Director

Charles Mehling

Charles Mehling - director, photographer, and former&nbsp;bass guitarist of The Brian Jonestown Massacre, a rock band with a famous Rolling Stone referenced in their name - has now, finally, made his first video for The Rolling Stones&nbsp;themselves.It's also the first to be released since the death of the band's&nbsp;drummer Charlie Watts last month, and it's something of a tribute to the great musician&nbsp;who contributed so much to The Stones' unique sound and music.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The video for Living In The Heart Of Love -&nbsp;a song from the 40th anniversary rerelease of The Stones' 1981 album&nbsp;Tattoo You - is a wild, breathless thrill-ride through Paris -&nbsp;a city which has always been one of the band's spiritual homes -&nbsp;in the company of two female lovers.[vidtoken data:0]The pair - played by real life couple Nailia Harzoune and Marguerite Thiam Donnadieu - lead a louche, timelessly rock 'n roll lifestyle, partying&nbsp;at various swish locations in Paris with their eclectic mix of friends. The story is rendered in Mehling's signature&nbsp;black and white look -&nbsp;which also&nbsp;allows the smooth incorporation of vintage video footage of The Stones performing in the Tattoo You era&nbsp;- focussing strongly on Watts behind his drumkit.&nbsp;&nbsp;We spoke to Charles Mehling, to find out more about the project and discover how the song took him back to his youth, the challenges of shooting in Paris in August in a Covid-affected year - and the impact of the death of Charlie Watts during the making of the video.[imgtoken data:1]<blockquote>I wanted it to be a love story that felt modern and of the moment.</blockquote>P: Were you familiar with the Stones album Tattoo You?&nbsp; CM: Tattoo You came out at an exciting intersection of musical relevancy for me. I was in seventh grade and listening to the typical Van Halen, AC/DC stuff that was popular at the time. Then&nbsp;by chance I saw the punk rock documentary&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiCTq_AHcqw" target="_blank">The Decline&nbsp;of Western Civilization</a> -&nbsp;and that was it for me. The next day I shaved my head, bought a Germs T-shirt and swore to forever hate any music good enough to be&nbsp;played on the radio.Six months later me and my crew, adorned in bondage pants and safety pins, went down to the high school dance to harass the jocks and&nbsp;surfers for being, well, lame. Although we stood outside in the parking lot, definitely not taking part in the coed fun, the PA inside was booming! They were&nbsp;dancing to all crap hits by&nbsp; REO Speedwagon, Billy Joel, etc. Then all of the sudden the opening riff of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGyOaCXr8Lw" target="_blank">Start Me Up</a>&nbsp;[the hit single from Tattoo You] came blaring out, like a sloppy musical&nbsp;revelation. I can still remember what a great sound I heard coming out of those speakers that night.&nbsp;<blockquote>The brief was coming from one of the most relevant musical influences in my life.</blockquote>What was your take on&nbsp;Living In The Heart Of&nbsp;Love?&nbsp;When I first heard Living In The Heart Of Love&nbsp;I hadn’t&nbsp;realised it was a re-issued track. I guess I didn't read the whole brief from the record company!&nbsp;I hadn’t heard much of their&nbsp;recent music, so I thought: 'Hmm, this is kinda cool'.The thing that struck me first was the scrappy high-pitched backup vocals from Keith that I hadn't heard for&nbsp;some time. That and the sort of disco-era bouncy four-on-the-floor bass lines that could only be Bill Wyman.&nbsp; &nbsp; Did you have any previous Stones connections before writing on the track? And was there anything specific in the brief that appealed to you? Well, I was in a band called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brian_Jonestown_Massacre" target="_blank">The Brian Jonestown Massacre</a>&nbsp;- Brian Jones was a member of the Stones -&nbsp;and I shot Mick's daughter Georgia May for a Rimmel&nbsp;commercial, and one time Keith Richards hugged me by accident! But no, no meaningful connection, I guess. The most specific thing that attracted me to the&nbsp;brief was that it was from one of the most relevant musical influences in my life.[imgtoken data:2]<blockquote>There’s a dark, sexy swagger to Paris you won't find any other place.</blockquote>What was the key aspect of your treatment for the song that you think appealed to the Stones?&nbsp; The fact that they didn't have to be in the video was a big plus for sure. When my agent Alexa Haywood passed me the brief I happened to be in&nbsp;Paris, so with her help we conjured up a kind of romantic&nbsp;Before Sunrise&nbsp;romcom narrative. We wanted to do something like a modern Godard sort of story, and&nbsp;that’s how it was written. As things developed it became a bit more raunchy and rebellious - and more like a music video I guess.&nbsp;&nbsp; And there’s something about Paris and the Stones that makes sense. I don’t know why, but it just does. There was the whole Exile On Main Street tax avoidance&nbsp;thing, and the fact that they recorded a lot of the tracks from Tattoo You in Paris, but there is also something deeper. Mick and Keith get the Vive Le Rock spirit&nbsp;fully. And maybe it’s because the French love the Stones. I lived in Paris for a while, and there is a dark, sexy swagger to that city you won't find any place, other&nbsp;than maybe New Orleans.&nbsp;Paris is definitely Stones over Beatles town. Did you always want a female couple as your leads? I wanted it to be a love story that felt modern and of the moment, whether that meant gender or sexually or culturally diverse.It's funny we featured a gay couple&nbsp;in a Rolling Stones video, and it's never really be mentioned in any press, nor was it ever an issue raised by the band or record company. That's the point, I&nbsp;guess. Same-sex relationships are becoming 'normalized', thank goodness.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:3]<blockquote>Nailia and Marguerite... a real couple who were actually actors and actually attracted to each other.</blockquote>How did you come to cast your couple - Nailia Harzoune and Marguerite Thiam Donnadieu - in the lead roles?&nbsp; Not kidding, this video almost killed me and my producer Alexa. Paris in August is dead they say, but that is an understatement. Not only are there no tourists&nbsp;during Covid but there are no Parisians within a two hundred mile radius - at least any that have anything to do with film.Thank god we came across Marieke&nbsp;Tricoire from Womanray, a high-end Paris-based production company, who just happened to be unlucky enough not to be on holiday. Once she was committed, she really called in all her favours and pulled it off somehow. But it was a real nail-biter. We utilized the Rolling&nbsp;Stones reputation and vast Rolodex to procure A-list talent - I wish I could share the names of the almost-booked that bailed on us last minute, one by one, till&nbsp;two days before the shoot!Then by some divine intervention&nbsp;- and local casting agent Lucie Tartenson - Nailia and Marguerite magically appeared. It became&nbsp;quickly apparent that they were the perfect choice. A real couple who were actually actors and were actually attracted to each other.[imgtoken data:4]<blockquote>Iconic locations that normally would be off-limits were accommodating.</blockquote>How long did you have to shoot the video? And what were the biggest challenges in bringing your story to life in the city? We had exactly 1.5 days - or actually nights. Again it was Paris in August and that was a plus and a minus. There was no crew and there was no cast - but there were&nbsp;plenty of locations happy to have us.Iconic locations that normally would be off-limits were more than accommodating. Hotel Amore and the Petit Palace disco&nbsp;were down for this event. Even the usually bustling streets of Paris were viable backdrops.&nbsp; What was the most enjoyable part of the shoot - and the trickiest? The most enjoyable part of the shoot was the crew and the cast, and the fine wine. The trickiest was everything else. I so wanted to make this video, and the weight of not being able to organize it after being awarded the job was unnerving. Semera Khan, the video commissioner from Polydor, was super supportive and totally stuck with us, which was a blessing.[imgtoken data:5]<blockquote>Mick and Keith saw the cut, and their comments were&nbsp;mostly 'add more Charlie'.</blockquote>How did Charlie Watts's death impact upon the production – and/or the post-production - of the Living In The Heart Of Love video?&nbsp;Well, I don't want to be overly dramatic, but as mentioned above, the pre-production was super stressful. We just felt plagued by bad luck, one thing after another. The shoot was super fun, and the footage looked liked it was fun, and I was excited about the editing. It was so strange as I was so deep in this project; I was such a massive fan of everything Charlie Watts was, that his passing was potent. I knew like everyone did that Charlie had some health issues, and he wouldn't be touring; I was floored when I heard the news.Luckily for the video, I had edited a bunch of footage from Tattoo You-era videos, then shot some kid watch them off a laptop at the party scene. That footage was intended to pepper into the storyline, but considering the gravity of the moment, I decided to double down on it.<blockquote>A magical and sad project that I was really so honoured to be a part of.</blockquote>When I presented my first edit, I didn't know what to expect. Obviously, much more relevant things were swirling around. I was so thrilled to find that both Mick and Keith saw it and had comments, mostly "add more Charlie".But the 'Charlie Is My Darling'&nbsp;line that appears at the end [a reference to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Is_My_Darling_(film)" target="_blank">1966 Rolling Stones documentary, directed by Peter Whitehead</a>] came as a request from Mick. It was a magical and sad project that I was really so honoured to be a part of.• Charles Mehling is represented for music videos by Alexa Haywood at Free Agent UK.&nbsp;

Alexa Haywood at Free Agent UK

Charles Mehling on directing The Rolling Stones' Living In The Heart Of Love. "Things became more raunchy and rebellious." 

The-Rolling-Stones--'"living-In-The-Heart-Of-Love'-by-Charles-Mehling-

Director Charles Mehling captures the intoxicating spirit of Paris for The Rolling Stones’ “Living in the Heart of Love,” the first song released off the 40th anniversary edition of Tattoo You. A hedonistic rock and roll love story set in the City of Light’s most shadowy hours, the monochromatic film serves as the de facto homage to Stones drummer Charlie Watts, who passed away just days after the video wrapped.“Living in the Heart of Love” tracks two female heroes – a modern-day Sid and Nancy (played by actors and real-life couple Nailia Harzoune and Marguerite Thiam Donnadieu) – and a cast of like-minded characters who traverse Paris after-hours, down for whatever magic the night has in store.Known for his ability to capture iconic and sexy yet spontaneous moments, Mehling and his crew, assembled by executive producers Marieke Tricoire (Womanray Paris) and Olivier Gauriat (Barnstormer Productions), took a cinéma vérité approach over the two night-shoot, utilizing gritty, atypical Parisian backdrops and even the director’s own room at Hotel Grand Amour for the interior party shots. Archival footage of the Stones is cleverly interwoven into the scenes of a bacchanalian night to remember - culminating in an adventure that is glamorous, rebellious, and fun to watch.The editing stays in lockstep with Charlie Watts’ swing-and-stomp drumming, channeling the Delta blues by way of Swinging London. The film was given an added stroke of relevance and poignancy by the timing of Watts’ passing just two days after wrapping.Even more so by Mick Jagger’s request to close the film with the words “Charlie is My Darling,” a nod to the 1966 Stones documentary of the same name, written in script over an early morning shot of Sacré-Cœur and the sleeping city below.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Julie Gonssard

Just Fred

Marieke Tricoire

Lola Bernard

Martin de Chabaneix

François Pallud

Natalie Yuksel

Quentin Guyen

Laurie Moreau

Benjamin Ricart

Nightshift Paris

Maxime Mourey

Marguerite Thiam

Nailia Harzoune

Womanray Paris

Barnstormer Productions

Olivier Gauriat

Alexa Haywood

Semera Khan

The Rolling Stones 'Living In The Heart Of Love' by Charles Mehling 

Danny O'Donaghue suffers the slow agony of a&nbsp;painful breakup in Charles Mehling's video for&nbsp;The Script's comeback single.The lead track from their upcoming sixth album, The Last Time&nbsp;focuses on that moment when you see the one you love, before parting ways forever. And O’Donoghue is as energetic (and photogenic) as always in the stark black and white performance setup, and&nbsp;a poignant narrative depicting the breakdown of a relationship.&nbsp;It's simple in concept but executed with a cinematic scale courtesy of&nbsp;Charles Mehling's experience and craft, hitting&nbsp;the emotional highs and lows that we have grown to expect from the band's extensive videography.&nbsp;

United Kingdom

Amanda Tuckwell

Tony C Miller

Mike O’Keefe

Sony Music

The Script 'The Last Time' by Charles Mehling

The-Script-'The-Last-Time'-by-Charles-Mehling

A sailor cast adrift in his damaged boat struggles with his demons and visions of a loved one in Charles Mehling&#39;s video for Tom Walker - who performs Leave A Light On, on land.Mehling&#39;s second video in quick succession after the comeback of Texas with <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2017/10/17/texas-cant-control-charles-mehling" target="_blank">Can&#39;t Control</a>, was shot in azure seas off the coast of Croatia.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

Javier Alejandro

My Accomplice

Jamie Clark

Ed Gibbs

Ana Toto

Tatjana Tomsic

Yoomin Lee

Jogger

Mike O'Keefe

Relentless Records, Sony Music

Claudia Wass

Tom Walker 'Leave A Light On' by Charles Mehling

Tom-Walker-'Leave-A-Light-On'-by-Charles-Mehling

Charles Mehling is the right man to herald Sharleen Spiteri&#39;s return to the pop world with this slick affair for Texas that&#39;s all about Sharleen.Mixing black and white and colour and different aspect ratios, the video for Can&#39;t Control has a classic feel, shot by Ed Gibbs, and edited by&nbsp;Sam Bould at Cut+Run. &nbsp;

Javier Alejando

Miles Roberts

Richard Sloan

Tony Collins

Sara Reygate

Sam Bould

Cut+Run

Faye Purcell

Texas 'Can't Control' by Charles Mehling

Texas-'Can't-Control'-by-Charles-Mehling

Charles Mehling gets up close and very personal with Olly Murs and his friend.It&#39;s a very intimate performance piece, shot in Mehling&#39;s customary monochrome palette. And it really demonstrates what an assured performer Olly Murs&nbsp;is on-camera. Maybe the big screen beckons for Olly...

Campbell Beaton

76 Ltd

Oliver Curtis

Olly Murs 'Years & Years' by Charles Mehling

Olly-Murs-'Years-&-Years'-by-Charles-Mehling

Director Charles Mehling takes on the remnants of Tom Odell&#39;s&nbsp;persisting&nbsp;heartache, following up from his previous double video narrative in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2016/04/06/tom-odell-wrong-crowd-george-belfield" target="_blank">Wrong Crowd</a> and <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2016/04/19/tom-odell-magnetised-george-belfield" target="_blank">Magnetised</a>.It sees Tom Odell giving a concert hall performance for one night only and for&nbsp;one person only - the girl that got away. And luckily, our young protagonist appears to be doing&nbsp;better as time wears on, reflecting on wounds that are yet to fully heal.&nbsp;But as for the girl, whose performance is much more concrete and prominent this time around, we bear witness to her own&nbsp;painful&nbsp;inner conflict and perhaps her own&nbsp;pangs of regret.&nbsp;

Michael Shafia

Rob Witt

Laura Clayton

Indie

Singer-songwriter

Tom Odell 'Silhouette' by Charles Mehling

Tom-Odell-'Silhouette'-by-Charles-Mehling

Charles Mehling has delivered some stark and bold visuals - beautifully shot by DoP Rob Witt - for the return of Emeli Sandé, where a tempestuous beach and vertiginous&nbsp;cliffsides takes on on&nbsp;epic qualities&nbsp;fit for the direct emotional surge of Hurts.A striking, muscular man - representing the culprit&nbsp;in Emeli&#39;s heartbreak&nbsp;- claps and beats his chest&nbsp;along to the track,&nbsp;joined by&nbsp;a flapping vulture, no less,&nbsp;in all its glaring and wild intensity.As the&nbsp;man freely makes his way through the rocky, expansive location he&nbsp;leaves&nbsp;Emeli&nbsp;in his wake,&nbsp;wailing&nbsp;at a grey,&nbsp;uncaring&nbsp;ocean. And she really does deliver the message of the song.&nbsp;

Audrey Davenport

Katherine Hayes

Bailey Marks

Julia Green

James Malamatinas

Simon Wood

Jessie Llande

Matthew Forrester

Ascension Films

Nathan Matthews

Max Bellhouse

Kessie Donkor

Natasha Lawes

Karen Clarkson

James Hackett

Virgin EMI

Steve Atkins

Tom Aston

Emeli Sandé ‘Hurts' by Charles Mehling

Emeli Sandé - Hurts

Olly Murs gets back to what he&#39;s best known for, after his abortive stint hosting The X Factor last year. And perhaps appropriately,&nbsp;he&#39;s not his usual chirpy self in Charles Mehling&#39;s return to music videos with You Don&#39;t Know Love.Olly is in Vegas, and down on his luck. He&nbsp;just wants to get out of town. And Mehling, DoP Ross Richards, and Murs - a consummate music video performer, as ever &ndash;&nbsp;has turned&nbsp;this an extremely photogenic retreat. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Cinedyne Films

Sonja Mereu

Jemma Jones

Ross Richards

Lisa Gardner

Mikki Mamaril

Nicholas Paul Ybarra

Olly Murs 'You Don't Know Love' by Charles Mehling

Olly Murs - You Don't Know Love (Official Video)

Filmed on the vast George Lucas Stage at Elstree Studios, Charles Mehling delivers a stripped down and atmospheric promo for rising star Emeli Sandé, focusing on her performance to excellent effect with great spot lighting from DP Max Goldman. 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-nwdjQmc_N8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""/>

Ben Sullivan

Max Goldman

Bikini Music Videos

Phil Barnes

Grant Freeman

Reuben Garrett

Morgan Kennedy

Bay Garnett

Claire Rothstein

Simone Grattarola

Emeli Sandé 'Next To Me' by Charles Mehling

Wizard-Sleeve’s-Get-Down-Tonight-by-Thomas-Goldser

Emeli-Sandé-'Next-To-Me'-by-Charles-Mehling

In this latest collaboration between The Script and Charles Mehling, the time the band were keen for Charles to explore the song's theme: the issues of youth drug addiction. 
The video follows three young people, focusing mainly one of them, a teenage girl, on their journey to find help.

Bikini Films

Olivier Cariou

Celemetine Miller

Bex Crofton

Martin Southwood

Nice Biscuits

Dan Millar

The Script's If You Ever Come Back by Charles Mehling

Following his short film (shot in New York) that accompanied their single For The First Time, Charles Mehling takes The Script to Camden to shoot their next release Nothing.
Filmed in an underwater studio, the video follows singer Danny on a drunken night out as he bemoans his lost love, then jumps off a bridge into the icy canal beneath...

Watch: <a href="http://www.bikinifilms.co.uk/musicvideos/charlesmehling/index.html" target="_blank">here</a>
The Script <a href="http://www.thescriptmusic.com/gb/home/" target="_blank">website</a> <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thescript" target="_blank">myspace</a>

Daniel Millar

The Script’s Nothing by Charles Mehling

Shot in and around Manhattan, Charles Mehling's promo for The Script's For The First Time stars actors Luke Threadaway and Eve Hewson in this classic tale of 'the Irish love the Big Apple'. The perfect setting with the band sounding evermore wide-screen. 

Watch: <a href="http://www.bikinifilms.co.uk/musicvideos/charlesmehling/" target="_blank">here</a>

Charles Mehling

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