Written by Tom Deehan on Feb 10, 2017. Posted in On Location / Production News

84 Lumber’s controversial Super Bowl commercial filmed in Mexico, serviced by La Casa Films

84 Lumber’s infamous Super Bowl commercial, The Journey Begins, is one of the year’s most talked about advertising spots after having amassed over 10 million views online. The commercial was serviced by La Casa Films, whose previous credits include shoots for Mercedes Benz and HSBC.

The spot follows a mother and her daughter as they trek through the Mexican landscape in a bid to enter the United States. Near the end of their journey however, the pair encounter a fully erected border wall in the same vein as the one proposed by President Donald Trump.

Polo Luisetti, Executive Producer at La Casa films spoke to TLG about the spot’s production: “in general, this powerful commercial was challenging in every possible way. We were proud to have been chosen to do such a fantastic project and we are still surprised by how fast it all went. For starters, timing was difficult. We had to prep between Christmas and New Year’s, which gave us a total of nine days to prep a six-day shoot!”

“We shot in Xalapa (Jalapa), the capital city of the Mexican State of Veracruz, and its surroundings. We chose to shoot there because of the variety of locations we needed: desert, river, mountains and forests. We had a total of 19 company moves. Weather conditions were tough. Shooting from dust till dawn meant that we were exposed to extreme temperature changes all the time.”

“We would start the day with sub-zero in the mornings (32 F) and then have over 32C in the afternoon (90.3F). The crew was impeccable and we were prepared to face all these conditions. Then there was the controversial wall that we had to build: a 32.8 foot wall in the middle of the desert. The project gave jobs to over 400 Mexicans and we donated the wall to help build six houses. We would like to congratulate everyone for this amazing job and for the courage to make it happen. And of course, we applaud the message behind it and hope it gets as much buzz as it can.”

Due to its politically charged content, FOX opted to air only a segment of the commercial during the Super Bowl, leading to the controversy. The spot can be seen in its entirety below.