Jonas �kerlund of Serial Pictures directed this spot in which a large audience–all dressed head-to-toe in black–pulses to a song being performed at an open-air concert.
Standing out, though, in the crowd, are an attractive man and woman both dressed in white. They join together and escape the sameness of the pack. They get into a 2014 Lexus IS sport sedan which peels away and heads to the open desert, the antithesis of the previous crowd. The spot emphasizes that things designed to draw a crowd are good, but leaving the crowd behind is more rewarding.
Agency was Team One Advertising.
The director’s wife, wardrobe stylist B �kerlund, brings a sophisticated level of styling to the work, creating angular, iconic looks with contemporary yet timeless clothing and accessories.
Filmmaker Richard Curtis Discusses Charity, The Oscars and The State of Rom-Coms
Richard Curtis may be widely known for his contributions to romantic comedies with "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Notting Hill" and "Love, Actually." But writing and directing some of modern cinema's most quotable scenes only occupy a portion of his professional life.
Since a trip to Ethiopia in 1985 during the famine, Curtis has also devoted much of his time and energy to charitable causes: Co-founding Comic Relief, producing Red Nose Day for years and helping create organizations like Make Poverty History and more. Decades of work has helped raise more than $2 billion and supported over 170 million people.
On Sunday he's being celebrated for those efforts by the film academy with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Getting an Oscar is especially exciting for Curtis who remembers as a teen having to wait until the night after to watch the broadcast in the U.K.
"I've been excited by their existence for 50 years," he said. "This is particularly a special award, but it's not work for which one expects praise or needs praise. So it's very lovely."
Curtis spoke about his second career, the state of romantic comedies and Hugh Grant's second act. Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: When you started Comic Relief, did you imagine it would continue this long?
CURTIS: No, it's been one of those cascading things. I have always found that if you create a sort of venue for generosity, the public reaction is so often astonishing. When did this first TV show, we thought we'd make £5 million, but we made £15 million. The next year we made £27 million. I would have had to be a monster not to continue with it. I thought it was going to last a year. Instead, it's lasted a... Read More