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Tom Jones & Comic Relief |
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| Exclusive Interview With One of The Filmmakers, |
| Photos & New TOTP Video |
Behind The Scenes: The Making Of The Comic Relief Video, (Barry) Islands In The Stream
Luke
Joerger (photo with Tom, right)
is used to working with celebrities and shooting videos, so he wasn’t nervous at
the prospect of either shooting another video or working with Sir Tom Jones. But
he also didn’t expect to have the fun he had working on this year’s Comic Relief
video with The Joneses (Tom and Ruth), Rob Brydon, Robin Gibb and Nigel Lythgoe.
Joerger
and his SnapFilms (www.snapfilms.tv) partner Matthew Edginton —
the company’s executive
producers —
have been in the
business for 15 years, primarily doing children’s television and music videos
for adults and children. They’ve worked with Fall Out Boy and Gnarls Barkley,
among others. The Comic Relief assignment went to Joerger.
He spent
10 days in Las Vegas late last year on the project. Two days were devoted to the
actual filming and the other eight to scouting locations and preparing for the
filming.
For more photos and to learn more about Sir
Tom on the video shoot
The video recounts the story of Bryn and Nessa’s trip to Las Vegas for the World
Karaoke Championship. On the way they run into Sir Tom who — like so many other
celebrities — has broken Nessa’s heart, He, of course, has fond memories of her
confiding in Bryn, he had “the best night of my life with that woman. Animal.
Absolute animal.”
In a recent interview Sir Tom, who said he had a good time on the project, noted, ““I thought it was hilarious. Nessa is always hinting that she’s had affairs with famous people so it was a good idea to have me turning up in the video.”
Joerger says the location was chosen because “Tom Jones was playing there at the time and Las Vegas is really a natural place to hold a World Karaoke Championship.”
With exteriors shot in the Mojave Desert outside of Las Vegas, the interiors were done in Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino, with the contest being held at the Living Room club there. “Planet Hollywood was amazing,” Joerger says. “They believed in the cause and gave everything as a donation.”
In addition to the performers, the Comic Relief video team in Las Vegas included people from the London-based production company Th1ng (www.th1ng.com) directors Tom Bird, from Th1ing, a mixed media studio in London, and Christine Gernon who has directed several episodes of Gavin and Stacey as well as episodes of Ab Fab, I’m With Stupid, The Brittas Empire and One Foot In the Grave, among others. Also on the project was director of photography Adam Frisch.
The
talent on the project, he says, “was great. Maybe it’s because this was a
charity, but there was no diva thing going on at all.”
“Ruth and Rob were hysterical. Tom was an absolute pleasure to work with, the consummate professional. His son Mark was there and he’s a great guy as well. Tom was just great with everyone, let everyone take photos and get autographs.”
There were some tricky shots involved. “One of the things we had to do,” Joerger recalls, “was strap to generators to the hood of the limo Tom was in and drive it down the Las Vegas Strip. We needed a lot of Las Vegas touches to keep it authentic.”
The
project was comprised of a six-page script and a music video. Joerger says Sir
Tom was key to the project. “For example, there’s a moment where he walks
forward while Bryn and Nessa are competing and they’re doing badly in the
contest. His voice suddenly comes in and joins them. Then he comes out with the
spotlight on him. The shot was a difficult one, requiring split-second timing.
If he hadn’t been on and done it exactly right, it wouldn’t have worked.” The
photo at right shows a very focused Sir Tom moments before his entrance.
As often happens when celebrities are involved, Joerger had to serve as stand in for Sir Tom when he was off-camera and Bryn was speaking to him. “I was sitting there trying to act like Tom Jones and, even off-camera, I couldn’t pull it off,” he laughs.
While they were in Las Vegas, Sir Tom got them tickets to his show at the MGM Grand. “He’s amazing!” Joerger enthuses. “He’s very sexy…and that voice! I felt like a boy in his presence. Sir Tom is the most charismatic performer alive today and at the age of 68 he can still hit all the notes and conjure panties on to the stage.”
When the show was over, they were invited to visit the green room. “We drank some Guinness,” Joerger says, “and we got to talk. I told him I was glad my wife wasn’t there or she might have treated me differently after seeing him.
Tom is Back
Tom opened March 19 for two weeks at the MGM Grand
Click HERE to buy tickets
