Donald Trump Had A Very Specific Demand For His Super Bowl Commercial Cameo
Before Taika Waititi became a superstar producer and Marvel director, he was still a little-known indie filmmaker in New Zealand. By 2011, Waititi's star was beginning to rise off of the strength of his first two feature films: "Eagle vs Shark" and "Boy." That year, the up-and-coming director directed a star-studded commercial that aired during Super Bowl XLVI.
The nearly four-minute featurette highlights NBC's lineup of shows, which at the time included "30 Rock," "The Office," "Parks and Recreation," and "Community," among others, with the cast members from each singing the show tune "Brotherhood of Man." Reality programming is featured as well, leading to a split second jump scare of Donald Trump, then the host of "The Apprentice." The ex-President flashes a smile and a thumbs up at the camera before it cuts to the hosts of "Today."
In an interview on the "SmartLess" podcast, Waititi reminisced with hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett about his experience shooting the commercial. According to the filmmaker, Trump had some very specific requirements on set. "I directed Trumpy," said Waititi around the 28-minute mark. "There was a piece of paper with a list of demands." The camera, Waititi recalled, "had to be a certain height to make him look a little thinner." He continued, "I think it had like a sort of, whatever the Pantone of orange was that he had to appear as on screen."
Taika Waititi had to meet Trump's exacting standards
Beyond the camera specifications that Donald Trump required for the NBC commercial, he also brought along a make-up assistant who essentially functioned as a hype person. "He had a sort of like a make-up person who was also his ego booster," Waititi continued in the same podcast interview. "So she would like, touch him up and say 'Oh Mr. Trump, oh Mr. Trump, you look fantastic.'"
It's not exactly a shocking revelation, given Trump's fixation on his own image. In 2019, Gizmodo reported that images on the then-President's social media accounts had been doctored to make him look thinner and to make his hands look bigger. The hand size obsession goes back to the '80s, when journalist Graydon Carter described Trump in Spy magazine as a "short-fingered vulgarian."
"To this day, I receive the occasional envelope from Trump," Carter wrote in Vanity Fair in 2015. "There is always a photo of him — generally a tear sheet from a magazine. On all of them he has circled his hand in gold Sharpie in a valiant effort to highlight the length of his fingers. I almost feel sorry for the poor fellow because, to me, the fingers still look abnormally stubby."
The NBC commercial was Waititi's first and last time directing Trump. Two years after the ad aired, Waititi and Jemaine Clement released "What We Do in the Shadows," and the former's "Thor" ascent followed soon after. He hopefully hasn't had to match his subjects to a Pantone color since.