Antony Hoffman Takes Idris Elba For A Ride

Antony Hoffman Takes Idris Elba For A Ride

Chances are, if you're an agency set to make a big car commercial, the work of Antony Hoffman is top of your research pile. The director, represented by Believe Media in the US, has chased the likes of BMW, Cadillac, Lexus and Mercedes Benz along speeding racetracks, urban cityscapes and striking vistas, as well as providing stunning visuals for other luxury brands like Tag Heuer and Martini.


His latest is an episodic, blockbuster-style campaign for Toyota Avalon starring The Wire's Idris Elba. Out of  the agency Burrell, 'Only the Name Remains' sees Elba schwoosh the impressive vehicle around a mysterious plot in a Bondian style, all shot with Hoffman's trademark flair.

The work follows a sumptuous campaign for Nissan in China, a market in which he is producing more and more work. We managed to grab a few moments with Antony to discuss his popularity in the East, his ascent to the automotive apex and his expansion into broader narratives like the Toyota series.
 

 
You're a 'go-to' guy when it comes to car commercials. Do you like the fact that you're seen as a master of a particular genre?

That certainly was not my intention, I think I was born with an adrenalin gene I guess and I have always loved fast things. I have always been an impatient guy yet narrative storytelling ads have always been my interest so maybe somewhere they merged at some point, don't know.

How did you get into the position you're in today?

Two years back, I was starting to experiment with small handheld digital cameras, and just loved the natural authentic quality and how they allowed me to see what the human eye could not. I was shooting what inspired me, what was really there. I wrote a short film with a nocturnal owl character roaming the streets of LA and that was a where the gull wing SLS Mercedes ad was borne. It's just a continuum of what interests me.
 

How do car commercials differ from other shoots you may do?

I've always tried to deconstruct how we shoot cars. Stable tracking shots, perfect moves were not my thing - it seemed to make the inanimate object even more rigid. So I went handheld and squeezed the camera where it hasn't been before. Each car has a personality and I was trying to just "Jackson Pollock" it and break the formality of the image. This thinking can be applied to any genre. It's not all about cars; I think an intimate dialogue scene can be shot with a different cinematic syntax, people are so exhausted of the same tired formal structure.

You have done a lot of work in other genres too, can you name a few?

Yeah I have shot several human emotive ads, for Martini and with Tag Heuer and other luxury brands, I see this as part of a continuum of the same aesthetic, what interests me is what I want to shoot.
 

Do you have a preference in the type of job you do?

It's pretty simple - it has to have a concept, a conceit, an idea. I'm really tired of shooting pretty wallpaper imagery.

You're probably the biggest 'western' director working in China. Do you think the Chinese market demands a different skillset? What do you offer that other western directors might not?

Yeah, it's pretty funny that China has been somewhere I have spend a lot of time over the last few years. In many ways ads are in their nascence creatively in China. Its still very early stages but they are learning unbelievably fast how to make brands that are part of an incredible budgeting society, to be there to witness this at this incredible moment in history and have a small seat at the table is pretty humbling.

The director is revered there, he has to be really patient and stay engaged all the way through. Be a very good communicator of his own ideas and has to really stick to his guns, otherwise they will put it in blender of mediocrity which often happens. 
 

The automotive category is beset with work that's very grand with epic visuals. Do you feel like that's what you're creating? What's your general set-up?
 
Well, let's be frank - most car ads are a pretty drab affair. The agencies conceive scripts that are referential of other car ads and, yes, most cars look the same. Its hard to differentiate one from another. It's the old adage - show the human element and envelope a car or any product in it. Doesn't matter if we selling salad dressing or an Aston Martin, people respond to emotion, something they wish for or they recognize as themselves.
 
Do you feel that you can create broader narratives in the current commercial climate (web series, branded content)? Does that appeal to more than the traditional 30-second spot?

Yeah that's what I'm after - long format narrative ads and film. It's happening more and more frequently, I just finished the TV and web campaign for Toyota with Idris Elba and that's a serial episodic concept, a chase a getaway and some bad guys who give chase to our protagonist. It was a thrill to do that, I'm certainly up for more of those kind of ads.

What's on the slate for 2013?

I hope that we are finally about to really break that stayed mold and create some really great content and get the budgets to do some unique work this year.

Posted on 1st April 2013