A man walks up a flight of stairs to his apartment. As he puts the key in the door to enter, a pair of rabbit’s feet are thrown onto his welcome mat.
Whoever threw the rabbit’s feet is not yet seen. But we hear his off-camera voice: “You’re a hard man to find, Eric.”
Eric turns around with some trepidation and nervously responds, “Hey, I’ve been meaning to call you.”
The camera then reveals the cause of Eric’s angst: a bunny rabbit with two front peg legs. The bunny explains that he found the two rabbit’s feet in his mailbox so he decided to pay Eric “a little visit.”
Eric hesitatingly responds, “Just thought you might”–but he can’t complete the sentence.
The bunny does it for him–“Might what? Want them back.”
“Yes,” confirms Eric, at which point a supered message appears that reads: “You won’t need luck anymore.”
We are then introduced to Poker Wingman, an odds calculator that shows you when to call, fold or raise “so you’ll win more online poker.”
This darkly humored, offbeat spot was directed by Detroit (formerly known as the directing team of Woods+Low) of production house OPC, Toronto, directly for the client. The DP was James Gardner.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More