Warren Fu Adds to Tom Petty’s Iconic Music Video Repertoire with 'Something Could Happen'

Last night, David Fricke hosted a very special one-hour livestream event in honour of Tom Petty’s iconic music videos throughout his career. Viewers could tune in on the Tom Petty YouTube channel. The event was simulcast on SiriusXM’s Tom Petty Radio. 

The livestream event culminated in the world premiere of the brand-new video for ‘Something Could Happen’ and a discussion with the video’s acclaimed director Warren Fu and lead actor Lauren Cohan (of ‘The Walking Dead’ fame). Watch the video HERE following the event.

The video for ‘Something Could Happen’ follows a woman (played by Lauren) whose memories return in physical form to bring magic back into her life. Warren explains: “I wanted to create another modern fairytale in the spirit of Tom’s music video for ‘Into The Great Wide Open.’ In our story, we have a character that is an incarnation of memories reassembled into a living creature, trying to make its way back home.”

Warren wrote the script, hand-drew the art for the character ‘Tiny’ and stepped in to play the role of ‘Biggie,’ receiving feedback and input from Tom’s daughter Adria throughout the entire process. He recounts, ‘Something Could Happen’ is such a beautiful heartfelt song, but on an early call Adria talked about her dad’s unique sense of humour and it would be great if the video reflected that side of him. So it was that discussion that helped free my mind to go offbeat with the story. When Tom’s fans watch this video, I hope they feel the same way I felt hearing the song for the first time: something new, yet something nostalgic and familiar.” 

Hints of Tom’s presence are also felt in easter eggs throughout the video: The skywriting heart from ‘Free Fallin’,’ a crown for ‘It’s Good To Be King,’ a dog collar with an ‘R’ in a nod to Tom’s dog Ryder, the slow dance dip from ‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance,’ the Alice and the Mad Hatter hat from ‘Don’t Come Around Here No More,’ and the storybook motif from ‘Into The Great Wide Open.’ 

Sprinkling these elements into the overarching story, Warren says the message he aims to convey is, “That all our experiences - the good, the bad, the beautiful and the painful - make us who we are and we should embrace them. Tom never compromised his artistic integrity and always stayed true to who he was, so I feel like our message in this video is in line with his spirit.”

Being given the honour to contribute to Tom’s legacy and to create visuals for this previously unreleased track further affirms Fu’s influence as one of the most visionary music video creators working today. Over the last two decades, he has helmed memorable visuals for the likes of Dua Lipa, The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk, The 1975, and his longtime collaborators The Strokes, to name a few.  

The Partizan-represented director joins the ranks of other notable artists who have collaborated with Tom, and who will be brought together for the special livestream event. These legends include director Julien Temple (‘Free Fallin’,’ ‘Into the Great Wide Open,’ ‘Yer So Bad,’ ‘Learning To Fly’), director Jeff Stein (‘Don’t Come Around Here No More’), filmmaker/producer Anne-Marie Mackay, and Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics (who co-produced ‘Don’t Come Around Here No More’ and is featured in the video). In addition, never before seen behind-the-scenes footage of the 1994 ‘You Don’t Know How It Feels’ video will debut with on set commentary from director Phil Joanou and Tom himself.

‘Something Could Happen’ is from the long-awaited second half of Wildflowers, a collection Tom named All The Rest. Wildflowers & All The Rest debuted in October at #5 on the Billboard 200, #1 Top Rock Albums and continues to receive widespread critical acclaim.