Taking Flight
By Christine Champagne
Samuel Bayer, who after well over a decade as a director/DP remains noted in particular for his highly visual, complex productions, has done some outstanding spot work in the past year, including “Sled” for Mountain Dew out of BBDO New York; and “Digital Joy” for Microsoft/Intel via Deutsch, New York
Last year, the director/DP, who is represented by bicoastal RSA USA for spots and by RSA USA’s clips division Black Dog for music videos, also added acclaimed music videos for Good Charlotte (“Hold On”) and Green Day (“Holiday,” “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “American Idiot”) to his list of credits, which also include landmark music videos such as Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
But we haven’t seen his best work yet, according to Bayer, who says we should be on the lookout for the film he directed as part of the “Dreams” program, which is presented by Young & Rubicam (Y&R), New York, and Sony Electronics’ Broadcast and Production Systems Division and is now in its fourth year.
Bayer was one of 10 directors selected to shoot short films with Sony 24p HD cameras on theme of “Flight.” “This is absolutely the best thing I have ever done in my life–better than any music video, better than any commercial,” proclaims Bayer, who wrote the script for the film. “It’s the most heartfelt project I’ve ever done.”
At the time of this interview Bayer was still finishing his film and wasn’t at liberty to divulge too many details, although he did reveal that the four-minute film centers on a woman (Robin Wright Penn), and an 18-year-old kid with cerebral palsy.
“I don’t think music videos or commercials offer the opportunity that this format gives a filmmaker,” says Bayer about why he agreed to participate in the “Dreams” project. “There are four minutes. There’s no product, and you get to tell a story–make people feel something, try to get an emotion out of somebody. That’s a powerful concept that is attractive to a director.”
There is something in it for Sony, too. They get filmmakers hooked on their HD camera: Bayer, who describes himself an “old school” filmmaker with an attachment to the 35mm cameras he owns and uses in his work, admits that it was an eye-opening experience for him. “It’s going to revolutionize our business,” states Bayer. “I don’t want to sound like the poster child for HD cameras.
It doesn’t do me any good as a guy that has 35mm cameras and loves filmmaking, but you can shoot nonstop for an hour without turning the [HD] camera off,” Bayer continues. “There’s a lot of freedom there.”
While Bayer can’t wait for the world to see his “Dreams” film, he is also excited about a campaign he recently shot for New Balance out of the Boathouse Group, Needham, Mass. “It represents a return to my roots,” Bayer says, explaining that the campaign, which features interviews with real high school athletes and coaches about why they take part in sports, “is the complete antithesis of celebrity-endorsed advertising.”
Bayer is also particularly enthusiastic about the New Balance work because it is getting harder and harder for him to find commercials that he is interested in directing these days. “Sometimes I look at the field of American advertising, and I think it’s depressing,” Bayer says. “I think there was actually better work ten years ago than there is now.”
Still, he soldiers on in the spot world. “As cynical as I may sound sometimes, I love this business,” Bayer says.
NEVER SAY NEVER
He wasn’t loving the music video business so much last year: In fact, he proclaimed to SHOOT that his clip “Hold On” for Good Charlotte would be his last (1/16/04, p. 7). So it came as a surprise when toward the end of 2004, Bayer jumped back into the music video scene, helming not one but three clips for Green Day, and he is set to direct yet another for the band.
Why the change of heart? “For a variety of reasons,” Bayer says. “I loved the record [American Idiot]. I met the guys, and I loved them.”
Given his quick about-face, is this the last time that Bayer will swear off a genre of work? “No, I think it’s important to say never. Then you’ll get what you want,” he says laughing. “I’m like the Cher of music videos. You know how Cher always has a farewell tour? I’ll keep having farewell tours every year, and then maybe they’ll drag me back.”
Aside from a re-ignited interest in music videos, Bayer is also making his way toward directing his first feature film. He currently has two films in development, including a remake of a film titled Vanishing Point.
Not surprisingly, Bayer is routinely asked why he has yet to make a feature film after all these years. The director/DP says that he has passed on numerous films in large part because he didn’t want to helm the “comic book” fare typically associated with music video directors who make the transition to feature films.
“I’m not going to name names,” Bayer says. “But for every David Fincher [who is represented for spots by bicoastal Anonymous Content], there is another director who did a really bad movie and will never get another movie because they had their shot.”
Meanwhile, Bayer also acknowledges that he hasn’t always had the best reputation, displaying what he calls a combination of “naiveté and arrogance” in his 20s and 30s. “I always hear things from crew members of other people in Hollywood that I’ve got a difficult reputation,” Bayer candidly states, “and it’s like, ‘Look, I am the first to admit that I probably burned a lot of bridges in Hollywood.’ “
Now older and wiser at the age of 43, Bayer believes he is truly ready–on many levels–to make a feature film. “I’m proud of what I did [in the past], but I know a lot more now. I think you mellow out a bit as you get older,” Bayer muses. “You have a lot to prove when you’re young. When you get a little bit older, you’ve got less to prove to others and more to prove to yourself.”
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More