Aaron Stoller Has The Time Of His Life With The NFL

American Football end zone celebrations come in all forms, from the classic 'Icky Shuffle' all the way to Cam Newton's influential 'Dab'. Things have been very creative on the celebration front since 2017 when the NFL decided to relax the rules around end zone celebrations, making it a neat creative angle for The NFL's humourous big game spot.

In "Celebrations To Come", we get to see the inside of the New York Giant's training facility and a close look at Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. engaging in a typical training session. This is where things take a turn with the spot evolving into a hilarious tribute to classic movie 'Dirty Dancing'.

We reached out to Biscuit Filmworks director Aaron Stoller to fill us in on how the shoot went down, how you get big men to boogie and how OBJ reacted to the news he would be 'Baby'...

We saw some great feedback for the work on social media, were you pleased with the reactions it got online?

It was great! We made the cover of the NY Post... do you know how hard that is to do without committing a heinous crime? Someone forwarded me a tweet from Jennifer Grey saying that she loved it. Oh and Turtle from “Entourage” said he liked it too.

When, where and how was the spot shot?

We shot at the Giants practice facility in New Jersey. It was one of those “shoot a 2 day commercial in 5 hours” kind of deals.  Eli came in and rehearsed the day before and Odell and the rest of the gang came in on the morning of. We lived on 3 cameras: 1 Steadycam and 2 handheld... one of which was reserved for a technocrane that never showed up. The teamsters grabbed the wrong truck and it didn’t have our goods inside of it.

How long did you have to film the spot? Was it a quick turnaround?

It was lightning fast. We had Odell from 9-1:30 and Eli and the rest of the gang stayed a bit longer.

Where there any alternative ideas you attempted?

No, it was all pretty straightforward... we didn’t have any time to really play around.

The Giants didn’t have the best season, Do you think they were a good fit for this light-hearted approach?

Absolutely. No one else could have given what Eli did. His focus, athleticism and ability to play this deadly straight was no small feat. The guy has incredible comedic timing.

Which players needed the most assistance with the choreography?

None of them. These guys are in the NFL... a group of the most coachable and physically gifted athletes I’ve ever been around. Even the 300+ lb. linemen, those guys could move like Gregory Hines.

Which other QB and WR combination do you think could have been great for this spot?

I’d say a 1999 Kurt Warner and Isaac Bruce combo. The greatest show on turf.

Did you have a special screening of Dirty Dancing to get the team in the mood before the shoot?  

We didn’t watch the entire movie but the morning of I showed the dance to Odell in the locker room. His expression was incredible, afterward I was met with a blank stare that said, “you want me to do what?”