At 6h00 on one of the coldest days of the year, we met Bevan Cullinan on set to watch him direct his latest commercial for McDonald’s – Karou don’t cry. He is a self-proclaimed perfectionist, who plans every possible detail of the shoot, leaving nothing to chance, seemingly counter-intuitive for someone who basically became famous for his ability to capture an audience through what often came across as incidental improvisation.
I first heard of Bevan while studying Drama at Wits university. As Physical theatre students we all knew about his unique brand of physical performance, specifically his comedy. Most of us only dreamed of capturing an audience the way he was capable of doing and this brilliance came to the South-African screens in the shape of Gary the MNet Tooth Fairy. Yes, the cool looking guy in the pictures with the black leather jacket is in fact the Tooth Fairy.
Bevan created, co-wrote, directed and acted in these adverts and it is unimaginable that someone else was originally cast as the Tooth Fairy. During the sales pitch Bevan illustrated the character to the agency through moments of performance and they insisted on having him as Gary. In the end the razor-sharp humour and flawless execution made it one of the funniest, most creative characters ever to reach our screens.
He thrives on overcoming the challenges faced on the road to success and excels in what he chooses to do. He is determined, disciplined and driven. He doesn’t work to please others, but strives for his own virtually impossible standards of perfection and expects the same from every member of his team. This most be tough.
His parents taught him and his two siblings to work for what they wanted and this is what he did. He performed on stage for the first time at the age of 6 and at 16 he started busking on the streets of Cape-town as an alternative to his job as newspaper delivery boy. He tells of how he sat in front of a mirror for hours teaching himself isolation based mime, which he believed would be a crowd pleaser … and it was.
The years spent honing those performance skills, on street corners, small stages and eventually in front of giant crowds, was the skill that opened the doors to on-screen Directing for him. Bevan is part of the very well respected Picture Tree team, and has a colourful range of commercials in his showreel that will surely bring a smile to a dark day.
Bevan takes his work very seriously and states that…”to me a body of work says more about me than anything else.”
I hardly know this guy, but when I look at his body of work thus far, I can honestly say that I think he is brilliant and we can’t wait to see what will come out of that Bevan Cullinan mind next!
