Talk about wracking up yardage on the gridiron. This Nike tour de force follows two star players as they do their thing in what appears to be one sequence–but traversing multiple playing fields against different teams, in different weather and during different times of the day.
The first featured performer is San Diego Chargers defender Shawne Merriman who we see sack a quarterback but he doesn’t stop there. He keeps on pursuing to then stop a running back–from a different team in another game at another stadium–in his tracks, and then yet another runner and so on. His continuous relentless action takes us from one game to the next, from day to night.
Then the focus shifts to St. Louis Rams’ running back Steven Jackson, who bounces off an offensive teammate hit by Merriman. We then see Jackson strut his stuff, making incredible moves to elude defenders from different teams, from one field and one game to the next, in sunny and inclement weather, day and night. Finally he’s confronted by a group of big burly Pittsburgh Steeler defenders who gang tackle him but can’t bring the back down. Jackson keeps pumping his legs and eventually breaks through to reach out and put the football over the goal line for a touchdown.
Then supered against a dark backdrop is a simple message: “Leave Nothing,” followed by the Nikefootball.com website address.
The :60 was directed by feature filmmaker Michael Mann via Alturas Redfish Films, Venice, Calif., for Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Marshall Rawlings exec produced for Alturas with Leslie Vaughn serving as producer.
The Wieden team included executive creative directors Steve Luker and Jelly Helm, creative director/copywriter Alberto Ponte, creative director Jeff Williams, copywriter Ari Weiss, art director Ryan O’Rourke, executive producer Ben Grylewicz and producer Kevin Diller.
Visual effects house was Asylum, Santa Monica.
Editor was Haines Hall of bicoastal Spot Welders.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More