TV Commercial Production: Paul Newman (3)


During my fifty plus years in show biz and

TV Commercial production

I have been privileged to work with scores of theatre and movie stars. Most of them were fine, considerate and surprisingly modest people. It’s impossible to rank them in likability but it’s easy to pick favorites and I certainly place Paul Newman in this group.

As I mentioned in a couple of previous posts, when I was working with Japanese crews under the auspices of PMC Productions, we did the third (and last) Nissan shoot with Paul Newman at the Daytona NASCAR track.

Author Ben Bryant on location with Paul Newman

Author Ben Bryant on location with Paul Newman

Excerpt from Circumstances Beyond My Control chapter 20:

“In the Sofia Coppola movie, Lost in Translation, there is a scene in which Bill Murray, playing an American actor, is shooting a commercial in Japan. The director – through a translator – gives him a complex series of directions about how he sips a shot of whiskey. The scene is especially hilarious to me. I was present for exactly the same scene in real life with our director and Paul.

“The Nissan spot we were doing was piggybacked with a coffee. When Paul roared to a stop after a lap around the track one of his pit crew handed him a mug of this coffee and he took a sip, smiled and gave a thumbs-up. After the first take there was a lengthy conversation between the director and a translator. The translator then turned to Newman-san and began to describe a series of emotional reactions – reminiscent of Gilbert and Sullivan – that Paul was requested to show.

“He listened respectfully then quietly said to me, ‘How the hell am I supposed to act that?’ I laughed and said, ‘Don’t ask me. I’m just the AD. You’re the movie star.’ He shook his head and with a grin, drove away.

“We all really liked working with Paul and were sorry the series of Nissan spots had come to a close. He read my screenplay, Warrior, said he liked it and that he thought Raul Julia was perfect casting. He even gave me his home phone number and told me that if there was anything he could do to help me get it done to call him. What a mensch.”

You can read other tales of show biz and TV Commercial production when you

get Circumstances Beyond My Control.

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