Producer/Artist Junkie XL Reunites with Agency Artisan, Goes Hair Stylin' and Gives Barber Shop Patrons A Signature Look
By Emily Vines
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. --In 2002, Glenn Cole, who is now co-founder and creative director of 72andSunny, El Segundo, was the European creative director on the Nike account at Wieden+Kennedy (W+K), Amsterdam. Back then, he needed to find the right person to make an “ass-kicking” remix of Elvis’ “A Little Less Conversation” for a three-minute World Cup spot called “Secret Tournament” for Nike.
But after working on the remix with several notable artists, it was producer/artist Junkie XL (a.k.a. Tom Holkenborg) who managed to capture the tone Cole was after. The final version of the remix came together over the course of one night and became a number one hit around the world, breaking a long standing tie between Elvis and The Beatles for most number one hits.
Since then Cole and Holkenborg have continued to work together on projects like the launch of the XBOX 360 at last year’s Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angles (a trade show for interactive entertainment and educational software), and most recently on Junkie XL’s new video “Today.”
NEW STYLE Now the tables have turned from their initial collaboration–this time Holkenborg looked to Cole to fill a key role. When it came time to shoot the music video for the title track on his upcoming album Today, which will be released in the U.S. on April 18, Junkie XL found Cole to be the right man to direct the job. Though this is the creative’s first time helming a music video, Holkenborg said he knew Cole’s ability to craft “amazing ideas” would be an asset. For this project Cole served not only as the director but he also created the concept with 72andSunny copywriter Jason Norcross.
The original idea for the video was to have fun and show Junkie XL in a barber shop messing people’s hair up. In the end, the people whose hair looked exotic instead of ruined won out. On a deeper level the clip references how people alter their appearances when they go to clubs.
Along with the typical offerings at this fictitious barbershop, like a fade or a trim, Holkenborg’s character will “junkify” his clients’ hair. The scenes take place at a barbershop in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles with a variety of people landing in the hair stylist’s chair. The patrons arrive with common hairstyles; however, they leave with unusual dos.
One “junkified” woman has Christmas lights strewn through her afro and another’s hair resembles a helicopter with moving parts. Equally dramatic is a young lady with long hair who departs with it sticking straight up toward the ceiling. Instead of just having his hair styled, one man leaves with a radical cut–Holkenborg gives him a Mohawk that extends from ear to ear.
“When he wrote the script for ‘Today’ I just couldn’t help laughing for fifteen minutes and then when I was done laughing I called [Glenn] and said it was brilliant,” Holkenborg recalled.
As noted above, the original concept required Holkenborg to spoil people’s haircuts with a lot of severe cutting, but that didn’t come across well on camera. “All those people [whose hair] got ruined looked sort of victimized more than they looked junkified,” Cole related.
In the lighthearted and energetic video, only those who seemed unfazed by the avant-garde designs danced their way out of the shop. Hairstylist and make-up artist Anny Kim lead the hair-design team.
Under Two Films, Santa Monica, Calif., was the production company for the music video with Scott Moss producing.
BEHIND THE CAMERA Though this is Cole’s first experience directing a music video, he has worked behind the camera on spots. At W+K he did some unofficial b-unit work on Nike projects. After leaving the agency in ’02, he directed some solo projects and co-directed with John Boiler through bicoastal/international Hungry Man. At that time he was also freelancing as a copywriter. He has shot work for clients like the Portland Trail Blazers, Burgerville and USA Network (Cole co-directed the latter two with Boiler).
Through his helming experiences he has found that he enjoys directing, but he prefers not to shoot commercials. “I don’t know [why],” he said. “I think I’ve just [worked on spots] for so long, it feels somewhat familiar to me; I know I can do it. I kind of see the thirty second length in my head when I’m going to make something–it just wasn’t quite fresh enough. It just wasn’t new enough for me.
“But music videos really captured my imagination,” he continued. “…Music is the single most inspiring thing for me in my personal creative process, that’s the one thing that immediately gets my mind racing.”
BEHIND THE MUSIC For those who are curious, Junkie is something Holkenborg’s friends have called him for a long time, he said. Because of the massive amounts of time he spends in his studio, they referred to him as a work junkie. The XL stands for expanding limits.
“It’s my general view of music and life,” Holkenborg said of the XL in his name. “I think you should not shut down any possibility that might come up and don’t try to wear eye caps, but just be really open minded and look around at what’s happening and just try to act on that and get inspired.”
In addition to the assignments he has done with Cole, Holkenborg has also wrapped spots for clients like Cadillac and Heineken, and is currently working on a Coors commercial. He has also contributed music to video games like Forza Motorsport.
On the feature front, he has worked on movies like Catwoman and Domino, and is currently scoring the film Dead or Alive. Since there is so much work for him in the States, the Dutch-born musician moved to Venice Beach, Calif. a couple of years ago and has opened his own studio, The Computer Hell Cabin Venice.
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More