What’s it like to be a runner in a commercial?
Our joggler-in-residence, Michal Kapral, fills us in about what it’s like to be a runner in a commercial.
The U.S customs agent’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.
“You’ve got an o-1!” he yelled, loud enough so that the long line of people behind me could hear. I could see heads turning in our direction. “This is not the right work visa for shooting a television commercial,” the agent told me.
“Why is that?” I asked.
“Let me put it this way,” he said. “When the Raptors come through here, they get a p-1. You’ve gotta be Michael Jordan to get an o-1. Are you some kind of international celebrity?”
“Well,” I replied. “I am the Michael Jordan of joggling. You know, running while juggling. I have the world record.”
“Let me see that,” the agent said. By this time, the entire lineup of travellers was looking at me. I pulled the beanbags out of my backpack and began running and juggling around the Customs desk. People were laughing.
“Approved,” the agent said, stamping my form. “I’ll be watching for you.”
And so began my journey to Los Angeles for four days of shooting for a new North American advertising campaign for Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott. The campaign features three people with special skills: American Ninja Warrior contestant and gymnast Kacy Catanzaro and Korean balance artist Rocky Byun, who holds the world record for stacking nine bowling balls, one on top of the other. My role, of course, was to be the joggler.
I quickly found out that playing a runner in a TV ad – even if you’re playing yourself – is not at all like normal running. For one scene that involved me running on a treadmill, I spent more than two hours doing take after take after take. It was like doing a set of fartlek intervals where someone else is telling you when to start and stop at random times, but instead of “Go!” and“Stop!” it’s “Action!” and “Cut!”
At first, the woman doing makeup spritzed my forehead to make it look like I was sweating, but soon, the real sweat came pouring down and the makeup artist’s role reversed – she had to dab away the excess sweat. This was real running, and a lot of it.
A few times I’d be joggling away on the treadmill while the ad director and the director of photography looked at the monitor to confer about how the shot was set up, how the lighting looked and whether the actor who was running on the treadmill next to me had the right facial expression. Cameras weren’t even rolling but there I was, running, running, running. “Do I need to still be running?” I asked.
“Yes, sorry,” said the director. Each scene felt a bit like doing a race. I started out with nervous anticipation. There was a lot of pressure to perform at my best. And when it was done, people cheered. Each day of shooting lasted up to 11 hours. I’d come back to my hotel room and collapse on the bed, as if I had just raced an ultramarathon. In fact, if you totalled up the kilometres for the day, I’m sure I had. I’m no Michael Jordan, but I think I earned my o-1.
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