Tom Hooper on Sibling Rivalry & an M&S Christmas

The new Marks & Spencer Christmas spot, called Mrs Claus, went on air this weekend. The stylish and emotive spot features Santa's wife who proves the old adage that behind every great man is a great woman.

The three-minute spot is directed by renowned features director Tom Hooper. Represented by Smuggler for commercials, Hooper is behind films including Les Miserables, The King's Speech and The Danish Girl and here he talks to shots.net about his excitement at being back in commerciails, making the Claus' seem 'real' and how his relationship with his older sister made him take on the project.

What was it that attracted you to the script?

I thought that the script that Alice [Burton] and Psembi [Kinstan, creatives on the campaign] had written was great. I was very moved by it because it reminded me of the relationship I had with my sister when growing up, There was a lot of sibling rivalry (she’s two years older than me) but there’s that journey you go on of discovering that, as well as all that rivalry and antagonism, you’re actually really loved by your sister or brother.

I remember, we were young, I wanted some sweets she had, we got into a fight and she threw me against a chest of drawers. As I lay there, bleeding, she offered me the bag of sweets… though I was too nauseous to take one… but in that moment I realised that she loved me because of the remorse on her face and the care in her eyes. 

I thought it was an interesting theme [and] there was something in the script which really spoke to me and the idea that this kid in the story loves antagonising his sister, loves winding her up and is a mischief-maker but goes too far and realises that, and wants to find a way of expressing a love that he finds hard to express, and Mrs Claus becomes that way. I set out to make something that caught that emotion that I remember and communicates it to the audience.

Were there any other elements to it which caught your attention?

I thought It was also a chance to look at gender stereotypes and conventions; to look again at the idea of the patriarchy of Father Christmas. To look at the fact that it’s a man who can deliver millions of presents in multiple places at the same time, who can make children’s dreams come true but that, behind this man, there was Mrs Claus who also had an extraordinary ability.

I thought the time was right to challenge the myth of the man being the only one with that competence. Plus that she’s the one with that emotional intuition to help solve this problem, and to tune into it, to help show the love that the brother and sister have.

 

Hooper, far right, on set for the M&S shoot.

What were the initial conversations with the agency based around?

I had a really great first meeting with Alice, Psembi and also with [RKCR/Y&R chairman] Mark Roalfe and [ECD] Jon Burley, and the interesting thing was trying to find a way of visualising the world of Mr and Mrs Claus, because when you start looking it’s incredible how hard it is to find a film reference or a visual reference that isn’t something slightly cheesy or fake or camp and what I really liked was that they said from the beginning that they wanted it to feel as real or as grounded as possible.

And I think a lot of the work at the beginning was to make the world feel real, and properly lived-in. We wanted to shoot as much as possible in camera so we shot helicopter stuff up in Iceland and we thought about the reality of what it would be like if you really did live in the polar regions, and we tried to capture that, there’s an edge of harshness to it.

I’m always very obsessed with world creation such as the world we created for things like [TV seris] John Adams, Les Miserables and The King’s Speech. Part of that was to try to make sure [Mr and Mrs Claus’] marriage had history and that they had the banter of a married couple that had been around for a long time.

The other challenge was trying to combine these two quite different worlds [of the Claus’s and the family] and make it feel like there was one creative voice through the film. A new collaboration for me on this was with Justin Brown, the DP. He’s 28 and only been out of film school for five years but he’s already become one of the world’s best commercial DPs. I tend to be very controlling of my frame, with lens choice and camera height but Justin had the sort of fluency I felt allowed me to give him a lot of freedom.

So you were very drawn to the concept as a whole?

I thought this idea was an extraordinarily bold piece of branding; for M&S to create a story where, if the audience hadn’t already read about, or heard about it, they wouldn’t know who it’s for. You wouldn’t necessarily know it was a commercial until you got to the end, and you realise that Mrs Claus is a metaphor for what M&S can bring into people’s lives; that’s brave and confident. 

And we’re living in an interesting world now where, because of the rise of ad blockers and and ad-free platforms we’ve come back to a point where you have to make commercials that the audience want to watch, which was what it was like when I first starting working in this industry. If they don’t grab you in the first six or seven seconds then the audience can elect to skip through it, but there seems to have been a return to the importance of good storytelling.

Were you attracted to the fact that the commercial is essentially a short film?

The exciting thing is this new world of length; on Saturday we took up an entire ad break and that’s very bold of M&S. The tyranny of length we’ve been used to meant that, if you’re lucky it’s a 60-second spot, but usually it’s a 30. But because, in the online world, length doesn’t cost, there’s no reason not to tell a story to its ideal length.

We worked really hard to protect the shorter lengths too, to make sure the story could be told more economically in a 60- and a 30-second film, because they’re obviously important, but because in the online world there isn’t a cost for duration, you’re entering the world of short film-making and I find that a really interesting space to be in.

Can you tell us a bit about the casting?

It’s great that I got to work with Janet McTeer [who plays Mrs Claus] on this, she’s one of the great stage actors of her generation, and I thought that she’d say no because actors of that standing tend to be wary of commercials. But I think, because certain actors have signed these incredible deals with fashion brands, and I suppose other actors are thinking, well, if they can do it, why can’t I?

That rule that really good actors can’t do commercials is, I think, vanishing, so you’ve got access to this amazing talent which is really exciting. [Hooper also previously worked with Ben Kingsley, Tom Hiddleston and Mark Strong for Jaguar, below].

Would you like to work on more commercials in the near future?

The experience of doing this definitely makes me feel more excited going forward to do more commercials. This had the challenge of world-creation as well as storytelling challenges. Feature film development can take a very long time, the joy of commercials is that I actually get to direct, which is what I love.

This was like doing a feature film in miniature. You go through all the stages they’re just shorter in duration. I haven’t been able to do commercials all the time but I’ve always had a passion for making commercials.

And the other really good thing about it is that you get to try talent out. I can’t do that on a big movie, or it’s much harder to do, but you can do that on commercials. In terms of creative renewal it’s good to try out people with a slightly different aesthetic and who make you look at things differently.

Were you aware of the huge Christmas push that brands make at Christmas and did that affect your approach?

I don’t think I was so aware of it, but I am now and it’s the British version of a Super Bowl ad. It’s interesting to see what other brands do and which other directors do them, and I’m interested to see what else comes out.