Spike's done a lot of commercials, most memorably,
the Levis "Doctor" ad with the song Tainted Love
. He's done others for Nike (the ones with Andre Agassi playing
guerrilla tennis),
Coca-Cola, Nintendo, Woodstock '94, Coors,
Lee (featuring the 14"
Buddy Lee "Man of Action" doll) and the
Sprite Sun-Fizz commercial where the psycho little sun logo on the juice
box comes to life and chases a family around their house--definitely one of the funniest
commercials Spike has done (although they're all awesome).
Two of Spike's more major projects which unfortunately
never brought him much credit (since they didn't stick
around for too long) are that in the mid-90's, Spike filmed the opening titles for the
failed CBS bike-messenger series Double Rush. In 1995,
he also signed with Tristar Pictures to direct the mid-budget
adaptation of Harold and the Purple Crayon,
but the project was never completed.
Spike's feature film debut is Being John Malkovich,
released in October of 1999. The basic premise of the film is that a
puppeteer (John Cusack) finds a door in his office that allows him to enter
the mind of, and literally become, John Malkovich. The story sounds
sort of weird, but I have to admit that if anyone can
pull it off, it's Spike.
Spike's short film filmography is a little harder to get a hold of since they aren't likely to get wide release or distribution (like most short films). If you have the opportunity to see any of them, however, jump at the chance. He was supposed to collaborate with the Beastie Boys on a film called We Can Do This, but Mike D pulled the plug on the project after seeing the Fat Boys' film Disorderlies on TV. He decided they had better quit while they were ahead.
Spike has contributed to Adam Yauch's Free Tibet, along with
Roman Coppola and Evan Bernard, a video which assesses
the role of the rock star and his/her ability to raise
awareness of human rights issues through music.
Amarillo by Morning (29 min, 1997) is about intense young Texans who dream of being rodeo riders.
During the filming of Three Kings, Spike followed Ice Cube around with a camera and filmed a little documentary called An Intimate Look Inside the Acting Process With Ice Cube.
He's also had a short film called How They Get
There (5 min, 1996),
about a boy and a girl walking down the street in
opposite directions who give each other flirty sort
of looks that end up in disaster, which
was featured at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, and collaborated
with Roman Coppola (Francis Ford's son), amd Dewer Mick's on
Hi-Octane, filmed entirely on Hi-8.
Aside from his many directorial endeavors,
Spike has also dipped his wings in acting, with parts in the indie
flick Pig!, as Vig in Three Kings (1999), Airbag EMT
Beltran in The Game (1997) and as a teenage druggie in Mi Vida Loca (1993).
