At the top of my list I would include 'to direct World Cup commercial for Nike...'
The swoosh released its much-anticipated TV campaign for the 2010 South Africa, and notably it became a viral sensation before officially debuting on the airwaves during the Champions League final. It's as epic as we've come to expect from the good folks in Oregon, both Nike and its frequent agency partner Wieden+Kennedy.
The commercial trumped their last three-minute masterpiece, the Guy Ritchie-directed 'Take it to the Next Level' spot for EURO2008. As I mentioned back then, Ritchie is a director at Anonymous Content -- the same production company as Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu, the Oscar-winning helmer (Babel, 21 Grams, Amores Perros) who went behind the lens for this new commercial. Hence appearances by thespians like Gael Garcia Bernal.
Iñarritu on Saturday wasn't too far from Madrid, where the Champions League final was taking place. He was at the Cannes Film Festival, receiving an award for his latest feature. Last year at Cannes, one Eric Cantona was there for his own cinematic creation. The Frenchman is notably absent from this 2010 Nike campaign, which might be a good idea after the rocky spots he did as their narrator in 2006.
And before that for 2002, the phootball philosophe was the antagonist in Nike's Mad Max-inspired 2002 campaign, directed by Monty Python's Terry Gilliam. I can't remember if Cantona popped up in any of the Samba in 1998, but he literally burst onto the mise-en-scene during USA '94 for what is Nike's first int'l soccer commercial.
The rest, as they say, is
