Acclaimed film director Martin Scorsese has produced a 10-minute television advert for Cava producer Freixenet.
The advert, which purports to use a lost Alfred Hitchock scene and uses many of the legendary director’s cinematic styles, is currently showing on television and in cinemas throughout Spain.
The short film, entitled The Key to Reserva, shows a man carrying a briefcase entering a box in New York’s Carnegie Hall. To the backdrop of the orchestral score of Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, the man unscrews a lightbulb containing a key to the briefcase. A sinister violinist is sent to foil his attempts but falls to his death following a struggle.
The briefcase is opened to reveal a bottle of Freixenet Cava rosé.
The advert contains numerous references to the legendary director with camera angles and objects mimicking many famous Hitchcock films.
In several shots, the protagonist’s handkerchief displays the monogram ‘ROT’, a nod to Cary Grant’s character Roger O Thornhill in North by Northwest. The red wash following the flash of a camera is also a direct homage to Rear Window.
Scorsese, who directed such films as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas, is no stranger to directing adverts, having previously worked with American Express.
Although heavily edited versions of the advert are currently being shown in Spain, Freixenet is planning to roll it out to the US in 2008.
Natalia Celemin of Freixenet UK told decanter.com the Spanish company was also planning to screen it in the UK but not before the new year.
The full film can be viewed online here.
Written by Oliver Styles
