Film nerds all across the world were salivating at the thought of director Spike Jonze working with cinematographer Bradford Young. This pairing was teased by fellow filmmaker Mark Romanek on Instagram a month ago when a BTS picture was posted on Instagram, mysteriously teasing some project that Young and Jonze were working on together. Could it be a film? Were they just hanging out? Well, we have your answer, and it’s definitely not something you would have guessed.
We have been anxiously awaiting a new feature film from Spike Jonze since the filmmaker released the great “Her” back in 2013. Since then, he’s dabbled in commercial shorts and music videos, but has yet to give fans a true feature-length follow-up. Sadly, the wait continues. Because the project that he and Young were working on is a new commercial short for MedMen, titled “The New Normal,” which aims to show the history of marijuana usage and criminality through the ages and how that’s all changing for the better.
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So, at first, you might think that it’s a bit of overkill to have an Oscar-winning filmmaker team up with an Oscar-nominated cinematographer to promote the usage of medical marijuana. And you’re probably right. But you know what, Jonze and Young created a hell of a commercial.
Using the classic museum diorama as inspiration “The New Normal” gives viewers various scenes through the decades of marijuana history in the United States. From “Reefer Madness” and the Free Love era of the 60s to more recent drug arrests and imprisonment, Jonze attempts to show that marijuana has been unjustly viewed in decades past and is now part of the, uh, new normal.
The short is narrated by actor Jesse Williams, who in a fun cameo stars as the very attractive first US President, George Washington.
We already mentioned a bit of Jonze’s IMDB, with “Her” being his most recent venture, and which earned him an Oscar. But Young is just as accomplished, with his work being featured in Ava DuVernay projects like “Selma” and the upcoming Netflix series “When They See Us.” He’s also earned an Oscar nom for his work on “Arrival,” and recently, he was the DP on the “Star Wars” spin-off film ‘Solo.’
You can watch the full MedMen “The New Normal” short below:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtpelobBZoA/