Calle Astrand describes himself as a country boy from Sweden who
enjoys telling stories. But he’s not as wholesome as he sounds - the
stories he tells are unusually ’weird’ and he long ago moved out of the
woods and into Stockholm.
He has just signed up with @radical.media as a commercials director
after getting his career off the ground at the Producers. Calle is
already establishing a reputation as a comedy director with a
Scandinavian flair for capturing an odd and eccentric mood.
Bartle Bogle Hegarty’s new Lynx campaign is the most familiar work on
his reel. He is also finishing off an Adidas spot for Leagas Delaney.
Calle’s reel also includes two campaigns for Ikea and the National
Institute for Public Health, both of which showcase his offbeat
humour.
’When I tell a story I like to exaggerate a bit, but not so people don’t
believe it,’ Calle says. ’I want to be good at directing actors and I’m
not afraid to go in close on people.’ Some of his Norwegian Ikea ads
push this theory to the limit - one spot involves a naked man propping
up his entire kitchen while trying to rescue his car from being towed
away.
Calle approached advertising agencies straight from art school, and was
soon ’changing light bulbs and taking out the garbage’. After his
national service, he reinvented himself as a director, spent a year
freelancing in Oslo, and then set up a production company, EPA, in
Stockholm.
