To the tune of the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” this spot for Simon Malls–one of three in a campaign directed by Bruce Hurwit of Crossroads Films, bicoastal, Chicago and London–shows a succession of people receiving what are clearly the wrong gifts.
We start with a young woman who has a large car tire on her lap–on which a bow is affixed. Then we see a balding man quizzically holding an electric hair dryer. Next a young male receives a pair of skimpy boxer shorts–with the word “Thursday” on them–from an older woman who is presumably his mom. The last recipient is a matronly looking woman sitting in what looks like the study of a mansion. Also in the room is her husband who triumphantly heralds the gift he’s given her: a pair of fuzzy bunny slippers.
As the lyrics change to point out that sometimes you get “what you need,” we see each gift recipient instead get something worthwhile and appropriate–a gift card for the many shops at Simon Malls.
The campaign was created by a creative team at Publicis, Indianapolis, that included executive creative director Lloyd Wolfe, associate creative director/art director Larry Jarvis and producer Kait Gaskey.
Camille Taylor and Carole Hughes executive produced for Crossroads, with Coni Lancaster serving as producer and Jay Spangler as production supervisor. The DP was Giorgio Scali. Editor was Mike Coletta of 89 Editorial, New York.
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