Alex Winter looked set for a big acting career, after starring roles in
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and its sequel, Bill and Ted’s Bogus
Journey. But he’d always wanted to direct and invested his movie fees in
a film course in New York. While in the Big Apple he made his first
feature for 20th Century Fox, Freaked, a black comedy that despite
starring the likes of Keanu Reeves, Randy Quaid and Brooke Shields, fell
foul of political shenanigans when Rupert Murdoch took over the studio.
Winter has finally got it released on video after a two-year battle. But
he is nothing if not resilient.
Having directed pop videos, including Ronny Jordan’s the Jackal and the
Crow soundtrack, he kickstarted his commercials directing career by
leaving Propaganda along with the producers, Emily Bliss and Michelle
Stapleton, when they founded Brave Films in January this year. Since
then his quirky humour, born of three strong cultural influences - he
was born in England, and is half-American, half-Australian - has been
evident in ads for Weetabix, Littlewoods Pools, National Lottery
Instants and the Daily Star. In fact, he’s been so busy this year that
he only found time to take three days off around his wedding in Scotland
in April. It’s typical of a man described as a ‘500-miles-per-hour
bundle of energy who never stops talking’.
Winter has shown a great diversity of range already, from the impressive
array of special effects used in Freaked to the simplicity of the quirky
spots for the likes of the Daily Star, which rely on very British
humour.
