Nope, not Benjamin Button. David Fincher is one of my favorite directors. He is the guy that brought us Zodiac, Fight Club, and Se7en. He has now directed an awesome Nike commercial. “Fate” tells the life-long journey of pro football players LaDainian Tomlinson and Troy Polamalu as their destinies collide in an NFL football game.
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Based on a concept by Wieden & Kennedy, the portland-based advertising agency behind some of Nike’s best campaigns (including Bo Knows, Spike Lee’s Mars Blackmon Air Jordan ads, Charles Barkley’s I Am Not a Role Model ad), the Bruce CVampbell Old Spice “Experience is Everything” ads, and Coke’s The Coke Side of Life campaign. Filmed by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (Sleepy Hallow, Ali, Great Expectations, Children of Men), edited by Angus Wall (Benjamin Button, Zodiac, Thumbsucker, Panic Room, and the creator iof the title sequences for Carnivale, Rome, and Big Love), and scored to a remix of Ennio Morricone’s “The Ecstasy of Gold” from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
A fantastic but unexpected commercial. The spot feels more like the work of Michael Mann or Peter Berg. When I think Fincher, I think smooth yet edgy, but as far as I can remember, Fincher rarely makes use of handheld camerawork (maybe in Se7en).
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