Stephen Hopkins: US Focus

Director Stephen Hopkins’ career has spanned decades in ads, promos, movie blockbusters and Emmy-winning TV. Simon Wakelin caught up with him to discuss his recent return to commercials and the joys of “blowing shit up” at 28

Best known for his success on Hollywood films, Stephen Hopkins is also behind some of the most successful episodic television work in recent history, including 24, Californication and his latest outing, the Showtime hit House of Lies. He’s recently signed with Cap Gun, the production arm of The Whitehouse, intent on bringing to advertising a fresh approach, together with the years of valuable experience he’s accumulated.

He’s chatting to me between scenes for House of Lies when the show’s star Don Cheadle leans in to quote dialogue from Predator 2, which was one of Hopkin’s first features in the US. “I had no script to work from on that,” Hopkins recalls, as Cheadle ambles away. “There was a writer’s strike, so I worked from a brief outline on a wing and a prayer. But, hey, I got to blow up a lot of shit at 28, so it was a pretty good experience.”

Planning for a banning

Pretty good indeed. Hopkins went on to direct some of Hollywood’s top names. Think Blown Away, with Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones, The Ghost and the Darkness with Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer, and Under Suspicion with Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman. “Hollywood’s been very good to me,” he admits. “But creating features becomes very time consuming. The Ghost and the Darkness took seven years of my life – even The Life and Death of Peter Sellers for HBO took three years to complete.” The latter saw Hopkins collect his first Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special and was a triumphant culmination of his efforts to move from features to television.

Hopkins started out in the business as an art director and set designer on music videos with MGMM Productions, probably the most successful music video company in the 80s, with offices in London, New York and LA. He was instrumental in creating some of the most ground-breaking music videos of the day. “I worked on storyboards for directors until I found myself in Australia art directing a series of rock videos for Elton John,” he recalls. “Then Elton decided to get married, so I was stuck there for months, and ultimately stayed for over four years.”

Hopkins set up shop in Sydney and began to direct, cutting his teeth on second unit fare for the popular TV show Highlander. He then helmed commercials for a few years, working on brands including 7-UP, Pizza Hut, Fanta and Twisties.

One spot for flavoured milk beverage Big M was famously banned from the airwaves for featuring a warehouse full of kids who were strapped to chairs and force fed the popular milk beverage. “We actually planned on getting that one banned,” Hopkins reveals. “To see the spot you’d have to collect the cartons, send them in and get a copy of the commercial on tape in the mail.”

Dreaming of Elm Street

Success on the big screen soon followed with Dangerous Game, an independent Aussie hit that brought him stateside to direct two cult franchise movies back to back: Nightmare on Elm Street 5 and the aforementioned cult favorite, Predator 2. I ask Hopkins what’s in store now he’s returning to commercials: “The multimedia, viral-saturated world today really excites me,” he answers. “I think it’s a fresh, vibrant ad market and The Whitehouse has been smart about noticing this. We’re already discussing projects with vendors, one with Amazon and another with Comedy Central.”

Hopkins’ arrival at Cap Gun LA comes after many years of work with the company. He first hired editor John Smith to slice Under Suspicion, a relationship he continues to foster to this day on House of Lies. Hopkins also carved out work with the company’s managing partner/editor David Brixton for the popular series Californication.

“Commercials can really expand into longer pieces of film today, and that’s an exciting opportunity for me,” he muses, as we stroll towards the set with his first AD in tow. “I want to work with the best creative talent out there and try improving ideas to make them fresh, original and entertaining. On House of Lies we muck around with the script to bring out the best of each moment. I hope to bring that ability to commercial filmmaking and use my wealth of experience in producing and directing to articulate the best messages possible for brands in America.”