It must be pretty difficult to get  cheesey smiles to work on another level. Any temper tantrums from smiling fatigue?

I think the main challenge was getting everyone to fully understand the tone I was after. I’m making fun of cheesy happy smiles but also embracing them at the same time. There’s something twisted about it, but also something totally genuine! Someone described the spot as David Lynch on a skittles binge. Thought that felt right…

Why Buenos Aires?

Well it’s funny – I wanted to shoot in a bizarrely perfect US suburb à la Edward Scissorhands / Truman Show, but we couldn’t shoot in the US because of talent cost. So Shelly & Matt @ Skunk found this awesome exterior studio in BA where they shoot the latino version of Desperate Housewives – Amas de Casa Desperadas!!! Shooting in a studio was perfect coz we were able to paint all the houses silly happy colours.

Did you take the talent with you?

Talent was all from Buenos Aires. Good casting pool to choose from there, and plenty of good dancers.

How did you choreograph it?

I worked with the lovely local choreography duo – Diego Jaraz and Vanina Said. They have plenty of Broadway experience so they immediately got what I was after. I didn’t want it to feel like 100% pro dancers – I wanted some of the people to really feel like normal people getting up to dance, so the rehearsals were a bit of the challenge for some of them!

Was the script rigidly detailed or did the agency hire you specifically for your extra magic you bring to the shoot?

Actually the original script was a bit different.

It was supposed to happen in an indoor studio with a staged theatrical feel, but I really wanted to take this out onto the street. I also pushed for some crazy stuff to happen too – people doing flips, a lady flying, gravity defying cereal which never falls out of the bowl while they dance… The agency were really responsive and fully embraced the heightened reality I wanted to bring to it.