Antoine Fuqua, whose feature film credits include The Replacement Killers, Training Day and Shooter, doesn’t delve into the advertising world often. His busy feature film schedule simply doesn’t allow for it. So when it comes to selecting ad projects, the director, who is represented by bicoastal/international Anonymous Content, is picky. “Some of the boards that come through, they’re just pushing product. That’s how you feel,” Fuqua says. “I want to do something that’s stimulating for me as well, something that’s interesting and different.”
That’s why the director is particularly interested in tackling boundary-breaking, longer-format advertising fare. Case in point: Just a few years ago, he directed The Call, a seven-minute short film for Pirelli Tire via Leo Burnett, Milan. Shot in Rome, The Call, showcased on the Pirelli Tires Web site, chronicles a battle between good and evil and stars John Malkovich and Naomi Campbell.
More recently, Fuqua directed a 3:30 film for The Army National Guard through LM&O Advertising in Arlington, Va. titled Citizen Soldier. The film, which will run in movie theaters from late October through early January, features an original song by the band 3 Doors Down and explains how the Army National Guard came to be and how it serves the American people.
“It is interesting because it’s a mixture of a music video and a movie,” Fuqua says of Citizen Soldier, noting that he had to integrate the band and its song into “almost a history lesson, so to speak, of the National Guard.”
When LM&O came to Fuqua, the agency presented a rough version of the song and boards that served as more or less of a reference, with single images meant to represent say the Revolutionary War and the Normandy Invasion, according to Fuqua. Referring to the material, the director then completed a storyboard–“I storyboard everything, anyway,” he says–and sent it back to the agency. After some back and forth, the story was set, and Fuqua shot the film on location at and around an army base in California. “It was ambitious to do it in a week–they were tight, tight days, which is why I storyboard everything, lay it all out,” Fuqua says.
In one week, Fuqua and DP Gary Waller shot everything from a Revolutionary War scene to a re-enactment of the Normandy Invasion to a rescue that was designed to look like it took place in Iraq or Afghanistan to a 9/11 sequence.
Fuqua says he wound up over-shooting. “I get excited like a kid, and I’m used to making movies, so I had so much footage to make a little mini-movie in my head,” Fuqua says, “and then I had to cut it down to fit a commercial format and also in this case to fit the length of the song.”
There was some back and forth with the agency and the client over how to put the film together, according to Fuqua, who explains, “They saw it more linear, and that was just boring for me. I wanted to mix it up and intercut, going back and forth between [time periods].”
Ultimately, Fuqua says that he was able to show everyone that his non-linear approach served the project best, and he believes that audiences will get it. “I come out of the MTV generation, and I know the younger audience can comprehend quite a bit quickly,” Fuqua says. “They understand things are mixed and a little more kinetic.” All in all, Fuqua is proud of Citizen Soldier.
Asked if there are certain types of boards that he would like to see from advertising agencies but isn’t getting, the director quickly responds yes. “I’ve played sports my whole life. I boxed and played basketball in college, but I don’t really see a lot of boards for sports,” Fuqua says. “I don’t know why, but I’d like to do more sports ads.”
Fuqua has directed sports-themed commercials in the past, with one of his best being “B More” for Nike out of Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore. The spot featuring NBA superstar Carmelo “Melo” Anthony takes viewers back on a journey through his rough and tumble upbringing in Baltimore. Shot at night, the spot has Melo walking down a dark street dribbling a ball and encountering people who helped him reach his potential along the way. Fuqua did some mentoring himself earlier this year when he made an appearance as a judge on one episode of On the Lot, the poorly conceived and executed talent contest for filmmakers produced by Mark Burnett of Survivor fame and Steven Spielberg. “It was just bizarre,” Fuqua says with a laugh. “On a live show like that there was no time to really talk to the young filmmakers and tell them anything of real significance, which is why you are there–to give them advice. But you were being rushed.”
Safe to say, Fuqua won’t be stepping into a reality TV situation any time soon. “You’ll never see me doing it again,” he confirms.
Fuqua may be doing a music video again, though. It has been awhile since the director, whose clip credits include Prince’s “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” and Queen Latifah’s “Freedom,” has shot one. But Fuqua reports that he just met with Jay-Z in New York to talk about shooting a longer-format music video-type project for the hip-hop star.
If Fuqua is going to take that job, he’d better get rolling on it because he is scheduled to head to South America in February to start shooting his next film, the subject of which is Columbian cocaine dealer Pablo Escobar. “Oliver Stone is producing it with me. I’ve wanted to make this film my whole life,” Fuqua enthuses. “We’re going to go to Columbia and get lost for a year.”
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