By Christine Champagne

“I was flattered that you should call me for an interview because I feel I’ve had the worst year of my career this year,” says director Nicolai Fuglsig when told he has been chosen for profile in the SHOOT 2006 Fall Directors Issue. This coming from a man who spent a good part of ’06 picking up the last of the 36 advertising awards lavished on the Sony Bravia “Balls” spot he directed in ’05. Could it really have been that terrible?
    Okay, raking in all of those awards for a project that was near and dear to his heart was gratifying, acknowledges Fuglsig, who is represented for spot work in the United States and most of the rest of the world by bicoastal/international MJZ. “I had success with Sony, but if it hadn’t been for that I would probably have left the business because I was so discouraged and disappointed about the scripts that came my way and how I lured myself into the lucrative business of corporate America,” Fuglsig shares.
    A native of Denmark, Fuglsig, who has also lived in London, moved to New York City about two years ago in an effort to be more accessible to American clients. “It’s difficult to launch yourself into the American market, so I had a struggle with trying to get some good creative, and at the same time do a move to America and make a living,” he reflects.
    “But, hopefully, that is picking up now.”

What went wrong in Fuglsig’s estimation? “I think maybe this year I focused too much on earning money,” the director muses, “and I should have protected my creative integrity much more like I used to do.”
    “I’m sorry I’m being so honest with you,” Fuglsig adds with a laugh.
    No need to apologize. It is rather refreshing to hear a director provide an honest, heartfelt assessment of his career. Like so many directors have, Fuglsig believes he fell into the trap of not being picky enough–at least this past year–in terms of the work he accepted. Unlike most directors, Fuglsig is actually willing to recognize and admit his mistakes.
    Moving forward, Fuglsig says he is going to hold out for the right boards. In fact, the director reveals he recently turned down a commercial for the upcoming Super Bowl because, while it would have been a high-profile project, it didn’t meet his creative criteria.
    It should be noted that, despite Fuglsig’s grim assessment of his recent output, SHOOT saw it fitting to include him in this issue based on our more positive assessment of his recent work, including the aforementioned Sony Bravia “Balls” spot, which took home top honors at the Cannes International Advertising Festival, the British Television Advertising Awards, the International ANDY Awards and the Art Directors Club among others. Promoting Sony’s line of Bravia LCD televisions, the gorgeous commercial envelops the viewer in the glorious vision of 250,000 multi-colored superballs bouncing down the streets of San Francisco.
    Fuglsig looks back on the job fondly. “It was almost like doing advertising as art,” he reflects. “It was heartbreakingly beautiful as it unfolded in front of the camera, and it was such a nice project to be involved in really.”
    This much-awarded spot remains the talk of the town in the Bay Area. On a recent trip to San Francisco, Fuglsig’s mother met a police officer who had found a bunch of the balls featured in the spot and was selling them out of his garage at $10 a pop. (Fuglsig’s mother did buy one in case you’re wondering.)
    While Fuglsig’s Sony spot turned heads and touched hearts, he also recently shot a visually mesmerizing and emotionally engaging two-minute, 30-second spot for Land Rover via London’s Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Young & Rubicam called “Go Beyond.”
    Shown in theaters as well as on the Internet, the long-form commercial focused on a man determined to go beyond, beyond being a place where now is better than never, dare is better than don’t.
    The cinematic imagery depicts everything from a boy on a horse galloping amongst clouds that rise only a few feet above the ground to an adult woman reuniting with her mother after what seems like an absence of many years.
    Fuglsig’s directing credits also include the adidas “Never Quits” spot out of 180 Amsterdam/TBWA. Touting the athletic shoe’s no-fail cushioning, the commercial finds a man running through a world full of deflating balls, exploding water beds and defective Pogo sticks; the only thing that holds up is the supportive cushioning that lines his adidas shoes. Meanwhile, “Signs” for Fox Sports Net, created by TBWA/Chiat/Day, San Francisco, and highlighted as a SHOOT Top Spot last year, has city-dwelling baseball fans taking part in a covert operation in which they spot the sign being flashed from a catcher on the opposing team to his pitcher, then pass that sign along through a network of fans until it gets back to the batter, who therefore knows a curveball is coming his way and is able to adjust his swing accordingly.
    Going a bit further back in Fuglsig’s directorial career, which began in 2001, the highlights include Audi’s “Bull” out of BBH, London. At the center of the beautifully dark, moody commercial is an unbroken steer. Then there is the epic Mercedes-Benz spot “Clouds”–from Campbell Doyle Dye, London–in which a driver does battle with the Gods of the clouds, attempting to avoid and outrun the crushing shadows they cast upon the Earth.
    And last year Fuglsig helmed the movingly poignant “Be There,” a public service spot for Womankind Worldwide out of Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R. In the ad, unseen forces intervene, preventing atrocities such as rape, spousal abuse and female castration from being committed against women in different parts of the world ranging from Africa to Eastern Europe. The :60 shows that by donating to the Womankind Worldwide charity, “We can be there” to help protect those who cannot protect themselves.
    As evidenced by his body of work, Fuglsig has evaded being typecast over the years and isn’t necessarily known for any one style. Asked what kind of work intrigues him, Fuglsig responds,
    “I like those strange storytelling scripts, and I have become more and more involved with storytelling. I’m heading toward the features in years to come, so, obviously, it was a natural progression for me to be much more interested in classic storytelling with a dark, quirky twist.”
    If we could go back to Fuglsig’s negative self-assessment of his endeavors this past year, could it be that he has set his personal standards particularly high?
    “I think so. But that’s not a bad idea,” he says, adding, “I really do like working with American creatives, and I truly believe that this year I’ve been working with some fantastic American creative people.
    “I have just been involved with clients and with projects that were not the best creative, and the people I worked with would probably agree on that.”

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