“This project is very close my heart. Not only have we done some very emotional workwith Airbnb before – they are a great client, and we have a lot of good friends there – but I have always been inspired by, and a big fan of, Pixar ever since Geri’s Game. It’s not just the storytelling, it’s the lighting, the animation, camera work…everything is beautiful. So, no pressure matching all those qualities…
We designed each shot to transition in and out of Coco, either by matching actions or emotions so that it feels like a seamless back and forth between live-action and the animated film. Not unlike the Samsung S8 and Honda projects last year, I was also really interested in shooting real people – not actors – in a non-scripted manner.”
-Marco Spier, Director
“Airbnb was very much on board with making sure the two families we cast were real families. During the casting I fell in love with the two twin boys, and while talking to them they told me that they weren’t just twins, but triplets. They told me they had a sister with Down Syndrome, and that she was always sad when the two boys were on set, and she could only watch…That idea killed me so together with Airbnb and Disney we made sure this time she would be on camera just like her brothers. She was very proud to do so, and she gave us the best performance of the film… I hope it helped her realize that she can do whatever she wants even with a bit of a disadvantage handed to her by nature.
A lot of unforeseen events happened during this project. While in our pre-pro meeting in Mexico City, the major earthquake struck and our priorities immediately shifted. Together with Airbnb, and The Lift (our local production company), we all decided to donate the equipment, supplies and crew resources for the shoot to people in need instead, and we cancelled the shoot altogether.
At the same time, we all felt that now, more than ever, we needed to help Mexico City, and we ended up being able to reschedule our project as soon as feasible.
The project was a long and humbling experience. I’m happy everything worked out in the end, and I am truly thankful for everybody at Airbnb that really pushed this forward and stood up for our ideas.
I hope people like watching it!”
-Marco
