Russell Bates

Biography

With an innate instinct for casting, comedic timing, and spontaneity, Russell Bates combines naturalistic performances and wry wit to create funny and surprising stories on any scale from stripped-down intimacy to highly complex visual effects. Called upon by international brands to create superbly natural comedy performance, Russell is one of the best comedy directors working in advertising today.

Russell began his career directing music videos with Sub Pop Records (the Seattle record label famous for launching Nirvana and Soundgarden.) There he directed videos for artists including Mark Lanegan, Sunny Day Real Estate, and Sebadoh. Tapping into his flair for comedy, Russell directed his first comedic short film for the VH1 Fashion Awards, starring Ben Stiller as the male model Derek Zoolander (which Stiller later developed into a feature film).

Following the amazing response to Zoolander, Russell went on to direct a number of satirical short films for MTV and Comedy Central; his re-imaginings of Cast Away, Armageddon, and Twilight (intercutting existing footage with new material), and his short about President Bush’s fictional speechwriter Harlan McCraney were hugely successful.

Russell has worked internationally for brands such as Volkswagen, Mars, Sony, Müller, L’Oreal, Michelob, T-Mobile, Tic Tac, Chevrolet, Rolling Rock, and Motorola where his signature deadpan, sometimes dark humour has been put to great commercial expression.