Lynch is that its almost a form of creative exercising, keeps 'em on their game in between films.

Yeah. If I remember correctly, Lynch said that he did the PS2 ads (someone correct me if I'm way off here) so that he could play around a bit with some of the newest technology, CGI and whatnot, stuff that he doesn't usually have a use for in his own films. And I guess it paid well.

I liked the Wes Anderson commercial, the beginning was hilarious. Also watched the M.Night Shyamalan AmEx commercial, which was pretty awful (not a big surprise, but still).

Len wrote:Also watched the M.Night Shyamalan AmEx commercial, which was pretty awful (not a big surprise, but still).

Agreed. Wow is that one painful.

Woody Allen and Federico Fellini both directed commercials (both for Italian products). Ingmar Bergman directed some commercials too, didn't he?

The Wes Anderson commercial is fun, and Georges Delerue's music is a nice touch. Wes seems to be trying to look like Leaud a bit too, no?

Andre Jurieu wrote:

Len wrote:Also watched the M.Night Shyamalan AmEx commercial, which was pretty awful (not a big surprise, but still).

Agreed. Wow is that one painful.

I never saw that. What was the plot twist?

"Georges Delerue's music is a nice touch" - Sheesh, I never even noticed that one. Now I feel like an idiot.
Great shout out to those commercials with music by Zorn. The CD those cues show up on isn't too bad.