By Robert Goldrich
LOS ANGELES --In a surprising development–both to would-be handicappers and to the winner himself–Peter Thwaites of Gorgeous Enterprises, London (who’s repped stateside by bicoastal Anonymous Content), received the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award as Best Commercial Director of 2008.
When he was announced as being the winner during the DGA Awards gala on Saturday (1/31) in Los Angeles, Thwaites came on stage and said he hadn’t prepared an acceptance speech. “I’m very surprised,” related Thwaites who noted that he is “so amazed” by the work of his fellow nominees that “being here in their place humbles me to a great degree. I’m very grateful. Thank you very much.”
While Thwaites sounded a bit stunned, his nominated work was stunning enough to win over DGA judges. Thwaites earned the Guild honor on the strength of two entries: Barclaycard’s “Water Slide” for BBH London, and Guinness’ “Light Show” out of Irish International BBDO, Dublin.
The former shows a swim trunks-clad employee taking a wondrous amusement park-like commute home from the office–his mode of transportation being an enormous waterslide that winds its way throughout the city all the way to his suburban abode. Along the way he slip slides through a grocery store where he buys a banana which he pays for by sliding his Barclaycard past a sensor. He is able to use the card repeatedly without slowing down his slide home.
“From a directing point of view, the spot was a huge balancing act,” related Thwaites. “The key was balancing elements of postproduction and live action and trying to make something so technical be true to a human narrative storyline that connects with people. That’s always the hardest thing for a director who serves as a balancing force, and overseer and creative force on this kind of project. The director has to keep his eye on the ball, making sure you stay true to the simple idea. I felt sort of a ringleader with so many post people [from The Mill, London] involved.
Guinness’ “Light Show” also entailed collaboration with The Mill. “The idea was an office building being a pint of Guinness as reflected in the configuration of lights that are on inside the building,” said Thwaites. “Again for me it’s important within this essentially visual piece to keep a narrative flow by managing the scale of the job and keeping the ultimate focus on the simplicity of the idea.”
First-time DGA Award nominee Thwaites topped a field of nominated spot directors that included Anonymous Content’s David Fincher, a past winner of the DGA commercials honor (as the top spot helmer of ’03) and twice a commercial director of the year nominee. (Fincher was also nominated this year for the feature film DGA Award on the basis of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; the DGA Award for best feature helmer ultimately went to Danny Boyle for Slum Dog Millionaire).
Rounding out this year’s DGA spotmaking nominees was a trio of directors from bicoastal/international MJZ: Fredrik Bond who’s been nominated for the honor three times during his career; and Tom Kuntz and Rupert Sanders, who have each received two career nominations.
Thwaites’ win breaks a streak of three consecutive years in which an MJZ director won the DGA spot honor. Nicolai Fuglsig was best commercial director of ’07, Dante Ariola earned top spot helmer distinction in ’06, and Craig Gillespie took the ’05 honor.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More