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Building Weird and Wonderful Worlds with Romain Chassaing

19/12/2023

Spy Films

Production Company

Toronto, Canada

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19/12/2023

LBB’s April Summers chats to the Spy Films director about how his love of comic books informs his storytelling approach and why humour is a crucial ingredient when cooking up captivating content

Die Hard, The Terminator, Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones - 80’s kid Romain Chassaing grew up on adventure movies with a funny bone. From a young age, the juxtaposition of big set pieces and action-packed scenes blended with self aware humour thrilled and intrigued him. Romain became fascinated by the ways in which comic relief could counterbalance dramatic storytelling and, even as a young man, he was taking note.

Merging action with humour is a common thread throughout the Paris-based filmmaker's canon. From his quirky dystopian fable for DailyMotion, to his silly blockbuster-spoof for Winamax - Romain’s work is adventurous both in terms of production value and comedy value. For his latest project - a promotional film for the upcoming 'Day of Reckoning' boxing event in Saudi Arabia - Romain pulled off the unthinkable: unearthing the silly side to the sports’ most lethal heavyweight fighters. High in cinematic quality and bizarre in nature, the high-octane promo perfectly encapsulates the director’s ability to craft scintillating narratives.

Romain’s wide-ranging work projects take him all over the world and, in 2022, he signed with Spy Films for Canadian representation. Since then, he has worked with numerous big North American brands such as Canadian multinational bank, CIBC, and gaming giant, SEGA. Curious about the method behind the on-screen madness, April Summers sits down with Romain to discuss his journey from a comic book enthusiast to a revered commercial and music video director.

LBB> What were your biggest influences growing up? And how did they shape your creative voice?

Romain> Growing up I was obsessed with action movies like Die Hard and The Terminator. Humour was infused in these films in a way that challenged the dramatic storytelling at the heart of the movie. I admired the ways in which humour would be infused with a dramatic story, bringing a touch of humour when you’d least expect it.

I was also always excited to watch music videos shot by the likes of Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze. Later on, friends would introduce me to other indie, arthouse filmmaking with strong direction. These sorts of films really spoke to the storyteller in me. I have always loved comic books and their way of telling a story – I grew up reading, writing and drawing them myself. So I was influenced by a variety of filmmaking, and still am, to this day. I like to think I am learning all the time and inspired on a daily basis.

LBB> Your creative start came in the form of designing and photographing album artwork – how did these experiences spark an interest in directing?

Romain> I never consciously thought about directing, actually, I was more focused on drawing comics which is how I learned about the storytelling, rhythm and framing of a narrative. I was obsessed with comics throughout my adolescence, and I went on to study graphic design. This was how I wound up designing the album artwork for various bands and music artists.

One day, an artist I had worked with a lot asked me to shoot a music video for them. I was very nervous because I had never done this and there was no production company involved. I was sharing a flat with friends at the time, and I managed to convince them to help me shoot and edit the video. I asked them out of necessity, rather than with a grand plan in mind, but this invite to collaborate creatively resulted in the founding of our creative studio, Solab – so things turned out for the best!

LBB> Let's talk about some of your recent work. Your new boxing promo for the ‘Day of Reckoning’ event features heavyweight fighters, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder. Can you tell us a bit about the creative process?

Romain> The agency wanted an introduction to all the fighters within the zombie world for this ‘Day of Reckoning’ event. I had to craft a crazy presentation of each fighter. It was a fast paced project but incredibly enjoyable – I greatly enjoyed working with all the fighters. They all played along with the two hours of special effects makeup, playing up to their role within the crazy narrative I dreamt up. As a result, we have a very fun piece of promo that everyone involved is very proud of.

LBB> You also recently worked with Canadian bank, CIBC on ‘Finders Keepers’. This commercial doesn’t feel like your average banking ad – what was the brief from the client and how did you put your own spin on it?

Romain> This was a very very cool project because the ambition of the bank was to push the boundaries and look different to other banking commercials – I knew I could deliver on this. There was a great atmosphere on the shoot which helped me work harder and better. It felt like a great match between myself, Marcus, CIBC and Courage, the agency.

LBB> There appears to be a through line of quirky characters and dark humour seen across your body of work – how do you come up with funny ideas? And how do you sense-check the funniest ones?

Romain> Sometimes I am given the ideas in the brief from the agency, but humour is something I am always looking out for. I enjoy creating opportunities for humour in the storytelling, I can’t help but always want to include this. Even when I try to make it entirely serious, I end up with funny ideas. My brain has become accustomed to jumping around lots of different ideas, making improvements throughout the process.

I sense-check the success of a joke or idea when speaking with producers, DPs, creative agencies - all the creative parties involved - by gauging the initial reaction on their faces. If we are successful, together we can invent a script that will include moments of light hearted humour.

LBB> Your work with DailyMotion helped launch the video platform’s new ‘Change Your Feed’ application – how did your role as director help elevate the idea behind this campaign?

Romain> DailyMotion shared this great creative brief with me: it was the story of someone who becomes quite crazy as a result of what he was seeing on his social media feed. It was a challenging narrative because it incorporated many different elements and each scene required various details to be changed. If you look closely at each scene of this film, you will see there is an immense amount of detail in every logo and detail of the background. I pushed the craft a lot for this film. For these kinds of projects it's really important to establish a shared understanding with the DP and production designers, aligning on the creative vision for the world we are crafting. We are fighting for the same outcome after all!

LBB> As a Frenchman who has worked all over the world, how do the Europe and North America markets differ?

Romain> The timelines make it the most different. Everything in North America is faster. You walk faster, shoot faster, edit faster – even post production is different. In Europe you spend a week in the edit room - directors generally have more involvement in the final edit and post production overall - but you lose some control of this with North American productions.

LBB> Why did you feel Spy Films were the right team to represent you in Canada?

Romain> I really like the way Spy Films operates. Marcus is a real producer who makes you feel good about the work, doing everything he can to push projects over the line. His work as a producer is the perfect combination of working well with agencies while also never letting the project down – he is always fighting for the craft and quality of a project. I appreciate our relationship as director and producer and I never feel let down by him. I fight for my films and I appreciate having a producer who can help me realise a vision.

LBB> Are there any kinds of projects you are yet to do but hope to one day work on?

Romain> In the commercial world, I am not fighting for specific brand collaboration, I am just looking for a good script. A good story will always be the most important thing to me. I want to enjoy my work and take pleasure in what I am creating with my crew, my DP, my producer – it’s important we are all working on something we enjoy. I love the feeling of a good vibe on set, when the whole team knows we are working on something cool. There is no greater feeling than when the planets align: the client agrees with the direction, we have the full trust of the agency, me and my team have faith in the script and the project overall. I’d like to do more music videos in the future and, like every director, I would love to one day have a bigger story to tell, working with a longer version of storytelling.

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