Director Anthony Mandler On Working W/ Jay-Z, “There’s Nobody More Intimidating Than Him”

Written By S. Samuel

Music video director Anthony Mandler recently discussed why Jay-Z is the most intimidating performer he has worked with.

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Although he has worked with stars like Kanye West and Rihanna, Mandler insists Jay demands his attention to detail the most.

“I feel pressure working with artists because I have their careers in my hand,” he said in an interview. “I feel pressure working with artists because they’re entrusting me with something as important as their image, which in a way is almost as important as the music. There’s nobody more intimidating than Jay-Z. There’s nobody who puts you to it more than Jay, as far as accountability and doing what you say, and creating the video that you say you’re gonna create. He’s the master of getting performance out of people on the other side of the camera. He really demands the best and I love that. The last thing I wanna feel is that an artist cares less than I do.” (Rap-Up)

Mandler worked with Hov on his “Run This Town” and “Death of Auto-Tune” music videos.

Anthony Mandler is one of the top commercial and music video directors working today, having written and directed music videos for artists including: Rihanna (“Russian Roulette”), John Mayer (“Who Says”), Jay-Z (“Run This Town”), Mary J. Blige (“The One”), Jay-Z (“D.O.A.”), The Killers (“A Dustland Fairytale”), John Legend (“Everybody Knows”), T.I. (“Live Your Life”), and One Republic (“Stop and Stare”). (Music Video Database)

He is also known for speaking on the importance of creating music videos.

“MTV isn’t relevant. I will say that to anyone at MTV. They host this video show that isn’t even relevant to the music or the work we do. Those shows are insulting to people. People don’t buy it anymore. They give an award for [2008] Best Video to Britney Spears [for “Piece of Me”]. That is a joke. Everyone in our industry thinks the VMA’s are a joke. If you’re going to honor videos, really do it. Give it to people who deserve it. There are a lot of brilliant guys out there. They don’t have that ability. They only want to honor copycat media. They are pushing this medium and they want to honor the same old people – the stars of MTV. It’s a joke, really.” (YRB Magazine)

The director is currently filming Drake’s forthcoming “Over” music video.

“This is my first video,” he said in an interview. “I’ve shot a lot of videos before, but this is my first attempt to establish myself as Drake the the artist. Shooting the other videos I’ve done has been great. I really don’t care what other people think about them, they were great experiences for me. I’ve learned a lot from them. Today, I’m shooting with somebody I really look up to and respect. I’m shooting with Anthony Mandler…We talked colors, we talked epic, emotion-evoking visuals. The story is actually interesting. The song is so aggressive, and it’s sort of a love story in the video.” (MTV)

Check out Anthony Mandler’s directed “Run This Town” music video below:

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Written by S. Samuel

Steven Samuel is the co-founder of SOHH.com.

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