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Joe Pytka
Joe Pytka, “I’ll Be There” Pepsi commercial director, personal website (accessed April 8, 2020) (archived)
Michael Jackson re recorded I’LL BE THERE for a Pepsi commercial with him singing with himself as a young boy. We were searching for a boy that could mimic him and were having trouble. Michael suggested a boy from Australia, Wade Robson. Wade was white but that didn’t matter since we were going to superimpose Michael’s head onto Wade’s anyway and the rest was to be a silhouette. The movements were the only thing important.
Digital work was still in its infancy so we were restricted in what we were able to do. We shot the spot and it was compelling despite the compromises we had to make. The press was anther matter. I got a call asking why we used a white boy. I answered that he was best for the job but it didn’t matter as we were using old Michel footage to adjust for that. Of course, the press didn’t care about any truths and they did a hatchet job on Michael.
Years later, Wade Robson is choreographing Britney for a Pepsi commercial I’m doing. We reminisce about Michael’s greatness and influences and what a wonderful coincidence this is to see each other after all these years.
Well don’t you know that Wade sued Jackson’s estate after Michael had passed away. The judge threw out the suit for various reasons including the fact that Robson had testified under oath in a prior case that nothing had ever happened. Sad.
Joe Pytka, director, personal website (accessed July 6, 2017) (archived)
I was close to Michael for many years. He would call from time to time to hang out, usually in the middle of the night at a studio while he was mixing an album. The best was at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where he was ‘hiding’ with his young son. We just reminisced about some of the things we had done. His son was about a year or so old and adorable, fascinated with my height and hair. Michael was discussing a video he was doing with Vince Paterson directing. I suggested Conrad Hall shooting it since Conrad did such a terrific job on Dirty Diana.
That was the last time I saw him. All hell broke loose and he became reclusive. Sad.
Personal website (accessed April 8, 2020) (archived)
After we did THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL, Michael and I discussed doing WEST SIDE STORY. I contacted the owners of the material and they weren’t interested saying that the property was continuously profitable and didn’t want the original Jerome Robbins choreography tampered with, and that was that. I felt that THE WAY… could easily extended into a original musical and Michael (and Frank DiLeo) agreed.
SONY and Michael, however, began to develop a similar script called MIDKNIGHT, and urban musical to be directed by Anton Furst who was the Production Designer on FULL METAL JACKET and BATMAN. As far as I knew, it was a done deal with a finished script so my idea was toast. I loved the idea but since Michael was committed to MIDKNIGHT…
Tragedy.
Anton Furst committed suicide. The story was that he was depressed ever since working with Kubrick on FULL METAL JACKET.
You can’t make this up.
Michael and I once discussed films we liked and Korda’s THIEF OF BAGDAD was a film we both loved.. I discussed a version with Frank and he said that the last thing he wanted to see was Michael on a magic carpet. Point taken, but that wasn’t what I had in mind. I envisioned a world where Leonardo’s inventions had come to life. Jim Lima and I worked on the idea and he created a number of stunning concept boards.
They were liked, if not loved. Michael later took one of the ideas to do the song SCREAM. We were to do the video based on the concept boards but Janet wanted to do another idea, so…
Back to THE THIEF.
Michael and Frank had split and when some of the scandal smoke had cleared, I was asked to do a video for HEAL THE WORLD. In a meeting I mentioned the THIEF project and Sandy Gallin, Michael’s new agent, suggested I take it directly to SONY where they owed Michael a movie, so I took it to SONY where they owed Michael a movie.
Disaster.
The orderly that I met asked what the budget would be.
$125,000,000.
We’re not prepared to spend that much.
How much are you prepare to spend?
Ten to fifteen.
Michael spent seventeen on his video SMOOTH CRIMINAL.
(embarrassed look)
Are you qualified to greenlight this movie?
No.
Why am I here?
It turns out that SONY was full of shit about the promise to have Michael make a film. Michael’s videos were all hits. People still love them. Many told stories. THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL was a number one. Michael proved his acting chops in the prequil and the dance. Steven Spielberg felt it was the best dance film since SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN. I’m not sayin’ that THIEF would have been great but we’ll never see Michael in a long form and it was something he wanted to do and he proved it many times.
Our loss.
Personal website (accessed April 8, 2020) (archived)
FRANK DILEO was Michael Jackson’s agent, manager, handler, whatever. Brilliant. I met him while I was doing a series of Pepsi commercials with Michael tied into the BAD album. The creatives for Pepsi had done some cheesy storyboards and our initial meeting with MJ didn’t go well despite the agency trying to explain the stuff. Frank found out we were both from Pittsburgh and there is a bond among us out there. He pulled me aside and asked me if I could help since the agency, for some strange reason, didn’t want to spend money for better boards, so I had some very large boards done and set up another meeting. Michael walked through the boards and asked whether we could actually do the stuff indicated on the boards and I assured him that we could. Money well spent. Frank was off to the side and winked. We were friends from then on.
Michael liked what I had done in the commercials and Frank asked me to do the music video (Michael liked to call them ‘short films’) for MAN IN THE MIRROR, and I started to work on some ideas. A while later Frank told me that they didn’t need a video for that song since it was a slam dunk number one without a video and he sent me the demo for THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL. The purpose was to have more Number Ones than any other albums and Frank’s (and Quincy Jones’) vision and perception were brilliant. Frank’s notion was that I CAN’T STOP LOVING YOU would be the first release and would be an instant Number One since Michael hadn’t released an album for a number of years. BAD would be an easy Number One with MAN IN THE MIRROR another. The other songs would need some help to position them. I was troubled and disappointed after he pulled MAN IN THE MIRROR since THE WAY… wasn’t as strong a piece of music and I had trouble understanding it. A similar thing happened to me years later when Yoko pulled WORKING CLASS HERO and replaced it with STARTING OVER but that’s another story. THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL sounded soft to me and there was no thread in the piece to give a hint for a video treatment. Frank and Quincy told me what the purpose was. I can’t remember who said it but the phrase, “…the purpose of the video was to get Michael some pussy!” The result — another Number One. I don’t know if Michael got laid.
Frank and I became good friends after work on the commercials and the videos and we worked on a terrific film idea for Michael but after the final BAD tour, Michael and Frank split. Later, I took the treatment to SONY but they didn’t want to spend the money that the film would take. The SONY executive mentioned a budget and I told him that SMOOTH CRIMINAL cost more than that. I never knew the reason that Michael and Frank split, because Frank disappeared for a while. A long time passed and I helped Frank a bit through a bad time he was having and he finally reunited with Michael, ironically to put together the tribute film after Michael’s passing. We had a great lunch together to reminisce a bit about the days with Michael. Frank looked great and was his old self, but he, too, passed soon after that.
Frank was one of the most vivid characters I ever met and was decent, honest, and perceptive. That honesty was a rare thing in that business. If he and Michael had stayed together, Michael’s history would certainly have changed and for the better. I think of Frank often. It was a great time.