What’s in a nickname? Rocky Morton’s first name paints a picture of a tough, ham-fisted guy with a tender heart—not unlike the boxing hero played by Sylvester Stallone in Rocky. In fact, the British director, who won’t reveal his real first name, adopted his nickname as a joke.
"When I was in art school, I was arguing with some friends about the nature of nicknames," Morton explains. "Everybody said that a nickname has to be bestowed on you, and I said, ‘That’s bullshit! I’m going to come in tomorrow and call myself anything I want, and by the end of term you’ll all be calling me that.’ The movie Rocky was out then, and I just picked that name because I thought it would be absurd. I said, ‘Rocky’s my name now,’ and I forced everyone to call me that."
The nickname stuck, and so has Morton’s sly sense of humor. The director, who helms spots through production company Morton Jankel Zander (MJZ), Los Angeles, has been nominated two years in a row for a Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award for best commercial director.
Deja vu
Morton was nominated for a DGA Award this year on the strength of Lexus’ "Fly" for Team One Advertising, El Segundo Calif.; Homestead Village Guest Studios’ "Comb" and "Stick" out of just partners, Richmond, Va.; and "Promo" for the film The Minus Man out of Cliff Freeman and Partners, New York.
"Promo" was a most unconventional promo for a movie: It contained no footage from the film it was advertising. It follows a young couple as they stroll through lower Manhattan, obsessively discussing the movie they’ve just seen. Before they know it, the sun is rising over the East River, and the woman panics—she’s late for work. Unfortunately, she’s a lifeguard, and the spot’s final shot reveals two people who have drowned in her absence.
Morton was intrigued by the spot’s script and the idea that a movie studio—in this case, New York-based The Shooting Gallery—would break the familiar mold of movie trailers. "I was fascinated by the idea that a studio can treat its movie like a product, and advertise it in a way that creates a mystery about it," says Morton.
Shot over two nights, "Promo" highlights two of Morton’s trademark qualities: offbeat casting and spontaneous camera work, which follows the actors as they weave through sidewalk crowds. (Morton, who often operates his own camera, has paid the price for that fancy footwork—when he spoke to SHOOT, he was in his chiropractor’s waiting room.)
Morton says the agency did not make him rely heavily on storyboards, and encouraged him to add his own ideas. "[Cliff Freeman] is incredible to work with. They’ll go to the ends of the earth to get the right actors," says Morton. "Casting, for me, is the most important thing, after a good script. I’m always looking for actors who can be real and believable, yet have an inherent sense of humor. Not comedians, but people who have something about them that is amusing."
The "Comb" and "Stick" ads for Homestead are ironic vignettes about things that "don’t make sense," like grooming oneself with a comb found in the trash, or playing with a stick even though "you might poke someone’s eye out." Lexus’ "Fly" is a darkly comic look at how well the luxury car handles the road. In the ad, a man driving along a twisting and winding highway finds himself with an unwanted passenger—a fly. The intrusive insect gets tossed around as the driver begins swerving around the curves in an effort to knock the fly out of the car. He finally succeeds in getting rid of the pest when he stops short, stuns
