It’s not everyday Fluid’s executive producer/partner David Shapiro sees the company’s work played on the Reuters Jumbo-Tron in Times Square or that he gets to rub elbows with George Clooney, which is why having both things happen during work on a recent project is so exciting.
New York-based Fluid recently completed production, music and design work on the new WB film Michael Clayton, which opened nationally last week. The film stars George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack and Tom Wilkinson. Clooney plays the title character, a burnt-out attorney who is unwittingly drawn into a scandal involving a corrupt, agribusiness company named U/North.
Fluid was asked to design a corporate logo to be used throughout the film, and produce a TV spot promoting the fictitious U/North. Tony Gilroy, the film’s writer/director, needed the spot to feel real and wanted to avoid using the typical Hollywood outlets.
This is the first movie directed and written by Gilroy, who is the screenwriter of the Bourne films. He knew what Fluid was capable of because he and Shapiro are longtime friends. They played in a rock and roll band together in the 80s.
“We were able to basically do the entire thing in house soup to nuts,” said Shapiro. “Tony was looking for a Sunday morning stockholder feel-good type of spot, not really selling anything, just making a statement that the company is benevolent.”
The commercial features panoramic shots of fields interspersed with images of children planting seeds.
The spot was created from a combination of elements. The panoramic shots were stock footage, which Fluid’s Flame artist Alex Frowein stylized to create the final effect. The additional shots of the kids were shot by DP Robert Elswit with Gilroy and Frowein working together. Music, edits and design were also done by Fluid based on Gilroy’s needs for the film. Victor Melton designed the logo with Kevin Thompson, production designer on the film. Fluid’s Andrew Sherman worked on the music for the film.
Shapiro pointed out that the spot had to be produced prior to shooting the movie because the filmmakers needed to play it on the Reuters Jumbo-Tron during a pivotal scene in the film. Gilroy did not want to Flame it in later.
“It was awesome,” Shapiro said of the two hours of shooting in Times Square. “They had cleared out the triangle in Times Square in front of the Jumbo-Tron. In the scene Tom Wilkinson kind of lost it and is wandering around Times Square. Part of his insanity is caused because he is the lead defender for this company in this lawsuit and he is realizing what a horrible thing it is. The chemicals manufactured by U/North have ruined peoples’ lives. He looks up and there’s this commercial right in his face.”
Shapiro continued, “It was neat to see our work in one of the pivotal scenes in the movie. It’s a major motion picture. We got a lot of compliments from people involved in the making of the film. When we went to the wrap party they were very impressed by the work we had done. It was nice to hear that. I don’t know if it will create other opportunities for us, but it certainly got our name out there.”
Review: Director/Co-Writer Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ “My Dead Friend Zoe”
Even for a film titled "My Dead Friend Zoe," the opening scenes of Kyle Hausmann-Stokes' movie have a startling rhythm. First, two female American soldiers are riding in a Humvee in Afghanistan 2016 blasting Rihanna's "Umbrella." They are clearly friends, and more concerned with the music coming through loudly than enemy fire. Zoe (Natalie Morales) tells Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) tells that if they ever set foot in "some dopy group therapy," to please kill her. Cut to years later, they're sitting in a counseling meeting for veterans and Morales' character has a sour look at her face. She turns to her friend: "Did we survive the dumbest war of all time just to sit here all broken and kumbaya and ouchie-my-feelings?" But after this rush of cavalier soldiering and bitter sarcasm comes a sobering moment. Merit blinks her eyes and is instead staring at an empty chair. Zoe isn't there at all. "My Dead Friend Zoe," co-starring Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris, confronts a dark reality of post-combat struggle with as much humor and playfulness as it does trauma and sorrow. It comes from a real place, and you can tell. Hausmann-Stoke is himself a veteran and "My Dead Friend Zoe" is dedicated to a pair of his platoon mates who killed themselves. The opening titles note the film was "inspired by a true story." Audience disinterest has characterized many, though not all, of the films about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the output has pretty much dried up over the years. "My Dead Friend Zoe" feels like it was made with an awareness of that trend and as a rebuke to it. This is an often breezy and funny movie for what, on paper, is a difficult and dark story. But the comic tone of "My Dead Friend Zoe" is, itself, a spirited rejection to not just the heaviness... Read More