This right here is PEDESTRIAN.TV‘s Grand Unified Theory on Joe Pytka’s imminent lifetime achievement award from the Director’s Guild Of America.
1. Pytka is set to nab himself the ‘Distinguished Achievement in Television Directing’ gong, honouring his work on T.V commercials. He’s the guy behind more than 80 Superbowl ads, and he’s been at the helm for over 5,000 spots. Fair crack of the whip, Joe.
2. He also directed a little-known piece of cinema called Space Jam.
3. If you watch carefully, you can see that behind the life-affirming combination of Looney Tunes, Michael Jordan, and Bill fucking Murray, the film is essentially an extended advertisement for Michael’s Secret Stuff water.
Ipso facto: Joe Pytka is being given a lifetime achievement award because of Space Jam.
FWIW, the Guild say “when it comes to commercials, there is no higher bar than the one set by the incomparable Joe Pytka.”
While true, that can also be read as “it is utterly ludicrous the man who thought to pit Wayne Knight against a posse of intergalactic ne’er-do-wells hasn’t been honoured in this way sooner.”
Pytka will be picking up the trophy at a ceremony next year. Coincidentally, 2016 will also mark the 20th anniversary of Space Jam’s release.
In the highly unlikely (actually very likely) circumstance that his award is solely due to his legendary stature in the world of advertising, it’s comforting to know that his directorial buddy-buddy act with MJ extends outside Moron Mountain:
Story via The A.V Club.
Image: Warner Bros. via Getty.
