Back in 2010, when news of Ryan Reynolds-starring Deadpool feature was still interesting, Swedish commercials and music video director Adam Berg emerged as an unexpected candidate to helm the feature. Though Berg had never directed a film, he was lauded in the commercial and music video arenas, and had already earned the Film Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival for his Philips ad Carousel. While Berg didn’t get the job (it now belongs to Tim Miller), it seemed inevitable that he would eventually use his talents for a big, splashy feature debut.
And how. Deadline Hollywood reports that Berg is currently in talks for that Videodrome remake no one saw coming that has somehow been penned by Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Reindeer Games scribe Ehren Kruger. Pardon me? While the involvement of Kruger and the reported plans to “modernize the concept, infusing it with the possibilities of nano-technology and blow it up into a large-scale sci-fi action thriller” are, at best, cause for concern (and, at worst, just totally wrong-headed), Berg’s involvement is just about the only heartening thing about this endeavor.
Back when Berg was rumored for the Deadpool gig, plenty of people pored over his commercial reel, digging up one obvious style choice – Berg is seemingly obsessed with motion. Carousel is presented as a single-shot, frozen-motion look at a showdown between cops and (clown) robbers, but other of Berg’s works use speed and motion to startling effect. While David Cronenberg’s original film might not rely on motion in the way that Berg appears to, he’s still an interesting and compelling pick for a film that is, on the most basic of levels, about television and what it can convey by way of wavy lines on a screen. Of course, the irony of a commercials director helming a film about the consuming power of TV is also quite sweet.
During that Deadpool rush, Monika Bartyzel posted Berg’s five best commercials over at Cinematical (RIP), and it serves as a good guide to what he’s capable of. Since then, he’s also directed a short film, IN, that won the Best Short Film Award at 2011 Gothenburg Film Festival. You can check out Bartyzel’s original post for her full rundown of Berg’s work, but below are three prime examples of Berg’s aesthetic. While he shows a preoccupation with slow-motion, he’s also used both hyper-speed and invisibility to convey movement and mood.