Based on our music video watching history, there seems to be a sort of "sweet spot" in an artist's career where they are up for pretty much anything in the music video department. Maybe they are looking to try something different or shake up their image a little bit, but for one reason or another they are willing to really kind of get nuts.
Today we're watching one of my absolute favorite examples of this, Britney Spears' 2011 video for "I Wanna Go", directed by Chris Marrs Piliero.
Chris Marrs Piliero has a talent for getting artists to do goofy stuff. For example, he's the man behind Ke$ha's unicorn rainbow gun fight with James Van Der Beek in "Blow". There's a line, however, between weird and the sublimely ridiculous, and Chris Marrs Piliero helped Britney Spears cross it for this video.
The video starts out with a press conference with Britney answering comedic questions in a comedic way (for example, she confirms that one reporter's suit does indeed make him look fat). This is a little wacky, but we get our first hint that this music video is going to crazy town when Britney Spears references the "Fuck fuck, fuck you, you're cool" scene from Half Baked and we realize that Guillermo Díaz, the actual actor in that delivered those original lines, is in the video. Why? Because Half Baked was a cool movie, that's why.
Things kind of get out of hand from here. Spears gropes an autograph seeker and flashes a police officer (who gives her a look that says "not this shit again" instead of actually being happy about seeing Britney Spears' boobs). Next, we are treated to a large battle between her cyborg paparazzi stalkers and Britney, who is weilding a microphone as a weapon.
Things at this point are still relatively within the moderately wacky range until Guillermo Díaz pulls up in a car and rescues Britney. They take a drive down a country road when Díaz reaches for a carton of milk and proceeds to dump this milk all over his face. He then begins to short circuit and then it becomes clear he is a cyborg. This was, of course, all a dream, and at the end Díaz stops the press conference, hands Britney some seashells, puts her arm around her, and then turns around with red glaring eyes ala Thriller. Fin.
One of my favorite parts about this video is that actor Kellan Lutz was for some reason the first choice for the Guillermo Díaz part, and he turned it down because it was too weird. Here is his answer when asked about turning down the role in an Advocate.com interview:
That was really tough. I love Britney, and I wouldve loved the opportunity, but there were a couple of weird things about the part that didnt make sense like that milk-pouring scene? Hopefully Ill get to work with Britney on something else.
That to me is some solid proof that this was not just a wacky fun video, but this was messed up enough to turn people away to the point that Kellan Lutz thinks its going to damage his career and you're calling up Guillermo Díaz (and ordering some milk).
Chris Marrs Piliero and Spears also pack this video with references that probably only Britney Spears fans will get, but one great one is the Crossroads 2: Cross Harder on the marquee during the fight scene, a reference to Die Hard 2: Die Harder and Britney Spears' 2002 film Crossroads. We think the shells are a reference to Crossroads, but we're just guessing.
So there you have it. If you picture Spears riding around with Guillermo Díaz pouring milk all over his face in her "Baby One More Time" years, you'll get my point about videos like this only coming out during a certain part of an artist's career and only with the right director. Also, FYI, we have this video listed as the number one most viewed Britney Spears video online. People like their milk.
