By Robert Goldrich
LOS ANGELES --In a surprising development–both to would-be handicappers and to the winner himself–Peter Thwaites of Gorgeous Enterprises, London (who’s repped stateside by bicoastal Anonymous Content), received the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award as Best Commercial Director of 2008.
When he was announced as being the winner during the DGA Awards gala on Saturday (1/31) in Los Angeles, Thwaites came on stage and said he hadn’t prepared an acceptance speech. “I’m very surprised,” related Thwaites who noted that he is “so amazed” by the work of his fellow nominees that “being here in their place humbles me to a great degree. I’m very grateful. Thank you very much.”
While Thwaites sounded a bit stunned, his nominated work was stunning enough to win over DGA judges. Thwaites earned the Guild honor on the strength of two entries: Barclaycard’s “Water Slide” for BBH London, and Guinness’ “Light Show” out of Irish International BBDO, Dublin.
The former shows a swim trunks-clad employee taking a wondrous amusement park-like commute home from the office–his mode of transportation being an enormous waterslide that winds its way throughout the city all the way to his suburban abode. Along the way he slip slides through a grocery store where he buys a banana which he pays for by sliding his Barclaycard past a sensor. He is able to use the card repeatedly without slowing down his slide home.
“From a directing point of view, the spot was a huge balancing act,” related Thwaites. “The key was balancing elements of postproduction and live action and trying to make something so technical be true to a human narrative storyline that connects with people. That’s always the hardest thing for a director who serves as a balancing force, and overseer and creative force on this kind of project. The director has to keep his eye on the ball, making sure you stay true to the simple idea. I felt sort of a ringleader with so many post people [from The Mill, London] involved.
Guinness’ “Light Show” also entailed collaboration with The Mill. “The idea was an office building being a pint of Guinness as reflected in the configuration of lights that are on inside the building,” said Thwaites. “Again for me it’s important within this essentially visual piece to keep a narrative flow by managing the scale of the job and keeping the ultimate focus on the simplicity of the idea.”
First-time DGA Award nominee Thwaites topped a field of nominated spot directors that included Anonymous Content’s David Fincher, a past winner of the DGA commercials honor (as the top spot helmer of ’03) and twice a commercial director of the year nominee. (Fincher was also nominated this year for the feature film DGA Award on the basis of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; the DGA Award for best feature helmer ultimately went to Danny Boyle for Slum Dog Millionaire).
Rounding out this year’s DGA spotmaking nominees was a trio of directors from bicoastal/international MJZ: Fredrik Bond who’s been nominated for the honor three times during his career; and Tom Kuntz and Rupert Sanders, who have each received two career nominations.
Thwaites’ win breaks a streak of three consecutive years in which an MJZ director won the DGA spot honor. Nicolai Fuglsig was best commercial director of ’07, Dante Ariola earned top spot helmer distinction in ’06, and Craig Gillespie took the ’05 honor.
Maggie Smith, Star of Stage, Film and “Downton Abbey,” Dies At 89
Maggie Smith, the masterful, scene-stealing actor who won an Oscar for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" in 1969 and gained new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in "Downton Abbey" and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, died Friday. She was 89. Smith's sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, said in a statement that Smith died early Friday in a London hospital. "She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother," they said in a statement issued through publicist Clair Dobbs. Smith was frequently rated the preeminent British female performer of a generation that included Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench, with a clutch of Academy Award nominations and a shelf full of acting trophies. She remained in demand even in her later years, despite her lament that "when you get into the granny era, you're lucky to get anything." Smith drily summarized her later roles as "a gallery of grotesques," including Professor McGonagall. Asked why she took the role, she quipped: "Harry Potter is my pension." Richard Eyre, who directed Smith in a television production of "Suddenly Last Summer," said she was "intellectually the smartest actress I've ever worked with. You have to get up very, very early in the morning to outwit Maggie Smith." "Jean Brodie," in which she played a dangerously charismatic Edinburgh schoolteacher, brought her the Academy Award for best actress, and the British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) as well in 1969. Smith added a supporting actress Oscar for "California Suite" in 1978, Golden Globes for "California Suite" and "Room with a View," and BAFTAs for lead actress in "A Private Function" in 1984, "A Room with a View" in... Read More