If ever there were an argument for manifest destiny, DENUEVO is it: for years, buddies Doug Cox and Rich North have been batting nutty ideas around, as ad creatives are wont to do, as amusements while producing their more “serious” work for brands and agencies. The pair have now carried one of their premises to fruition in the form of an off-the-wall comedy short called DENUEVO.
Speaking of destiny, famed futurist Ray Kurzweil once made a prediction that humans will soon be able to upload their consciousness to computers and achieve digital immortality. And so, DENUEVO follows the story of one family, that when facing the loss of their patriarch, are presented with an option that was just too good to say no."
"I've known Rich for over 20 years now, and our best conversations always start with, ‘Ok, hear me out…’ This one was Rich saying, ‘Ok, hear me out, what if we show why being uploaded to a computer is the absolute worst idea ever?’ So we wrote DENUEVO and here we are."
"There isn't a day that Doug and I don't come up with an idea for a short or sketch or just come up with something stupid to make us laugh,” North concurs. “It's been a bond from day one for us. Just two people sitting in long meetings trying to amuse ourselves and make the Zoom a little more interesting while on mute. DENUEVO was hatched after reading the news, being on too many calls and realizing that the technological world around us could possibly keep us in that same situation…forever. And ever. And so we wrote DENUEVO and here we are."
Yes, you read that right. The filmmakers each ended their quotes the same way.
Lest you think that they are one and the same:
Doug Cox is a San Francisco native and has been directing commercial content professionally for 11 years. Although if you ask him, he has been making movies since he was 9 years old. Whether in his parents garage or his backyard, his love for film and storytelling is evident, as seen by his successes in short film (PIE, GARY) and his advertising career. His global work for brands like Old Navy, Levi’s, and Google earned him over a dozen AICP nominations and 3 wins for Best of San Francisco and Fashion & Beauty. He is partnered with David Verhoef in The Cabinet, a six-year-old production and post shop whose client list includes brands and agencies such as Clorox, LEGO, Twitter, Yahoo!, Method Men, Personal Capital, and Salesforce, complemented by a branded mini-doc in partnership with Verizon Media.
Meanwhile, Rich North was born in Detroit, where he spent the early part of life and his advertising career. After a move to San Francisco, he went to work with top brands in virtually every industry and collect some of the most prestigious awards in the field from shows like Cannes, AICP and D&AD, to name a few. All of this spurred him to take the leap into directing and foster his passion for storytelling.
Where can you watch DENUEVO? The trailer is available HERE, and the filmmakers say they will be uploading the film to festivals beginning September 4, 2023. And so, there you are.
