It looks like a Merchant Ivory film complete with grand manor estates, Victorian costumes, corset-clad women slapping men in the face and dramatic storytelling so convincing that for a second you actually believe you’re watching a trailer for ‘the world’s first 48-hour epic movie made by women for women.’

In reality, director Martin Granger’s ‘Sin and Sentimentality,’ produced by Toronto’s Avion Films for agency Downtown Partners, aired across Canada in Famous Players cinemas as a mock trailer. It was part of a campaign Granger directed for Labatt-brewed Bud Light.

For his efforts, Granger was honored with a best of series nod at the 2002 Bessies in the directors category.

The spot was filmed over one day at Graydon Hall Manor in north Toronto, where elegance and just the right amount of romantic charm contributed authenticity to the spot’s English-country-manor look. Another important element of the commercial’s Merchant-Ivory feel is the exquisitely uncomfortable looking costumes borrowed from The Stratford Festival — an annual Shakespearean theatre festival in Stratford, ON. Apart from the rain and actors faces turning red from so much slapping, Granger says the shoot was trouble-free. With some interior scenes shot entirely by candlelight, the location afforded the director considerable creative freedom.

‘Sin and Sentimentality’ is definitely a departure from traditional boobs-and-boys beer commercials. Granger’s sense of humor, which he describes as distinctly Canadian and part Fawlty Towers, part SCTV, culminates at the end of the spot when the Elizabethan backdrop fades to a present-day boardroom. A group of dim-witted male producers, the masterminds behind the epic chick flick, congratulate themselves as the lone female at the meeting bangs her head on the table in exasperation.

Granger, who is not exactly comfortable talking about his achievements, modestly attributes the comic success of the spot to Dave Chiavegato and Rich Pryce-Jones, now of agency Grip Limited, who developed the creative concepts behind the Bud Light campaign while at Downtown. ‘As long as I didn’t completely mess up, I knew ‘Sin and Sentimentality’ was going to be a really funny spot,’ Granger says.

Humble declarations aside, the truth is if you’re laughing out loud at a commercial, there’s a good chance that Granger was the director. His knack for comedic directing has been illustrated by a number of spots, including the recent Viagra spot, created by Toronto-based Taxi, where happy-morning-man dances his way to work. He also directed ‘Moose in Headlights,’ another boobless beer commercial, part of a spoof-themed campaign for Miller Brewing Company produced by Avion in 1998.

Although Granger now works predominantly in L.A., he says his familiarity with the Toronto production scene was a great asset in shooting ‘Sin and Sentimentality.’

‘There’s a comfort level for me working in Toronto, because the minute I get a job [there], I know exactly who I want for hair, makeup, wardrobe, continuity and sound, everything,’ he says. ‘Being fairly new in the U.S., I’m always working with different DOPs, different producers and different actors.’

As a boy, Granger moved from London to Winnipeg where he grew up. Then after a brief stay in Vancouver, he moved to Toronto with slightly less than serious aspirations to be an actor. ‘I went into acting to meet girls. I had no real burning desire to be an actor, I think that was really the reason I sucked so badly,’ says Granger.

He worked at Second City for a short stint and as a production assistant on The Kids in the Hall, then enrolled in Vancouver Film School where he pursued his interest in directing, at least a bit more seriously than acting, before returning to Toronto again, this time as a director.

Granger’s early work, including some spec work and a short film, Remembering Ray, helped him find representation with Avion in 1996. ‘I walked into [Avion] when they were still hammering nails into the wall and they were kind enough to represent me.’

In 2000, Granger signed with L.A.-based A Band Apart Commercials for representation in the U.S. while Avion continues to rep him in Canada.

Granger now lives in New York, where he has been for three years, but says he spends so much time working in L.A. that when he is at home it feels like a vacation. ‘I think that’s part of the deal with being a commercial director, being a nomad for a certain number of years.’

Granger is eager to direct feature films and is on the lookout for the right project. ‘There is not a better time to be a commercial director wanting to make the leap to features. So many commercial guys have done it successfully in the last 10 years,’ he says.

-www.avionfilms.com

-www.abandapart.com