Kim Gehrig of production house Somesuch has won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials. She took the honor–during a gala awards ceremony on Saturday evening (2/18) at the Beverly Hilton–on the strength of two client-direct entries: Apple’s “The Greatest” and Apple iPhone’s “Run Baby Run.”
In brief acceptance remarks, Gehrig thanked her colleagues at Somesuch–including company founding partners Sally Campbell and Tim Nash–and focused on “The Greatest,” praising her cast of real people who are quite able even though they each have varied so-called “disabilities” impacting mobility, vision, hearing, cognition and so on. Thanks to different innovations from Apple, these people are able to deftly navigate everyday life. The film represents and depicts the physically/cognitively challenged community in a new positive light, showing how technology can help, providing different forms of accessibility and capabilities.
On stage with her DGA Award, Gehrig said her experience on the spot “taught me about accessibility.” The director recalled the bond she formed with her cast, citing “the joy we had together,” adding that “The Greatest” was “a beautiful piece of film to make.”
The commercial’s track, “I am the Greatest,” used lyrics from the speeches of the legendary Muhammad Ali, who himself became an advocate for disability after developing Parkinson’s late in life. Australian choral group Spinifex sang the song which was remixed by one of the cast, Cola Boyy, a music artist and producer who opened Coachella in 2022. Jazz pianist Matthew Whitaker then improvised on top of this track, and the resulting collaboration was woven throughout the fabric of the film.
Fittingly as “The Greatest” shows the inspiring capabilities of its cast, representing their ability to achieve and forge ahead, so too does Gehrig’s DGA win represent progress on another front as she becomes the second woman director to receive the Guild’s top honor in commercials. The first was Melina Matsoukas of PRETTYBIRD two years ago for her stirring “You Love Life” for Apple’s Beats by Dre from agency Translation.
Gehrig’s historic win saw her top this year’s field of commercial nominees which also consisted of: Juan Cabral of MJZ; Craig Gillespie, also from MJZ; David Shane of O Positive; and Ivan Zacharias of SMUGGLER.
Gehrig’s teams on “The Greatest” and “Run Baby Run,” were also acknowledged by the DGA. For “The Greatest,” she enjoyed the support of first assistant director Michael Estrella, second assistant director Brian Steffen and second second assistant director Shauna Frontera. Gehrig’s compatriots on “Run Baby Run” included first assistant director Matias Nilsson, second assistant director Carl Jackson and second second assistant director Michael Paulson.
