on camera who is stubborn enough—or stupid enough—to wait for when the lights are good."
Saarinen co-founded Plum Productions in ’83 with president/executive producer Chuck Sloan. Saarinen was the company’s sole director for many years. Plum eventually expanded its spot directorial roster which now also includes Bob Rice, Nick Piper, cinematographer and feature director Jan de Bont (Speed, Twister) and documentarian Nick Broomfield (Kurt & Courtney; Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam).
Over the past six years, Saarinen has directed scores of commercials, including Jeep’s "Snow Covered" out of Bozell Worldwide (now FCB Worldwide Detroit), Southfield, Mich., which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes International Advertising Festival in ’94. The spot features an unseen Jeep—created in CG by Digital Domain, Venice, Calif.—burrowing under layers of snow, and stopping and turning at a stop sign that pokes above the snow’s surface. "Since that spot, I’ve become well-versed. You learn all the tricks."
But he doesn’t believe a director should rely on those tricks to the exclusion of ideas. "The story is what attracts me," Saarinen explains. "You always face the challenge of trying to cut through the clutter to get something interesting that hasn’t been seen before."
Though he feels that agencies have typecast him as an automobile director—"I’ve been placed in the car box"—he also believes he has helped change the look of those commercials: "[They] used to show the sheet metal and tell you about air bags and mileage. That’s no longer valid. People don’t care. What they care about is the image."
One of Saarinen’s most challenging spots was "Animals," the Fiat commercial which showed a harried commuter—astride a tiger—trying to beat a traffic light by passing a man riding a lion. Amid the chaos, a man cruises by in his Fiat Punto. "A city full of people riding animals," sighs Saarinen. "That was a huge effects job, hugely complicated."
But he was not daunted by it and never says never to a new demand. "In terms of work, you have to be flexible. I’ve been in several situations where it’s all been worked out beforehand and then everything changes and you have ten seconds to say the same thing in a different way. I think I know how to improvise, especially after doing all those Roger Corman movies. As long as the story drives how you do it, there’s always a way."c
Judge Upholds Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Charge Against Alec Baldwin In “Rust” Shooting
A New Mexico judge has upheld her decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
In a ruling Thursday, state District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer stood by her July decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin. She said prosecutors did not raise any factual or legal arguments that would justify reversing her decision.
"Because the state's amended motion raises arguments previously made, and arguments that the state elected not to raise earlier, the court does not find the amended motion well taken," the judge wrote, adding that the request was also untimely.
A spokesperson for Baldwin's lawyers said Friday that they had no immediate reaction to teh decision.
The case was thrown out halfway through trial on allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense in the 2021 death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
Baldwin's trial was upended by revelations that ammunition was brought into the Santa Fe County sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammo unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers say investigators "buried" the evidence in a separate case file and filed a successful motion to dismiss.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey can now decide whether to appeal to a higher court.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for "Rust," was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer —... Read More