Sending a script to Gondry? He already thinks it’s shit.
Here’s an interview with Michel Gondry.
And here’s the first question and answer:
Mr. Gondry, why are you still doing commercials?
I do as few commercials as possible, maybe one or two per year because it allows me to do the movies that I want to do. I confess I am not proud of doing commercials. If tomorrow I could make a decision that would make the commercials disappear altogether, I would make this decision even if it means I would gain much less money. But since those commercials are getting made anyways, I am taking the opportunities. It’s true, I am not proud of that and it’s a good point you are underlining. I hope my movies will be more successful and then I won’t have to do commercials anymore.
So does that matter? Are people good at things they’re embarrassed by?
Having said that, it’s been a long time since Michel Gondry made a great commercial (here’s his most recent one):
http://vimeo.com/75224608
…and I have no idea if he felt the same way when his commercial work was better:
Has he grown to hate ads? Has his disdain coincided with the vague success of his film career (ESOTSM was amazing; the rest not so much)? How will people feel when he deigns to assign his lofty genius to their shitty commercials?
And does that interview make him sound like a bit of a bell?
I think he sounds just like most creatives. We’re not particularly proud of what we do but it pays the bills. I’m sure most of us would rather be writers, film directors, artists etc. But the salary’s shit.
cynical.
there’s no other industry in the world where a wanker like you would be given a million quid and told to make a film.
back on point.
i remember when he was doing ads and promo’s that were brilliant. he loved it and was full of praise. it gave him a pathway into hollywood where he’s created the cillit bang of film. now, he’s doing much less lauded advertising, he’s shitting on it. don’t bite the hand that feeds you. or shit on it. much.
Always loved that Nike one. Actually one of my favourites ever. There’s not much to it but it’s so perfect.
Incidentally, someone once asked Michel Gondry for some advice on making their first film at a Q&A. His reply was ‘Start your project. Finish your project.’ Also perfect.
An open letter to Mr Gondry…
Dear Michel,
I have come to the conclusion that your recent dismissal of your creative endeavours within advertising is either a delusion or an affectation.
Either way, I am here to debunk it for you.
Simply put: much of your advertising work is both more entertaining and more interesting than that of your feature films.
Additionally, even if you dedicated the rest of your career to advertising and you’d still be hard pushed to create anything more cravenly commercial than The Green Hornet.
But thanks for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind though. That was great.
Yours,
Butterbean.
What Butterbean said.
Eternal Sunshine is a fantastic film, no small thanks to Charlie Kaufmann, but his other films just reek of the same-same “DIY” crap that made his commercial/music video career become stale.
He hasn’t lived up to his hype in years, sadly. And that statement might just be a cynical way to keep his face.
Blame the shit you’ve done on the creative you’ve received… It’s a somewhat common practice.
Nice Gondry. Real nice.
Oh dear. Another director who regards making commercials as a ‘bank raid’ – allowing them to concentrate on projects that make less money but are more satisfying.
Gondry’s not alone. But I bet that even if the excerpts from this interview were printed on flyers and given to every team in the world he’d still get takers. “Ooooh – we got to work with Michel”. No matter that his disdain for them and their work is visible from the moon.
Assuming that these are his actual views (and not some jour no spin) then it would be nice to think the industry would turn round to MG and tell him to fuck right off. Never happen.
Btw – Eternal Sunshine is LoveFilm’s most rented film ever. True.
I wonder whether there’s a correlation between Michel’s growing disdain for commercials and a reduction in the quality of scripts he probably gets nowadays?
He’d have got the script for “Drugstore” and thought “fuck, great idea”.
Now I bet 90% of the scripts are asking him to rip off himself. “Hi Michel, we were wondering whether you could do a shit remake of that amazing thing you did for that band. For B&Q”.
Which must be galling to the Gaul…
The number of one-line scripts I’ve seen over the years that open with “See Ref – XXXXX by Michel Gondry”. Fucking shameful.
Either way, don’t bite the hand that feeds.
Wouldn’t it be ace if the worldwide Ad industry told him to go and fuck himself…?
Never gonna happen, ‘cos we’ve lost our bollocks.