Page 26 - Fujifilm Exposure_28 Michael Winner_ok

IT’S ONLY A COMMERCIAL
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Photo main: Michael Winner with his pretty co-star Giselle Wright in a First Alternative Insurance commercial and above left with Cinematographer Ossi Rawi BSC
MOTION PICTURE & PRO-VIDEO cover story
“Calm down, dear!” screams Michael Winner as he turns the world of car insurance on its head with his inimitable chutzpah...
fter less than half an hour in the presence of the irre- pressible Michael Winner, during which time he’s hardly drawn breath as he ranges colourfully and unstoppably across his
hectic life and times, it is so tempting just to say, “Calm down, dear!”
Filmmaker, newspaper columnist, restaurant critic, police monument sponsor and imminent autobiograph-
er, Winner is now clearly revelling in his latest incarnation as the unlikely darling of TV commercials.
Swallowing the last of a bowl-full of vitamins – “I was taking 48 pills a day, but now I’ve cut it down” – Winner explains how, via the small screen, he helped personally trans- form the fortunes of a car insurance company almost overnight.
It all began when he was lunching with Peter Wood, the head of Esure.
Said Winner: “They had these dreadful computer-generated ads. Absolutely frightful, you didn’t really know what they were selling. So I said to him casually, ‘Peter, are those ads selling any policies?’ His eyes went to the sky. ‘You know,’ I went on, ‘they’re bloody awful. Now, I’ve got a wonderful ad for you, Peter...’
Wood asked to see it but naturally Winner had nothing actually written down so Wood asked him to “tell” it
24 • Exposure • Fuji Motion Picture And Professional Video