Stacy Wall of Imperial Woodpecker directed this spot in which L.A. Clippers’ superstar forward Blake Griffin plays a pickup game of basketball, inexplicably choosing as his teammate a youngster who calls himself D’arryl Drain, aka Dr. Drain. The lad’s specialty comes in the form of high-arching jump shots–unfortunately, those jumpers are errant and don’t even get a trace of net. Clearly, this kid’s game doesn’t match his swagger.
But there’s method to Griffin’s madness as he gives the ball to a wide-open Drain. He predictably lofts a shot headed for nowhere until Griffin plucks out of the air what unintentionally serves as an alley-oop pass and dunks the ball through the hoop. We then see one successful Drain-to-Blake slam dunk connection after another in the summer hoops game.
“Blake and Drain” was created by Wieden+Kennedy, New York, for the launch of the Jordan Brand’s shoe, the Super.Fly 2
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck Tell “Freaky Tales,” Look Back On The Impact Of Sundance On Their Careers
When Sean Baker accepted the Best Director Oscar this month for Anora, he made an impassioned plea for the theatrical motion picture. “Where did we fall in love with the movies? At the movie theater,” he affirmed, adding that it’s “a communal experience you don’t get at home.” The shared experience of being in an audience--being moved to tears, laughter, or stunned into silence--is like no other. And it is all the more invaluable in a world where we've become increasingly divided. Writers-directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden know all too well the richness of the in-theater experience. Boden recalled last year’s Sundance Film Festival when Freaky Tales--a feature she and Fleck teamed on--was screened before a capacity crowd. Described by Boden as a “crazy, popcorn, fun film,” Freaky Tales elicited a loud, boisterous response from the audience. “The laughter was loud,” as was the applause “when crazy shit went down,” she noted. Now Fleck and Boden, a long-time directing team dating back to their film school days, hope to see and hear that audience reception replicated in theaters across the country as Freaky Tales is slated for wide release by Lionsgate on April 4. Freaky Tales is a genre mashup set in Oakland, Calif., Fleck’s hometown, in the 1980s. Its ensemble cast includes Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, Jay Ellis, Dominique Thorne and Normani. The directing team describes it as a personal fever dream fantasy incorporating Fleck’s youthful obsessions from sports, movies and music. The film had been percolating within Fleck for some 30 years, springing from his childhood experience in the 1980s with influences ranging from basketball to hip-hop to punk rock. Fleck at one point called... Read More