What are Brian Urlacher, middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears, and David Ortiz, designated hitter for the Boston Red Sox, doing playing badminton? They’re starring in an ad for Glaceau Vitaminwater that is running on TV and online.
“Badminton,” from WPP Group’s Berlin Cameron United/New York and directed by Justin Reardon of bicoastal Anonymous Content, is an uproarious :45 that features Urlacher and Ortiz playing against two Asian champions, “two giants of the game facing two giants.”
“The idea was based on people doing things they wouldn’t normally do because they’re drinking Vitaminwater,” said Reardon. “Badminton is played on a small court with small players, but Urlacher is six-foot-four, 258 pounds, and Ortiz is about the same size. Two huge guys playing badminton was a nice juxtaposition.”
The ad was shot in Fort Myers, FL, in April, a location that was chosen because it was close to where Ortiz was located during spring training. “We had to ship in Asians from Miami and Orlando because there weren’t any in Fort Myers,” Reardon said. They were shipped in because the spot was supposed to take place in Hong Kong, where a Chinese audience cheered on. The Chinese players were actual U.S. champions. “We wanted the opponents to look like they knew what they were doing, so we surrounded ourselves with the real thing,” Reardon said.
Digital betacams were used, “the kind that cover sporting events,” Reardon said. “We covered it with a couple of cameras at once to shoot both sides for a seamless cut to continuous action.”
The spot features game footage with slam shots highlighted by a dive made by Urlacher to complete a shot. “We set up a huge mat for him and he was game to do it,” Reardon said, noting that professional athletes usually avoid dangerous shots. “The shot makes the spot,” Reardon said. “It was great.” The spot ends with the shuttlecock lodged in a Chinese player’s leg, confirming victory for the American sports stars.
The spot runs at www.glaceau.com (click on vitaminwater and vitamintv).
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