While casting the video, it was important to Delaney that women from all over the world would be represented in the piece, and also that it would have an impact on a diversity of audiences.
“When I came on board, one of my main objectives was to make sure we had a cast that was full of famous women from all over the world who brought their own legions of fans,” she said. “I think these types of films tend to create a little splash in the West but don’t have any traction or gain an audience in the countries they are purporting to speak on behalf of, so it was important to get stars from India, Nigeria, South Africa as well as from US, UK and Canada.”
Delaney also wanted the video to pay homage to the original music video – shot by the lates Johan Camitz – while still feeling contemporary and relatable for today’s audience.
“I really relished and enjoyed creating this video, and being such a big Spice Girls fan, I wanted to remain true to what I loved about the original. We included little nods throughout, like shooting on the same hotel stairs from the music video and including the bus and the kicks. We did however make some changes, especially to the performances. I told all the girls that I wanted them to have an almost aggressive attitude. We wanted these girls to demand these changes that are so long overdue,” Delaney said.
“There was definitely a lot of girl power that went into making the video, including the end product. All ages, races, styles and backgrounds — it was a real collaboration of really individual and different women, which I think is true to the spirit of the Spice Girls.”
Not only was the cast made up of strong, diverse women but much of the crew was female as well, including Getty Images Reportage photographer, Veronique de Viguerie, who shot portraits of the women as well as behind the scenes footage (See in Related Content).
Despite the various challenges of shooting on three different continents, they were able to create a powerful and important video that Delaney hopes will play a role in effecting change.
“The end goal is to contribute towards the Global Goals promise to create gender equality by 2030,” she said, “but I also hope that it creates a unified voice. There are a lot of very vocal feminists now, which I find encouraging and inspiring, but I think it’s important to unite as an international voice across countries and continents so women can speak up for gender equality as one.”
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