Independent Film Channel Commercials

Matt Damon Will Do Anything for Christie!

Source: Yahoo Business Wire, Company Press Release, Thursday March 19, 1998

NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--March 19,1998--Oscar Hopeful Damon joins Edward Norton, Janeane Garofalo, Lili Taylor, among others in IFC's new satirical ad campaign spoofing the independent film world.

In the Independent Film Channel's hysterical new image campaign, red-hot star Matt Damon freely admits, "After we saw Christie's first film, Oogie Boogie Booger, Ben (Affleck) and I went to her immediately to direct Good Will Hunting, but I think she has some issues about leaving New Jersey. But I know she was interested. So, we went with Gus (van Sant) - a distant second choice - and he did a good job. But there's always been that part of us that wished we could've worked with Christie."

Summarizes indie icon Lili Taylor, "Christie has a vision, whether you like that vision or not. Independent film gives her the autonomy."

OK, OK, so, Christie is 100% fiction and the centerpiece of IFC's new image campaign, which parodies the indie film world. She's actually a 6 year-old (deftly played by Hallie Eisenberg who also stars in DreamWork's new film, Paulie) with a penchant for filmmaking--a visionary who yields tremendous industry power and who every actor in Hollywood is dying to work with.

Christie's co-stars in the campaign are real, however, and resemble a who's who list of the independent film world. Her debut spot features Damon, Taylor, Garofalo, October Films' Bingham Ray and independent film producer John Pierson (Chasing Amy and host of IFC's original series Split Screen)--all enamored by Christie's first film Oogie Boogie Booger and eager to discuss her importance to the film community. The camera captures the stars emphatically attesting to the child's talent and industry staying power-and the campaign's sophisticated parody of the film world makes the spots extremely entertaining.

IFC has 10 (:60's, :30's, 90's second) "Christie" spots in development, and more are planned. The "Christie" spots were created by the New York production company hungry man, whose co-founder Hank Perlman created/developed ESPN's acclaimed "SportCenter" campaign. IFC's Stuart Selig executive produced the campaign.

The first "Christie" spot will begin airing nationally during IFC's exclusive coverage of the Independent Spirit Awards (Oscar weekend) on Saturday, March 21. Future spots will include Edward Norton (seated with Damon) apologizing to Christie about inadvertently turning down the lead in her soon-to-be-masterpiece Horses Are Pretty. In the spot, Norton confesses to Christie, "I feel terrible about what happened. I hadn't seen Oogie Boogie Booger, and I was excited to work with Milos Forman (on the People vs. Larry Flynt) and, well-- I'm going to go down in history as the guy who turned down Horses are Pretty."

The Independent Film Channel (IFC), managed and operated by Bravo Networks, is the first channel dedicated to independent film presented 24 hours a day, uncut and commercial-free. IFC, which launched September 1, 1994, has the most extensive independent film library on television, with titles from Miramax, Sony Classics, October, and Fine Line. IFC's Advisory Board is comprised of Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Tim Robbins, Joel and Ethan Coen, Martha Coolidge, Jim Jarmusch, Spike Lee, Steven Soderbergh, Ed Saxon and Jodie Foster. The Independent Film Channel, reaching over 13 million homes on a full-time basis, is the most widely distributed channel dedicated to independent film on television.

Still pictures from the commercials: Close-up on Christie (Hallie Eisenberg), Janeane Garofalo in Christie's film "Oogie Boogie Booger." Photo: Entertainment Weekly March 27, 1998, pg 10.

Listen to the Damon/Norton Commercial

The Commercials

NOTE: There are some differences in the dialogue mentioned in the press release compared with the commercials themselves, but the concept remains the same. The commercial titles are ones I gave them to differentiate one from another

Christie in Action- This is a commercial made up of scenes of Christie directing along with several individuals discussing Christie. The directing segments include a scene between actors Lieb Schreiber and Lili Taylor (along with others) arguing "You be quiet" "You be quiet. I'm going to tell on you." with Christie saying that they did it wrong, telling Schreiber to take his hat off, chiding Taylor (using a hand puppet) that "Lili doesn't know her lines today", yelling at the set decorator, and other activities that would indicate that she is a difficult-to- please director. The individuals discussing are Sam Bankman and Bingham Ray.

I Didn't Even Get A Meeting- Matt Damon mentions how he and Ben Affleck wished that Christie could have directed "Good Will Hunting", but they instead had to settle for Gus Van Zant (a distant second). It then switches to Damon talking to Christie about her film (and obviously sucking up). Norton walks in and introduces himself to Christie. Norton is lamenting the fact that he turned down "Horses are Pretty" before seeing "Oogie Boogie Booger" and trying to placate an upset Matt Damon, who clearly wanted the film but never received a meeting. Christie just sits there and watches them both.

If you note the similarity in names between "Oogie Boogie Booger" and "Boogie Nights", its probably not a coincidence. The name of Christie's film "Horses are Pretty" also bears a striking resemblance to the name "All the Pretty Horses", an upcoming film adaptation of the novel by Cormac McCarthy. The recipient of the highly sought after lead role: Matt Damon (Hollywood Reporter Online 4/14/98). Unfortunately, Christie won't be directing this film, Damon will have to settle for Billy Bob Thornton. Completely useless knowledge- Damon and Norton were wearing the same clothes in these commercials as the ones in Rounders. Visit the Rounders page.

The Biting Incident- Christie won't talk about the biting incident. Neither will Sam Bankman, her publicist, or producer John Pierson or actor Kevin Corrigan. But Lili Taylor reveals that Christie bit her on the arm when she was dissatisfied with her work, rather than simply telling her that she was unhappy. Christie states that she doesn't know what the big deal and she doesn't consider herself controversial (if others think that, that's just them).

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