Rattling Stick co-founder and director Danny Kleinman has always excelled at masterfully blending VFX and great performance. This year the sheer breadth of genres that he applied that skill to was impressive. Specsavers “Specs Effect” neatly lampooned bikini-babefest Lynx “Billions” and was marked by clever comedy flourishes. At the other end of the emotional spectrum Plane Stupid “Polar Bears” grimly slammed home the effect of air travel, literally, with dead CG polar bears dropping from the sky. There were slick, yet touching and fun moments in Coca-Cola “Finals”, where history comes to life in miniature form to rouse a slumbering student to study, and Pepsi “Rising”, in which a teen climbs up and over life’s daily obstacles. And finally, a strong pooch performance in Travelers Insurance “Prized Possession” reminded us that Kleinman can make magic from anything.

What’s one thing that has happened in your life that has made the biggest impact on who you are today?
The most life-changing event for me has been the loss of my parents. Being an orphan, even as an adult, makes one feel cast adrift in the world. For a while it was difficult to find a point in what I was doing with no one to say “well done” and be proud of me. I realized that having the approval of my parents for my work, seeing them take joy in my successes was a strong motivation, juvenile as that seems. So I felt I had to focus on what I really want out of the job, and it’s to create work I’m personally proud of and also, importantly, to enjoy the process. Becoming aware of one’s own mortality certainly has an impact, but I hope in my case it’s been in a positive way.

What is something that not a lot people know about you but you wish more people could know?
I was fantastically handsome as a youth. Not a lot of people realize that. I mentioned to my wife that I used to be like Adonis, and she said, “Yes, and now you’re like a doughnut”.

If you were written about on the front page of a major newspaper, what would the headline say?
“Man Bitten By Policeman Mistaken For a Doughnut.”

What’s the one interview question you’re tired of being asked?
“Have you any plans to do a movie?” I don’t consider being an advertising director as just a way of becoming a movie director. Probably more people see what I do. On the whole it’s more honest – at least the viewer knows it’s a vehicle for making money. I like the commercial form; it has its own cryptic problems and solutions. It’s a working time scale that suits me, it constantly changes and there are new challenges, places to go, and things to try. I’m not saying I’d never consider a movie, actually I have a couple of times and it might be a great thing to do, but it’s the inference that one is more important than the other. As it happens very few movie directors can make good ads; I’d rather make a good ad than a bad film. Q

> Online: Read more from Danny Kleinman’s insightful Q&A here.

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