Director Vincent Ward has signed on for exclusive commercial representation in the U.S. with Omaha Pictures, the Santa Monica house headed by proprietor/managing director Diane McArter. Ward continues to be represented in New Zealand by Flying Fish Films, Auckland and Wellington, and in Australia by Sydney-based Independent Films. The director joins Omaha after nearly five years with Bruce Dowad Associates, Hollywood.
Shortly before coming aboard Omaha, Ward independently directed a campaign for OnStar out of Campbell-Ewald, Warren, Mich., which was co-produced by Detroit-based Millennium Pictures and Chicago Pacific Entertainment, Santa Barbara, Calif. The spot for GM’s auto-enhancing satellite service featured the Batman character and debuted during the Academy Awards telecast in March. In the spot, Batman finds himself in his Batmobile with the Penguin chasing him via helicopter, so he uses OnStar’s voice-activated calling system to alert Vicki Vale that a situation has come up and he’s going to be late.
Ward met with a handful of production houses after leaving Bruce Dowad Associates about five months ago. The director said he was ultimately lured to Omaha by McArter’s "hands-on style, her involvement in marketing and sales, and the strong relationships she has with various advertising agencies."
Prior to joining Bruce Dowad Associates, Ward had been represented for about a year by Los Angeles-headquartered Palomar Pictures.
Best known for directing the Oscar-winning feature What Dreams May Come, Ward has helmed several critically acclaimed movies. His ad credits include work for Universal Studios theme park, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) and Steinlager beer.
The Universal campaign via Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer/Euro RSCG, New York, is a package of six spots that evokes various films and filmmaker styles, such as Steven Spielberg’s and James Cameron’s. In "Spiderman," for instance, a young boy in an airplane witnesses mid-flight the superhero’s battle with a villain on the wing of the plane.
By sharp contrast, the black-and-white "Headbangers" PSA for the PDFA, out of McCann-Erickson, New York, takes on a darker tone, featuring a teenager smoking a joint and alternately banging his head against a brick wall. The tag: "If you do something stupid often enough, it’s going to hurt."
The Steinlager spot—"We’ve Always Been There," produced by Flying Fish Films for Saatchi & Saatchi, Auckland—was originally conceived as a :90 and features a series of comedic vignettes from different time periods. After the shoot, the agency was reportedly so pleased with the footage that it cut and aired a three-minute version of the ad.
What Dreams May Come, which was nominated for best production design and best visual effects Oscars, took home the Academy Award for its groundbreaking painterly effects created by Culver City and Alameda, Calif.-based Manex Entertainment; Digital Domain, Venice, Calif.; and POP Film and Animation (now R!OT), Santa Monica. Ward spent three years on the film about lovers tragically separated by death—first developing the script, then directing—all the while working closely with the effects artists to create the film’s various "after life" settings. One of those worlds offers 19th century-style painted landscapes that maintain the qualities of wet paint and water when stars Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding, Jr. moved through them.
Ward’s longform work also includes directing and co-writing the features Map of the Human Heart (’92), The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (’88) and Vigil (’84). All three films screened at the Cannes Film Festival, the latter two in competition.
Map is a romantic drama about an Eskimo’s long journey to reunite with his childhood love, and the cultural divide that proves to be the most treacherous gap between them. The film was honored with The Most Significant Artistic Achievement Award at the ’93 Tokyo Film Festival.
The Navigator—an adventure about men digging a tunnel out of 14th century England and ending up in 20th century New Zealand—won more than 25 national and international awards at festivals from Munich to Oporto, Portugal.
Vigil, set in the mountains of New Zealand, follows the struggles of a mother and daughter after their husband/father is killed. It won the Grand Prix at film festivals in Madrid and Prades, France. Ward also conceived the story for Alien 3.
Ward’s earlier work includes the documentary In Spring One Plants Alone (’80), about an elderly Maori woman and her 40-year-old handicapped son, which received a silver Hugo at the Chicago Film Festival. He also directed the short feature A State of Siege, which won the special jury prize at the ’78 Miami Film Festival.
Originally trained as a painter, Ward has also acted in a handful of films, including Leaving Las Vegas and One Night Stand. He believes the experience enhances his directing skills, particularly regarding the use of improvisational techniques he’s collected over the years. "Typically, you’re working with a group of actors that don’t know each other," he said. "I have a range of techniques that help the actors develop a sense of familiarity, which comes through in their performances."
Dividing his time between Los Angeles, Australia and his native New Zealand, Ward is currently writing two feature scripts. He is also developing several longform projects as directing vehicles. Among them is an effects-driven gothic tale about a conflicted monster that loves people, but can’t stop eating them. The project teams Ward with producers Jeremy Thomas (The Last Emperor) and Nick Wechsler (sex, lies and videotape).
McArter described Ward as "a unique addition" to Omaha, adding, "Vincent is an incredible storyteller. I love his characters and his stories. But the added bonus, because of his expertise with visual effects, is that he puts those characters into mythical, wonderful worlds."
Ward rounds out an Omaha directorial roster that consists of Robin Armstrong, Paul Gay, Peter Goldschmidt, Michael Grasso, David McNally and Rupert Sanders. The company’s sales are handled on the West Coast by in-house rep Pia Alexander, in the Midwest by Chicago-based David Wagner & Associates, and on the East Coast by Ziegler Management Group, New York.
