Sunday 15 February 2015

How Fredrik Bond achieved an 'epic strut' for Moneysupermarket.com


How Fredrik Bond achieved an 'epic strut' for Moneysupermarket.com

Posted by Eliza Williams, 26 January 2015, 15:42    Permalink    Comments (143)

Mother's new ad for price comparison site Moneysupermarket.com has been causing many a chuckle this week. We talked to director Fredrik Bond about how it was made...
The spot, shown below, stars Dave, a man so excited about the money he has saved on his car insurance via the site that he embarks on a booty-shaking 'epic strut'.
We talked over email to Fredrik Bond, of production company Sonny London, about some of the secrets behind making the ad (though sadly he refused to give up the goods on our most crucial question, regarding butt padding):
CR: What was your inspiration for the spot?
FB: Beyonce's butt. Another big source of inspiration was the simplicity of the script as well as the creatives from Mother who are really amazing at moving their bottoms. I would say that the script is based on a true story – I wish I had filmed when the creatives showed me what they had in mind.
CR: Who's the main guy – how did you find him?
FB: We did casting til our faces and asses turned blue. Michael [Van Schoick] was a natural for this. He just about had to step his foot into the door at the casting studio and we all knew it was him. What was also so exciting about him was that he had never done any commercials before this – a pure commercial virgin – so he would just give us 1000% in rehearsals and on set.
CR: How did you get such a good strut from him? Was there a choreographer?
FB: Michael and our fantastic, tireless choreographer Julianne 'JuJu' Walters worked both of their asses off (literally) to find the right strut and vibe for the spot.
CR: Is his bum real, padding, or CGI?
FB: That's a big muddy movie magic secret!
CR: How much CGI was there in the spot in general?
FB: None whatsoever.
NEWS FLASH! Michael Van Schoick (AKA Dave #epicstrut) answers our burning question regarding butt padding via Twitter. Somehow this makes us love the spot even more – praise be to plump rumps!
SECOND UPDATE! Grazia interviewed Michael Van Schoick who admitted that despite his naturally pert shelf bottom, a "prosthetic jiggly piece" was in fact inserted into the back of the shorts.