How Alice Mathias brought the Super Bowl audience to tears over Chamzo

Yeah, yeah, the Budweiser Clydesdales always bring wetness to the eye, and the Nike spot conjured wells of pride, but we can safely say that the most eyeball-watering moment from this year's Super Bowl crop came from a little alien that just wanted to go home. 

And they weren't tears of sadness...

Appearing in the 4th quarter of play, a 30-second spot from Dentsu for Totino's - Chazmo Finally Goes Home - brought narrative closure to a campaign that launched in November, concerning an extra-terrestrial visitor with a taste for Pizza Rolls. More importantly, it brought the laughs.

Fans of stars Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson, writer Zach Kanin, and director Alice Mathias's Netflix collaboration, I Think You Should Leave, will know the score - LOLable anarchy that subverts expectations and plays with the performer's uniquely brilliant comic sensibilities. But what about the millions of every day Big Game viewers who prefer their laughs a little more vanilla?

We quizzed Gifted Youth director Mathias - one of the shamefully small number of female directors to be featured in the Bowl - on how she brought Robinson's comedy to a broad audience, the pressures of huge audiences, and how to get an audience to love you after killing an alien.

Above: The Super Bowl cut of the Chazmo spot.

Can you talk through how you got involved in the project and the process leading up to the Super Bowl spot?

I got involved because I have directed the three seasons of I Think You Should Leave and have a preexisting creative collaboration with Zach Kanin, who wrote the Super Bowl spot and also voiced Chazmo, along with Tim [Robinson] and Sam [Richardson].

I don't really know the specifics of what went on behind the scenes before I was approved as the director, but that foundation led to my involvement. I have done a lot of commercial work, and with that background, Tim, Sam, and Zack invited me to be part of this, which was really exciting.

This was the first full Super Bowl spot where I had complete authorship, which was very exciting.

At first, it was just the first instalment we shot in August, and it wasn’t clear it would evolve into a Super Bowl second instalment.

It was one step at a time, but making that first spot was super fun, and it made sense to continue the story.

Have you worked on Super Bowl commercials before?

I have done some work for the Super Bowl in support of Jake Szymanski, an amazing mentor who has fostered my commercial career. 

I worked on his Uber Eats work last year through Gifted Youth, but this was the first full Super Bowl spot that I directed in full, which was very exciting.

Was the whole campaign shot together, or was the 'going home' section made specifically for the Super Bowl?

If you look closely, there are differences between the two instalments, shot months apart at different locations.

The first was at Disney Ranch in summer, and the second at Allied Studios Ranch in December. We made adjustments for the weather, like swapping T-shirts for long sleeves, but our focus was on the team’s comfort. We also aimed for the story to feel continuous, as if picking up right where it left off.

At the end of the day, these are commercials, and it's fine - it’s comedy.

Above: A slightly more gruesome online cut.

This campaign has a strong online presence with extended cuts and versions, but a Super Bowl audience is different. Was there any hesitation about adapting the work for this audience?

I feel lucky to work with collaborators like Tim, Sam, and Zack, who are great at making comedy for people who share their sensibility. Totino's respected that approach and didn’t question it, which is how it ended up in the Super Bowl context.

How much of the campaign was scripted versus improvised by Tim and Sam?

On I Think You Should Leave, everything is carefully scripted, though we discover things on the day. For these 30-second spots, we worked within that parameter but also included Tim and Sam’s improv, which ended up being most prominent in the final cut.

Our editor Pamela [Petruski] at Mackcut had a lot to work with and did an amazing job shaping the final piece from all the versions and additional improv.