On My Radar: Truman & Cooper
KODE's Paris-born directing duo Truman & Cooper [aka Anthony Jorge, right, and Jonathan Cohen, left] talk the enduring impact of Twin Peaks, and the potential power of long term advertising relationships as they reveal what's on their creative radar.
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What’s the most creative advertising idea you’ve seen recently?
AJ&JC: It’s hard to answer this question as we have been away from advertising this past year while shooting two TV series back-to-back. But it feels great to come back with a fresh energy!
What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought?
AJ: An instant print kid camera, for my eight- and five-year-old children. I love playing and creating things with them. I feel like they are learning from my skills and experiences, as much as they feed me with their joy and boundless minds.
JC: A new server, because mine was not efficient enough to host and share all the films that I am collecting.
What product could you not live without?
AJ: My guitar. I mean, I could probably live without it but I would lose one of the feelings I like the most when being just alone and playing.
What’s the best film you’ve seen over the last year?
AJ: The Kingdom: A French film about the Corsican mafia, shown through the perspective of a very touching father and daughter relationship.
What film do you think everyone should have seen?
JC: After Sun. To understand how touching a simple story can be, told in a very subtle way.
What’s your preferred social media platform?
AJ: I don’t have one, but I do have a favourite social place that makes me happy; the café where I go almost every morning after taking my kids to school. It’s where I meet all my friends from the neighbourhood and catch up.
JC: Reddit, I feel people there behave with more a 'civilised manner' than on the other platforms. You can actually have constructive conversations and receive good advice/recommendations on a wide range of topic.
What’s your favourite TV show?
AJ&JC: Twin Peaks: Because it made our souls travel like it never has since then [Truman & Cooper take their directing name from character from Twin Peaks].
What’s your favourite podcast?
AJ: L’inconscient (The Unconscious): A French podcast about Freudian psychology. It discusses how to try and understand yourself, the people around you, relationships, dreams, emotions and admitting that there is an unconsciousness inside all of us. I feel like there isn’t a more fascinating subject.
JC: Darknet Diaries: Because I love everything related to cyber security and hacking.
What show/exhibition has most inspired you recently?
AJ&JC: The Hofesh Schechter’s ballet, Theatre of Dreams, that we saw together. It made us realise again how powerful a piece of art can be to convey deep and complex emotions.
If you could only listen to one music artist from now on, who would it be?
AJ: Probably The Beatles as I feel like they cover all the emotions that I would need to connect to.
JC: Gojira: Very loud, fucking up all the emotions that Anthony will try to feel when listening to The Beatles.
If there was one thing you could change about the advertising industry, what would it be?
AJ&JC: Instead of working on one-off shoots, we feel like advertising would gain from creating real relationships in between, brands, agencies, productions companies and directors. Instead of just making ads here and there, we would love to work in a deeper way on the identity of a brand for a longer run.
Who or what has most influenced your career?
AJ: The people who encouraged me to follow my instinct, feelings and dreams.
JC: Probably my dad, for simply allowing me to use his VHS recorder back when I was a child, and for giving me pocket money to rent VHS at the video rental store.
Tell us one thing about yourself that most people won’t know.
AJ: I have said for a long time, from when I was a teen, that Armageddon was the best movie ever made.
