So yes, Blake Lively and Nicolas Winding Refn collaborated and the result was an ad for Gucci, which you saw a month ago. But if those thirty seconds weren't enough, a director's cut has dropped featuring a full extra minute for all your luxury fragrance advertising needs.
And, unfortunately, there's not much more to it (sorry, Driver or One-Eye don't make any random appearances). Instead we got an almost absurd amount of time featuring Lively staring into the distance with her mouth slightly open. Riveting. And oh, there's Refn himself looking cool as fuck in a little cameo moment (he appears in the shorter version, though from behind and from a far distance).
So, it's no "Only God Forgives" but it's…something….right? Watch below.
These high end fashion ads just eat good directors alive. Almost none of them emerge with anything that reflects the vision that makes their directorial brand valuable in the first place. Why hire Refn to direct Blake Lively to be even stiffer and less lifelike? What's the point?
The only feature director/fashion house production I have ever seen where you could immediately recognize the stamp of the director was Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge"-esque Chanel No. 5 spot. The scene on the red carpet at the end of that commercial might be the best thing he's ever done.
Is Refn already in need of a paycheck job or something? WTF is this? Why would he need to be direct this shit when it looks like any Jo Schmo could have done it? Good god, Blake Lively and her open mouth technique need to go FAR FAR AWAY. Or better yet, have Oliver Stone direct it… because you know how that turned out.
Refn does look like a boss. I sometimes wish that while walking down the street, motioning to someone, my life would go in slow-motion.