Hollywood Ads Up

Comments +
Add comment

All About

Albert Brooks

Get the latest photos, news, and more

Of course, the most persuasive reason is plain old greenbacks. "They paid me a crapload," Smith says of his deal with Diet Coke. "You can't shy away from easy cash like that." Easy indeed. For a single commercial, a director can pull in $60,000. And, according to Bender, it's not unheard of for directors of Woo's caliber to earn $1 million plus for multiple spots.

Then again, not all ad execs are crazy about the idea of Hollywood's finest pitching Pepto-Bismol. "I'm just not in love with what I'm seeing from film directors," says Siltanen. "Tell me one of the top 10 commercials in the last year that was done by a feature guy." Even Bay admits that the quick cuts of 30-second spots are tougher than they look. The bottom line, says Siltanen, is maintaining the quality. "What you're hoping for is that [the director] is a competitor, that no matter what they touch they want to make it special. There's no way I would hire a director just because of his name."

Originally posted Apr 03, 1998 Published in issue #425 Apr 03, 1998 Order article reprints

Previous Page 1 2

Comments +
Add comment

Features Oscars 2012: This award season's winningest winners
News + Notes Oscar watch: The awards season kicks off
News + Notes Paul Rudd: This stuff cracks me up
Movie Article Albert Brooks takes a look back on his career
All About Albert Brooks

Add your comment

The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, e-mail us. An asterisk * indicates a required field.