Steve ‘Spaz’ Williams hails from Ontario, Canada – a province far removed from his farm in the rolling hills outside San Francisco. Repped in Canada by Mad Films, the commercial director, best known for his work as supervising animator on such blockbuster features as Jurassic Park, Terminator 2 and The Mask, recently returned to Toronto for his first Canadian commercial shoot – two Toyota spots out of Saatchi and Saatchi.

According to Mad executive producer Aerin Barnes, Spaz ‘is kind of an eccentric guy.’

In fact, it can be tough pulling the hockey fanatic out of his barn, which incidentally has been converted into a replica of The Hot Stove Lounge (the famed hockey bar at Maple Leaf Gardens). In addition, the former junior b player has installed a 10-foot satellite dish to feed Leafs games and Don Cherry commentary into his California home.

‘He’s definitely a Canadian boy,’ says Barnes.

‘A lot of the creative out of Toronto is really good,’ says Spaz. ‘I’d say it’s better [than in the u.s]. It’s funny. It’s more along the lines of my sensibilities – sarcastic wit.’

During his nine years at Industrial Light and Magic, Spaz developed a reputation for his innovative, risk-taking animation. ‘And then,’ Spaz explains, ‘it went crazy. Around 1995 when I started shooting Citroen commercials [France], I’d get all these wacky jobs. After I worked on The Mask I saw every board in the world that had Mask-type effects in it. It’s really true. After Terminator and Jurassic we’d see all those types of things too.’

The Toyota spots which brought Williams home did involve animation, and heavy posting. However, the commercial shoot was live action and the director was fully comfortable with that.

The first spot, ‘Revs’ for Toyota Celica, takes viewers on a trip through the rear taillight into the working pistons of the engine and climaxes with a giant, alien-green animated heart, symbolizing the driver getting all revved up. TOPIX/Mad Dog in Toronto animated.

topix executive producer Sylvain Taillon was thrilled to work with a director who is also a veteran animator.

‘It was especially fun for us to work with a director who knows animation inside-out,’ says Taillon. ‘It’s kind of funny when the director comes in and says, ‘What about using metabols for the liquid?’ as opposed to saying, ‘I see this thing, try to picture this.’ Williams was very specific in how he wanted to get it done.’

The ‘Revs’ spot, which will air on tv and in movie theatres, also allowed the topix team to try out their new high-definition Inferno system. ‘The high-def thing is important to me because it points to a new way of doing things. More and more, high-def is around or is about to be around. It’s a new way of approaching these products,’ says Taillon.

‘Revs’ was written by Saatchi and Saatchi’s Bruce McKay and art directed by Henry Wong. Don Smith was the dop and David Baxter edited at Panic and Bob. Barnes and line producer David Cranor set up the one-day shoot at Toronto Film Studios.

topix credits include senior Inferno artist James Cooper, producer Anne Deslauriers and 3D animators Chris Johnson and Richard Rosenman.

The second spot, ‘Non-Stop,’ features a woman navigating the streets (through a construction site and down an alley) in her shiny red Toyota Echo. Set to bouncy, upbeat and high-pitched music, she ends up in a parking lot where the spot jump-zooms out – all the way to a view of Earth. It closes with a voiceover: ‘It’s true, nothing can stop an Echo.’

Although part of different campaigns, the ‘Revs’ team also worked on ‘Non-Stop,’ with the exception of post, which was handled by Axyz.

Williams truly enjoyed his homecoming: ‘It was a blast. Everything is about Toronto, the Maple Leafs and Swiss Chalet. I had Swiss Chalet and Harvey’s delivered every day. On the stage shoot I was blasting Rush and Max Webster the whole time. Everybody loved that.

‘I think they see it a little bit differently, having a Canadian come up here and shoot, as opposed to an American. I know their sensibilities. Not only that, but I got a hockey net out and started taking shots on the stage.’

Rewind for a moment. Swiss Chalet and Harvey’s every day?

Williams explains: ‘Oh yeah! Dirty bird. Quarter chicken dinners, man. Harvey’s hamburgers. I actually convulse when I take the first bite. I start to freak out cause it’s so damn good.’

Despite the good time, it seems Williams won’t be eating his dirty birds again for quite awhile.

‘I’m completely swamped [in San Francisco] right now. So we’re kind of putting stuff up in Toronto on the back burner, for now.’

Besides, with the hockey playoffs around the corner, it’s going to get harder to get Williams out of his barn.