Iain Pearson

Iain Pearson Trivia #3 – There’s no I in Oscar

Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper (he of The King’s Speech, Les Miserables etc.) wasn’t always the Hollywood superstar he is today. Time was, he scraped a living directing Dot Cotton’s fag ash on the set of Eastenders.

But then one day he was plucked from obscurity to direct a big-budget (for DRTV) commercial for a well-known insurance company. And the rest, as they say in Tinseltown, is history.

Modesty prevents me from crediting the writer who spotted young Tom’s nascent directorial promise, but it’s fair to say Mr Hooper hasn’t looked back since. (Certainly, not long enough to send a bottle of something nice in his benefactor’s direction).

Iain Pearson Trivia #2 – Dinner with the Triads

While in Hong Kong, I produced a campaign for the Tourist Board. Some of the shots took place in the famous Night Market, and to ensure no ‘accidents’ should befall the equipment or crew, we were obliged to pay the local Triad gang security.

Happily, not only did nobody accidentally, brutally cut off their own fingers with the clapperboard, but they even did the run to Maccy D’s for us at 3 in the morning.