Dance partner
Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky took his dark style to the small screen and gave us four 30 second ads about using methamphetamine. Last year, the director came up with a new commercial for Kohl’s department stores and also presented Jennifer Lopez’s new line of clothing. In the ad, J Lo goes through a series of costume changes as she presents a cover of the Kiki Dee Band’s 1974 semi-hit ‘I Got the Music in Me’.
Two to tango
Last year, we saw Roman Polanski bring out a short film for Prada with Ben Kingsley and Helena Bonham Carter. The film turned out to be captivating and elegant. Now, we have a new Prada short film, for a fragrance this time, Candy L’Eau, directed by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola. Clocking in at precisely the same length as the Polanski piece – three minutes and 31 seconds – the film pays homage to French New Wave love triangles and stars French actress Léa Seydoux. Let’s not forget the 2010 ad by Coppola for the New Yorker magazine, featuring Jason Schwartzman.
List goes on
Last year, his film Moonrise Kingdom opened at the Cannes Film Festival. Yet Wes Anderson finds the time to shoot TV commercials through Moxie Pictures. Anderson, 42, has directed two Hyundai ads and a global spot for Sony Mobile. But these are just a few, from a long list which includes a trippy Stella Artois ad (co-directed with Roman Coppola), a Japanese ad with Brad Pitt, a truly strange series of Ikea spots, and one of the greatest American Express ads ever.
Intimate focus
Guy Ritchie, the director of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, joined hands with football player David Beckham who launched his collaboration with Swedish retailer H&M, a year ago. “I love underwear. It’s as simple as that. We all have to wear it at times so obviously it was something that I wanted to go into, something that I was very passionate about and also something that I created myself,” Beckham had said. Let’s not forget that Ritchie had also directed Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, a game that was introduced for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, last November with Iron Man star, Robert Downey Jr. Ritchie is also said to be working on a Nike ad with actress and singer, Madonna.
Romancing Morocco
Though director-screenwriter Sofia Coppola and actress Natalie Portman have worked together previously for a campaign for Miss Dior Cherie, the pair haven’t started working on onscreen projects yet. Last year, Coppola shot an ad for the Marni collection for H&M. Shot in Morocco and featuring the smouldering model-actress Imogen Poots, Coppola is said to have captured a spectrum of romantic moods. The 41-year-old is also working on a movie, The Bling Ring, starring Emma Watson, Taissa Farmiga and Leslie Mann that is scheduled to release this year.