Spike Jonze certainly makes the most of his time.
On top of the release of his long-awaited adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s “Where The Wild Things Are” this year, Jonze has also helmed an ad for Japanese communications company Softbank starring Brad Pitt, returned to acting in a British television pilot for David Cross and Will Arnett titled, “The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret” and made a short film with rapper Kanye West called “We Were Once A Fairytale.”
In addition to all that, the director still has his top secret “robot love story” short film which he completed earlier this year. While details are being kept under wraps, what we do know is that the short centers on a romance between two robots, features the L.A. indie rockers Moonrats as a fake band called The Lost Trees led by David Kramer and reunites Jonze with his regular crew of collaborators including cinematographer Adam Kimmel (not Lance Bangs).
The Guardian now reports that the half-hour short was made for Swedish alcohol company, Absolut Vodka, is officially titled “I’m Here” and stars up and coming Brit actor Andrew Garfield (“Boy A,” “The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus”) who he met through fellow director Mark Romanek – Garfield stars in Romanek’s upcoming thriller “Never Let Me Go.”
The involvement of talent like Garfield certainly adds to our excitement for the project with hopes now his romantic counterpart, presuming he is one of the aforementioned robots, is just as great. What’s Absolut’s involvement? Hopefully they just paid for the short and we won’t have to see too much product placement.
We assume, “I’m Here,” will eventually see an online release, likely some time in the New Year. UPDATE: According to Movieline, the short will lead next year’s Sundance Film Festival shorts program alongside James Franco’s Michael Shannon-led student film, an adaptation of Frank Dibart’s poem “Herbert White.”
Meanwhile, clips from “The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret” have made their way online. Jonze has a starring role as well. One clip is below, another is over at YouTube and you can’t be embedded, but check them out. Lots of F-bombs in the clip. You’ve been forewarned.