We're ticking off the days until the MMVAs by profiling 2010's Video of the Year nominees.
The video: “Addicted,” Danny Fernandes
Danny Fernandes pulls his zazzed-out sports car into an abandoned underground parkade -- as double MMVA nominees are known to do – for an illicit rendezvous with a special lady in a gold bikini and a whole lot of dancing.
Director: Marc Andre Debruyne
Notable Credits:
"Running," Jully Black
"Hung Up," Suzy McNeil
"Born and Raised in the Ghetto," Point Blank
The video he wishes he directed: “Are You Gonna Go My Way?,” Lenny Kravitz (dir. Marc Romanek)
“Marc Romanek is my favourite director. Ever,” says Debruyne, with a little extra emphasis on that last word. “And I think that’s probably the best performance video. Ever. … The thing with Marc Romanek videos is they’re simple and they’re well done and they don’t stretch out to do something half-assed.”
Where the Concept Came From:
Given Fernandes’s dance background, brainstorming a premise for this video came easy to Debruyne. “I was very adamant about having to see him dance,” he says. The only question mark was where he would dance, and with whom. Ultimately, the director decided on setting the story in an underground parking garage (they filmed at an outdoor parkade in downtown Toronto). “What else do you do when you meet a girl in an underground parking lot? Well, Danny Fernandes dances with her,” he says with a chuckle. “I just really liked the idea of them being alone and having a full dance situation where he follows her around, a cat and mouse chase,” he says, adding that Omarion’s video for “Touch” served as a bit of an inspiration for their routine.
As for Fernandes’s special-bikini-lady-friend, she’s played by So You Think You Can Dance Canada alum Natalli Reznik. “It was very very important to have somebody who can dance,” says Debruyne. “She has to be able to hold her own because Danny’s such a great dancer. So getting a typical pretty girl, or video girl, we all knew it wouldn’t work.” After casting several women for the part, SYTYCD judge Luther Brown – a colleague of Debruyne’s and Fernandes’s sometime choreographer – pitched the idea of hiring Reznik. “When he said Natalli, I said sure. No hesitation with that.”
The Moment to Watch For:
Fernandes may get to show off all the chops he picked up on the Raptors Dance Pak in “Addicted,” but the director’s favourite scene in the clip is the video’s most intimate. “I like the scene when they [Fernandes and Reznik] are together and the dancers suddenly come out of nowhere,” he says. “I think that it just represents the anticipation and the drama that’s going on with that whole romance. It’s very theatrical and very surreal, but it’s all the whirlwind of emotions that’s happening between them.”
Biggest Challenge:
Let’s just say it’s a good thing Reznik’s costume included a massive fur coat. Debruyne says temperatures were brutally cold during the night-time shoot. “There wasn’t snow on the ground, but it was bloody freezing. If you watch the video, you can see steam coming out of their mouths.” Don’t mistake it for sexxxy steam-heat, kids. These guys braved 12 hours-plus of Toronto winter for your entertainment.
Biggest Splurge:
The Mercedes SLR Fernandes that Fernandes gets to drive – then make kissy-faces with Reznik in – would definitely be the biggest-ticket item in the video, but Debruyne says they didn’t pay for it. Instead, it was on loan from a friend of Fernandes’ label boss. As he explains, he actually had his pick of four-wheeled co-stars – all offered up by friends. “Those guys, they rode really big,” Debruyne says.
Why He'll Always Remember This Shoot:
“The funnest part of the shoot was Danny driving his car,” says Debruyne.
You’d think driving a Mercedes SLR would have been more fun for Fernandes himself. Maybe not – which is what Debruyne finds so memorable.
Though Debruyne says the pop singer was dying to get behind the wheel of the car leading up to the shoot, when it came time to roll tape, Fernandes was suddenly hesitant. “He was nervous! He was nervous to drive the car,” chuckles Debruyne, adding that the singer feared he might accidentally smash up his borrowed ride. “I mean, he wasn’t nervous to dance with Natalli.”
The 2010 MMVAs are broadcast Sunday, June 20 on MuchMusic.
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