If you happened to watch last nights Super Bowl, in the greater New York area, you probably saw my latest Eli Manning/Toyota commercial (you can see the rest of them here). What's even more special about this one is that it also stars my son, Casey! So that makes it a Fusco Family Film, too! I didn't direct the main part of the spot (that was Richard Farmer), I just directed the part with Casey.
It kind of happened by chance. When we shot the package of spots we thought we'd save on talent payments by shooting still lifes for the Toyota dealers flashback (ie: a Toyota mobile attached to a crib, a Toyota teddy bear, a toy Toyota car), instead of filming an actual boy. I was against doing that from the beginning, but it was out of my hands. Of course when we began the edit process it was painfully obvious there was no life in the still lifes. It wasn't working. I had faith in the concept so I offered to film my son in a mock Toyota themed birthday scene. But by the time I filmed it the rest of the spots had been completed and approved by the client, and there was no interest in pursuing "Family". So it was shelved.
So when the Giants made it to the Super Bowl this year I suggested we bring it back. People expect to see new commercials during the Super Bowl, why run what we've been airing all season? (If we could've predicted the future and knew the Giants would be in the Super Bowl we would've held back "Catch", because that spot is a homage to the great David Tyree catch from Super Bowl XLII.) Everyone agreed on airing "Family" and Casey made Super Bowl history.
Oh yeah…the Giants won, too.
