Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - S7E09 - Celebrities: Living To Tell The Tales

Episode Date: March 2, 2018

This week, we explore the world of celebrities in advertising. We’ll tell the story of a super shy mega star at one of her very first gigs, how Alan Arkin defied all advertising norms and why an afternoon behind the mic makes Alec Baldwin sweat. Celebrities cost big money, have big opinions and make big demands. But if the commercial is good, their presence can be rocket fuel.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beatleology Interviews, where I talk to people who knew the Beatles, work with them, love them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beatleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actors Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and Beatles confidant Astrid Kershaw. But coming up, I talk to May Pang, who dated John Lennon in the mid-70s. I talk to double fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Kosh. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth,

who designed the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dion, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success. And please, do me a favor, follow the Beatleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan, you just have to love storytelling.

Subscribe now, and don't miss a single beat. From the Under the Influence digital box set, this episode is from Season 7, 2018. You're so king in it. You're lovin' it in town. Your teeth look whiter than noon, don't they? You're not you when you're hungry.

You're a good man with all teeth. You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. When Ridley Scott was an upcoming director, he shot commercials. One of those commercials was produced in 1979. It was one of those ads that I've never forgotten. It was for Chanel No. 5. It showed a beautiful woman lounging by a spectacular swimming pool. I am made of blue sky and golden light.

And I will feel this way forever. Share the fantasy. Chanel No. 5. Later that year, Ridley Scott would direct his first big film, the futuristic Blade Runner. Because of that film, Ridley Scott would direct his first big film, The Futuristic Blade Runner. Because of that film, Ridley Scott was asked to direct what is considered in my industry as the best television commercial

of all time, The Futuristic 1984 for Apple. On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh, and you'll see why 1984 won't be like 1984. As I've mentioned before, that commercial

would change Super Bowl advertising for all time. Ridley Scott would go on to direct many successful films. In 2000, he directed Russell Crowe in Gladiator. The film would go on to be nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning five, including Best Picture. Gladiator films have long been loved by Hollywood. The sword-and-sandals genre gave directors sumptuous visuals, violent tension and dramatic storylines.

But the gladiators of ancient Rome were different from the gladiators of Hollywood. To begin with, gladiators were the celebrities of their time. There were male and female gladiators. They even organized trade unions to protect their brotherhood. They rarely fought to the death. Most fights operated under strict rules and regulations and had referees. Gladiators were expensive to house, train, and feed, so their promoters didn't want to see their meal tickets needlessly killed. Bouts were usually stopped if a gladiator was seriously wounded. Defeated gladiators could still leave the

Coliseum with honor if they had put on a good show. Only one in ten bouts ended in a death. Gladiators were sex symbols. Women often used to wear jewelry that had been dipped in gladiator blood. And gladiator sweat was considered an aphrodisiac and was even mixed into facial creams and cosmetics. And here's a surprising piece of trivia. Did you know that celebrity gladiators used to endorse products?

It's true. Many of these early ads have survived on ancient frescoes and wall graffiti. Gladiators would endorse shops, foods, and weapons. As a matter of fact, Ridley Scott was going to have Maximus, the main character portrayed by Russell Crowe in Gladiator, endorse an olive oil in the story, but decided audiences would never believe it. But it was historically accurate.

Celebrities have a long history in the world of advertising. They bring instant attention to a brand, they have sex appeal, and most have a certain X factor that hopefully rubs off on the product. And they are expensive. As a commercial director for over 25 years, I've worked with a lot of them. Most I found professional, smart, talented, and hardworking. Some I found difficult. But I lived to tell the tales.

You're under the influence. In my career, I've worked with many celebrities. The list includes people like the quietly funny Bob Newhart, the intense Kiefer Sutherland, a very hard-working Alec Baldwin, the deep-voiced James Coburn, and hilarious SCTV alums Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, and Andrea Martin. I've worked with sports greats like Boom Boom Jeffrey on,

who was off the charts funny, by the way, Olympian Silken Lauman, Slugger Joe Carter, the legendary Bobby Orr, and more. It's always an interesting experience. A celebrity's time is very valuable and expensive. So even though you are paying them a ton of money, you have a very limited amount of time with them. So the anxiety in a recording session is high. Most of them I found to be very professional. Alec Baldwin worked so hard in the session we did together, he was working up a sweat.

He cared about getting it right. Usually, I give an actor a bit of direction between each take, like, can we hear more of a smile on this word, or can you shave two seconds off your read, or can you give us a little more frustration on this line? That kind of thing. While working with Kiefer Sutherland on Ford TV commercials, he preferred another way of working. I would give him some direction, then he would bang off ten takes in a row,

one right after the other, he would finally stop, and then step outside for a smoke break. While he was out, we would go through all the takes, make notes on what we liked. Then Kiefer would return and I would say something like, OK, we liked takes three and seven, but I need you to give me this section of the script again. He would take a deep breath, rattle off another ten takes in a row, then off to another smoke break.

His method was unusual, but I would always defer to a celebrity's preferred way of working. As a matter of fact, before starting a recording session, I would find a moment

to ask the celeb what way he or she liked to work. I always enjoyed watching a celebrated actor in the studio. I loved to see their singular talent emerge, where I could see that thing they had, the X-factor, the charisma,

the wonderful voice quality or the solid gold instincts they possessed that separated them from the pack. One such session stands out for me. I was directing a Big Labatt's radio campaign in the early 90s. We decided to record it in Los Angeles. The reason for that was talent. The beer industry eats up a lot of actors in Canada.

Back then, once an actor did a commercial for one brand, he or she couldn't do a commercial for a competing brand for a long period of time. Therefore, the best actors would often be locked up with other beer brands. That was the case with Labatt at that moment in time. All of the actors we wanted were tied up with competitive brands, so we decided to cast in Los Angeles. I needed about 10 excellent comedic actors for this campaign. We hired a Hollywood casting company,

and they auditioned the best comedic voiceover actors in town. One of the roles I needed was a really funny actress in her late 20s or early 30s. I must have listened to over 40 actresses auditioning for the role. They were all good, but one of them was outstanding. Her timing was fantastic, her delivery was hilarious, and her tone priceless. We hired her on the spot. At the recording session, it was quickly apparent she was the youngest, least experienced actor in the studio.

The other actors were old pros who all knew each other, like Edie McClurg from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sam McMurray from the film Raising Arizona, and Bob Ridgely from the sitcom Coach. But this young actress didn't know the other actors. She was new to the biz. She was super quiet and very shy. But when it was her turn, she would walk up to the mic, deliver her lines brilliantly,

have us all laughing hysterically. Then she would just shyly tiptoe back into the corner of the studio until she was needed again. So shy, but so good. Her name was Ellen DeGeneres. I hear she ended up doing okay. One of my favorite celebrity casting stories revolves around another beer campaign. My company had been hired to write a television campaign for Moosehead Beer. We wanted to find a very specific kind of actor.

The commercial we wrote revolved around a guy sitting at a bar talking about why he liked Moosehead. It was going to be a solo performance, so he had to have an unusual and compelling personality. But all the actors we wanted were tied up with competitive brands. So the decision was made to cast in New York. A casting company was hired. I told them that we were looking for a comedic male actor with personality who could carry a monologue. A few days later, I got a call from the casting agent. She said, Alan Arkin wants to do the commercials.

I said, Which Alan Arkin? She said, The Alan Arkin. I said, I don't understand. We weren't looking for celebrities and we certainly couldn't afford one. Which I'd already told the casting agent. She then proceeded to tell me that while she was having various actors audition the Moosehead scripts,

Alan Arkin was in the next studio, overheard the auditions, and approached the casting agent saying that he thought the scripts were funny. Not only that, but he had a summer place in Nova Scotia, and Moosehead was his favorite beer. Would they consider me? he asked. First, I said to the casting director, we would love to have Alan Arkin in the campaign, but we simply can't afford him. Alan said he would make himself affordable, she said.

Really? Wow. Let me talk to the Moosehead client. Okay, this never happens. You never have a celebrity overhear your scripts. They never ask to be considered for a job. And they never, ever, ever make themselves affordable. Ever. So I called our Moosehead client and said the casting was going well and that Alan Arkin wanted to do the campaign.

He said, which Alan Arkin? I said, the Alan Arkin. But we can't afford him. Apparently, yes we can. And that's how Alan Arkin ended up filming a moosehead campaign for us. Do I really need my shirts any whiter? Hmm? Do I really need a turbo anything? Must there be air pockets in my sneakers? If something's new and improved, what was wrong with it in the first place? Why didn't they just say, don't buy this yet, we are going to improve it? That's why I like Moosehead. It's brewed by the original family, unchanged and unimproved since 1867. Which means they got it right the first time.

Moosehead, they should give seminars. That ended up being a very successful campaign for Moosehead, and it was named the TV Campaign of the Year at the annual Television Bureau of Canada Awards. All due, I happily say, to Alan Arkin's famous slow burn delivery. I did a campaign with the talented Jonathan Winters once. He was in an ornery mood that day,

and it didn't go well. We had five commercials to do, and he walked out of the studio after recording only three of them. Not fun. One of the studio after recording only three of them. Not fun. One of the other directors at our company was once working with a famous actress

for a big campaign. He and the clients flew to New York on a Saturday as that was the only day this actress was available. She was in a top sitcom and the scripts

were written specifically for the character she played in that show. But when she got to the studio, she informed the room she refused to do the character from the sitcom. When it was pointed out that the scripts were written for that character, she rolled her eyes and stomped out of the studio. Here's the important part.

The ad agency wanted to work with her because of her sitcom character, and that important information had been relayed to her agent before hiring her. The actress ended up at a coffee shop around the corner from the studio. The pirate director was on the phone with her agent trying to salvage the situation. The agent had a phone on each ear, one talking to the pirate director, the other trying to talk his famous client into returning to the studio. Eventually, her agent persuaded her to come back, but she still refused to perform the sitcom character. Instead, she assumed a much less interesting character voice

and the scripts died a slow, expensive death. I won't kiss and tell, but this actress used to be on Cheers. I'll let you figure it out. But that's the way it goes sometimes. When you hire a celebrity, you are clearly willing to spend big dollars to tap their special talent. But occasionally, an expensive celebrity is hired for reasons I could never quite figure out.

For example, my company was hired by a Detroit advertising agency to write and direct a radio campaign for the Chevy Venture minivan. I was to base that radio on a Chevy Venture television campaign the ad agency had been running for a while. Sure, things have changed. Are we there yet? But you still need a little freedom. The all-new Chevy Venture is here. Let's go!

I was told there was a long-time celebrity voiceover on this brand. I was surprised to hear that, because I had seen many Chevy Venture commercials on TV but never discerned a celebrity voice on them and I'm pretty good at that. Did you recognize the voice in that commercial? It was Drew Carey. I had no idea he was the voice of Chevy Venture. The ad agency had just been using Drew as a straight announcer. In other words, they weren't tapping into his comedic talents, even though they were paying him a fortune, which I never understood. So when we wrote commercials for Drew, we wrote funny ones where he could shine.

He had a lot of fun doing them, and he was a lot of fun to work with. I also directed quite a few TV voiceovers for Capital One commercials. When I was hired, I was told there was a celebrity voice already attached. Again, I was surprised to hear that. I had seen many Capital One commercials on TV, and they were good.

It was the Hands in Your Pocket campaign. But I never noticed a celebrity voiceover on the ads. See if you recognize the voice. Hands in my pockets, hands in my pockets, hands in my pockets. With their high-interest credit cards, banks always have their hand in your pocket. Get them out with Capital One. Great low rates, no annual fees, and rewards you can actually use.

What's in your wallet? Could you place the celebrity voice? He was the long-term voice of Capital One. It was none other than Randy Quaid. I always wondered why Capital One was spending so much money with Randy when no one knew it was him. He didn't have a distinct voice like Kiefer Sutherland did,

and the straight scripts Quaid was given didn't showcase his talent at all. I mentioned he was the long-term voice of Capital One. That is, until he got into a little bit of trouble. As you may remember, he and his wife fled to Canada because they believed they were being hunted by Starwhackers, a group of embezzlers intent on murdering Hollywood celebrities to gain access to their money. It became quite the news story. I wondered how long Capital One would keep working with Quaid

with all that odd controversy swirling around. Not long after, I was again hired to direct the voiceover on a new Capital One commercial and was told Randy Quaid would no longer be the voice, and a new non-celebrity actor was hired. Celebrities can be a powerful aspect of marketing campaigns. They can also be expensive problems, as Ivory Snow would discover one day. And we'll be right back after this message. new locations. What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you, whether you need a challenge or rest. And Peloton has everything you need, whenever you need it.

Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. If you're enjoying this episode, why not dip into our archives, available wherever you download your pods. Go to terryoreilly.ca for a master episode list. Speaking of expensive celebrity problems,

I'm reminded of the face on the ivory snowboxes. For years, there was an image of a pretty young mother holding an adorable baby to her cheek on the front of ivory snowboxes. As it turned out, the model from that famous photo had died in 2009, and I was reading her obituary. That model, much to Ivory Snow's everlasting chagrin, went on to have another career. She became one of the porn industry's biggest stars. Her name was Marilyn Chambers.

Chambers was born in 1952. Her father was an advertising executive in New York. No doubt influenced by her father's industry, she began auditioning for advertising modeling jobs and landed a big one in the early 70s as the face on ivory snowboxes. A few years later, Chambers moved to San Francisco and got into the porn business. Ironically, the Ivory Snow slogan was 99 and 44 one hundredths percent pure. The juxtaposition of a porn star and an Ivory Snow model made for

some titillating publicity the porn industry loved, and Procter & Gamble didn't. Did you know that some celebrities own advertising agencies? It's true. The Huntley Brinkley Report is produced by NBC News and brought to you in color by Bold. Back in the 70s, Chet Huntley, one half of the famous Huntley-Brinkley anchor team for NBC Evening News,

was a partner in an advertising agency called Levine, Huntley, Schmidt & Beaver. Huntley had recently retired in 1970, and the upstart agency needed a high-profile name to help it attract clients and land lucrative television accounts that paid more than print. They approached Huntley to join the ad firm. He accepted. So Levine, Schmidt & Beaver became Levine, Huntley, Schmidt & Beaver. Spike Lee has an advertising agency called Spike DDB.

He's affiliated with global ad agency DDB, a company you often hear me talk about on this show. One day, the creative director on the Nike account went to a movie. Before the film started, he saw a trailer for another movie called She's Gotta Have It. It was highly unusual. In the trailer for the low-budget film, the movie's young director, Spike Lee,

was on a street corner selling tube socks. Tube socks, tube socks, we fight out. We fight out. We fight out. Hi, I'm Spike Lee. I'm not directing. I do this. It pays the rent, puts food on the table, butter on my whole wheat bread. Anyway, I had this new comedy coming out. It's a very funny show.

She's got a habit. Check this out. Then a few scenes from his movie played out, and near the end of the trailer, Spike Lee reappears, saying... So you're bugging out, right? You're gonna go, you're gonna go, you're gonna go, you're gonna go? If you don't, I'll still be here on this corner. Two socks, two socks, we fight out, we fight out. The Nike creative director was completely intrigued.

The next day, he called Spike Lee. He asked him if he would like to star in and direct a Nike commercial. He said he would pay Spike $50,000. And by the way, he'd be directing Michael Jordan. Spike Lee thought it was a prank phone call. It wasn't. Is it the haircut? No, Mars. Is it the shoes? No, Mars. Is it the extra long shorts? No, Mars. Is the shoes it, right? Nah.

Is it the short socks? Spike went on to direct quite a few Nike commercials, and years later, he started his own advertising agency. Spike DDB now creates advertising for clients like Cadillac, Pepsi, and even Bernie Sanders. I was once speaking at a marketing event, and in the very next conference room was another person talking about his advertising agency. His name was Gene Simmons. Yep, Kiss basement and tongue meister Gene Simmons had an advertising agency for many years called Simmons Abramson Marketing. One of the campaigns they

developed was the long-running I Am Indy advertising for Indy car racing. Hey! I am everything I want I got everything I need Know exactly what to do Cause I am indeed Hey! The Rock just announced his new advertising agency. It's called 7 Bucks Creative. The name was inspired by a specific event.

In 1995, The Rock, then known as Dwayne Johnson, Seven Bucks Creative. The name was inspired by a specific event. In 1995, The Rock, then known as Dwayne Johnson, had dreams of becoming a professional football player. Johnson, by the way, is half Canadian. His dad was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia. So, Dwayne Johnson tried out for the Calgary Stampeders and made the team. He played his first game against the BC Lions and, two days later, was cut made the team. He played his first game against the BC Lions and two days

later was cut from the team. On a dejected ride home, he looked in his wallet. He only had $7 to his name. That's when he made a decision not to let this rejection stop his dreams. As he later said,

making pro football was the best thing that never happened to him. Instead, Dwayne Johnson turned to pro wrestling, changed his name to The Rock, then took that fame to Hollywood, became a movie star, and found himself working with all sorts of brands and endorsements. Over time, he decided to take that expertise and start his own marketing firm, to not only work with advertisers, but to create the advertising too. And that is how 7 bucks got off the ground.

Once upon a time, advertising agencies would hire celebrities. Now, celebrities are advertising agencies. When advertising and celebrities collide, it always makes for interesting sparks. First, the stakes are always high. Celebrities cost big money, they have big opinions, and they make big demands.

There is always an undercurrent of tension in recording sessions and film shoots. But if the commercial is good, a celebrity's presence can be rocket fuel. Other times, it can backfire. In some of the stories today, celebrities were difficult to deal with. Two of them stomped out of the studio in the middle of recording sessions.

Some celebrities get into trouble outside the recording studio. Just when a brand has paid big money to rub up against a celebrity, they find themselves suddenly trying to distance themselves from the star. Then there are the amazing performers, like Bob Newhart, who was a genuine pleasure to work with. Alec Baldwin, who worked so hard to get the reads just right, and Alan Arkin, who miraculously appeared in our casting and kicked our campaign through the goalposts.

And every once in a great while, the gods smile down on you, and you catch a star on the cusp of superstardom, like that very shy Ellen DeGeneres. Advertising agencies used to compete with each other to land top celebrities. Now the celebrities are opening up their own advertising firms to compete with those agencies. It'll be interesting to see who wins that sword fight when you're Under the Influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. Under the Influence was recorded in the Terrastream Mobile Recording Studio.

Producer, Debbie O'Reilly. Sound Engineer, Keith Ullman. Theme music by Ari Posner and Ian Lefevre. Digital Content Producer, Sydney O'Reilly. Check us out on Facebook for some fun behind-the-scenes content. See you next week. This episode brought to you by Wonderful Ivory Snow. Be careful how you use it.

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