Bruce Hurwit is so good at shooting comedy that he’s considering assuming a new identity and beginning a new life. "I was thinking for a while of getting myself another name and becoming a fashion director," jokes Hurwit, who is represented for spots by Crossroads Films, bicoastal and Chicago. "As a director, if they don’t know you, you can show up the first time and be anybody. It would be kind of funny to start up another career that way."
Hurwit loves doing comedy, and it shows. He recently helmed "Mini-Fridge" for Bud Light via DDB Chicago. The spot, which broke during this year’s Super Bowl, is patterned after the TV show BattleBots, in which robots do battle with one another. In "Mini-Fridge," the dueling robots featured are a high-tech masterpiece with claws and all sorts of dangerous-looking appendages, and a beat-up mini-fridge. It’s soon revealed that the refrigerator contains a bottle of Bud Light, which its high-tech opponent cannot resist. As it uses its claw to grab the beer, the more advanced robot is crushed by a hammer, which unexpectedly appears as an attachment to the mini-fridge.
Hurwit admits that knowing you’re shooting a commercial that might air on the Super Bowl adds a certain intensity to the process. "I think the words were, ‘This is going to be a Super Bowl spot; don’t fuck it up,’ " he laughs. "Certainly, in the back of your mind it changes certain things: how much you’re willing to throw into it—whether financially, or shooting overtime, things like that. But in terms of the comedy and all that, you’re still going for the sur-prises. That’s what it comes down to."
Perhaps because of the extra pressure, Hurwit says, the "Mini Fridge" shoot was intense. For one, it lasted 22 hours over two days. "We had extremely expensive robotics," he notes, "and scale models for the destruction—a lot of different parts that had to work together." But the most difficult aspect of the shoot was the timing: "The whole thing was cast and shot around the time of the [Sept.] 11th [tragedy]," he explains. "That was very draining on my crew, in particular, who worked right through it. … It felt like an epic shoot."
But Anheuser-Busch and DDB were clearly pleased with the result—Hurwit is scheduled to do more work for the client. "They have a huge stable of directors and I’m really flattered to have gotten into it over the last year," he states. "They seem to be coming back, and that’s great."
Although "Mini-Fridge" is certainly illustrative of Hurwit’s comedic style, his work typically focuses more on human characters. He says he likes his comedy to be grounded in reality. "Really, all of it comes out of true situations," he points out. "I think of [ads] in terms of realism. There are very bizarre things happening, but within very real circumstances."
Hurwit’s sensibility is showcased to perfection in the 1998 Cartoon Network promo called "Ledge". The spot, which was client-direct, is played straight, with a wink. In a high-tech command center for cartoon-character emergencies, the ensemble cast talks a character through a fall off a high ledge. "I love the Cartoon Network, and I’ve done dozens and dozens of spots for them," relates Hurwit.
When Hurwit helmed "Ledge," as well as four other spots in the campaign, which was called "Crisis Center," he was able to work with the Cartoon Network’s creative director, Michael Ouweleen, who has since gone on to run new programming for the network, and is the co-creator/co-executive producer of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. "It was just he and I; there was no approval process," Hurwit says. "So you just sit there in the van as you’re going to location, rewriting scripts."
"Ledge" also highlights another of Hurwit’s strengths: working with an ensemble cast. "In casting, you’re not just casting the funniest individual people," he explains. "It’s the funniest people together. The true nature of those characters comes out in who those people really are. We put them all in the room together and kept narrowing it down."
Another recent spot that Hurwit directed for Bud Light through DDB, "After Hours," is also in keeping with his aesthetic of focusing on character and actors. The ad, which broke last fall, features a couple—beautiful woman, not-so-beautiful guy—skinny-dipping in a pool at the woman’s suggestion. They wonder what could be more perfect. At that moment, camera flashes start going off. Turns out the pool can be seen through a plate glass window in an underwater bar, and a bunch of rowdy guys are pleased with the sight of the female half of the couple.
"There’s so much back story in the characters, and I think it comes through," observes Hurwit. He laughingly confides that "After Hours" is the first spot he’s directed that his grandparents thought was worth anything.
Hurwit notes that he got into directing quite by accident. He studied advertising at Syracuse University, New York, planning to be an art director. He got a job in the early ’80s at now defunct Cosmopulos, Crowley, Daley & Associates, where he stayed for about five and a half years. It was there that Hurwit says he "accidentally" directed his first spot: a PSA called "Tiger" for MSPCA, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "I was so young I didn’t know I was supposed to tell anybody [at the agency]," he recalls. "I just showed up at the shoot myself and shot all this stuff with the director and ended up winning all this stuff at Cannes, so it was just a very bizarre experience." After his stint in Boston, Hurwit went to New York, and worked successively at McCann-Erickson, BBDO and Cliff Freeman and Partners before making the transition to full-time directing, signing with Crossroads in late ’94.
With his understated style, it’s not surprising that Hurwit counts Wes Anderson, director of Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, and The Royal Tenenbaums, as one of his influences. And while he wants to do feature film work, Hurwit isn’t rushing into anything. "It’s an experience I’d love to have," he says, "but I’ve got a really good life and a great family, and I think shooting a full-on feature is just not that compatible."
