By the time this column appears, election results should be known, including the final outcome for California’s Proposition 71, which, if passed, would provide nearly $300 million annually for 10 years to fund stem cell research.
Whatever the voters decide, a TV spot in favor of Proposition 71 has clearly made its mark. The commercial features actor/ director Christopher Reeve, who did so much to raise public awareness of issues impacting the disabled community. The :30 was shot about a week before Reeve died of heart failure on Oct. 10.
Even after his passing, paraplegic Reeve—a strong, articulate advocate of embryonic stem cell research—continues to touch people’s hearts and minds by campaigning for the rights of the physically challenged. Backers of Proposition 71 believe stem cells hold the potential key to successful treatment of varied afflictions, such as paralysis and diabetes.
In the spot, Reeve looks directly into the camera and relates, "Stem cells have already cured paralysis in animals. Please support Proposition 71 and stand up for those who can’t."
Kathy Lewin, chief executive of the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, stated in the San Francisco Chronicle that Reeve’s "family and foundation wanted the people of California to see his recently recorded message."
The commercial parallels a Reeve-directed TV movie, The Brooke Ellison Story, which debuted on A&E shortly after his passing. Based on the true story of a young quadriplegic who overcame her disability to graduate with honors from Harvard, the film is moving and inspiring. Much like Reeve’s life, The Brooke Ellison Story shows how progress and hope can emerge from despair and adversity.
Also springing from a tragic setback can be gratitude and luck. Reeve had stepped up his commitment to directing in recent years. He became active as a spot helmer and in an interview with SHOOT in 2000, five years after his horseriding accident, Reeve said of being able to direct: "I’m very, very lucky because I’ve just been able to shift gears [to directing] and still be able to stay in the business I love, when so many people lose their livelihood and are just dependent on insurance or court settlements."
As an actor, Reeve also made a positive impact in roles that were of lower profile than his Superman character—but of higher value to society. For example, he served as spokesman for Health Extras, an affordable supplemental insurance program. The spots he appeared in helped to increase subscriptions to Health Extras by some 300 percent.
Reeve also appeared in a controversial 2000 Super Bowl ad, Nuveen Investments’ "Advances" via Fallon McElligott (now Fallon), Minneapolis. The spot showed a digitally altered Reeve get up from his wheelchair and walk.
In a SHOOT interview shortly after "Advances" ran on Super Sunday, the commercial’s director, Andrew Douglas, who’s now with bicoastal Anonymous Content, related that he initially "wasn’t quite sure" about the concept. "It seemed in questionable taste," he said.
But a conversation with Reeve changed Douglas’ mind. "He convinced me that it wasn’t tasteless, that it was inspirational," Douglas said during that same interview. "And if it’s inspirational to Christopher Reeve, then there was a moral responsibility to take it on. It was an extension of his evangelical mission: the need to attract funding for medical research in general. From that point of view, it seemed we should do it."
"Advances" drew some criticism for giving false hope—such miraculous medical turnarounds for paraplegics and quadriplegics were not actually on the horizon at the time. Today, however, daring to dream about—and to help bring about—miracles could prove to be more possible due to the promise of stem cell research. For Reeve’s last spokesperson role to be in the pursuit of such miracles is fitting indeed.
