±±¾©Èü³µpk10

Anyone inspired by Coca-Cola’s recent campaign for the Russian

market will be surprised to hear that the shoot itself was a fiasco.

Temperatures in Moscow, where the shoot took place, hovered at around -

14¡C in the daytime and -20¡C at night. A generator promptly ordered to

provide lighting, heating and cameras sadly didn’t arrive for hours.

Russian officials didn’t make life any easier, imposing restrictions on

who could go where and what could be filmed.

During the ten-day shoot, Paul Weiland, the director, and the creative

duo of Sebastian Bishop and James Burrows, frequently had to try to

persuade the actors to turn up - although once on set, they still

weren’t to keen to work.

One of the women who played a traveller on the Russian tube spent a full

day struggling to get her only line in the ad right - and then fell

asleep on the train.

When the humans weren’t playing up, the animals were. One of the films

takes place in a circus, and the performing bear who starred in the

scene obviously decided it wasn’t getting enough attention - so took a

nibble at its handler’s finger. It’s no wonder that Weiland wasn’t too

keen to get involved but, then again, he is allergic to animals.

A chase scene provided some extra drama after it was discovered that the

car didn’t have any brakes.

Incidentally, the discovery was made after rehearsals for the chase

scene commenced - and the driver tried to stop.

Finally, an alternative location had to be found for the final scene

after a dead body was found in the church intended for a wedding

shot.

Well, at least the ads look great.