Introduction
Will Speck (born 31 December 1969) in an American advertising creative, film director and producer. He is best known for directing Blades of Glory (2007,) Office Christmas Party (2016) and GEICO commercials.
He routinely works with his friend and director, Josh Gordon. Dubbed as the director-duo "Speck and Gordon," their films carry the "underdog" theme with a familiar line-up of Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston, Jon Heder, and Will Arnett.
Early life
Speck was born on 31 December 1969 in New York City. He is one of the four siblings.
His family moved to Ohio after his father took a job at Rainbow Babies And Children's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.
Speck grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio and attended Shaker Heights High School and later transferred to Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio. He moved back to New York to study film-making at the New York University.
Career
Early days
Speck is a graduate of NYU Film School, where he met the film director, Josh Gordon. The two formed a bond and continued to work together, at the school and later, commercially, with advertising agencies and in Hollywood.
After the graduation, Speck, with Gordon, wrote and produced two short films in 1997: Angry Boy, starring Carlos Jacott and Culture, starring Greg Germann and Philip Seymour Hoffman (also an NYU alum.) Culture, the 29-minute short film was nominated for Oscar for "Best Live Action Short Film" and won Silver Hugo award for "Best Narrative Short Film" at Chicago International Film Festival.
In addition to making movies, Speck and Gordon have created many award-winning advertising campaigns and PSAs. Working with such renowned agencies as The Martin Agency, Droga5, BBDO, TBWA\Chiat\Day and BBH, they have created memorable advertising campaigns for many iconic brands including Apple, Netflix, GEICO, Playstation, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, NY Lottery and Audi. The famous Geico commercial characters "Caveman" and "Gecko" were also directed by them.
In 2007, Speck and Gordon became founding members of Furlined, a commercial production company with offices in Los Angeles, New York and London. The same year, they wrote, directed and produced television comedy series, Cavemen.
The two have also created notable PSAs including "Donate Life" starring Thomas Jane and Will Arnett and "Prop 8" starring Mike White and Justin Long.
Hollywood
Speck and Gordon made their commercial Hollywood debut in 2007, with Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, and Will Arnett-starrer comedy, Blades of Glory. The film was nominated for three MTV Movie awards including "Best Picture" and "Best Kiss."
Three years later, in 2010, they released their next comedy film, The Switch. The film was based on "Baster," a short story written by Jeffrey Eugenides and had Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, and Jeff Goldblum in the lead roles.
In 2013, they directed The Power Inside web series for Intel and Toshiba. The six-part web series starring Harvey Keitel and Zack Pearlman received an Emmy nomination.
In 2016, again with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman, they released their next comedy, Office Christmas Party.
Currently, Speck and Gordon are working on Distant; the film is in post-production and the release date it yet to be announced.
Personal life
Speck is good friends with many of his professional contacts, including Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Jon Heder, Will Arnett, and of course, Josh Gordon.
In the late 2019, Speck was spotted hanging out in Los Angeles with Jennifer Aniston, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jason Bateman. In January 2020, Express reported that Speck and Aniston were holidaying in Mexico, leading their fans to speculate if the two are in a relationship.
Gordon and Speck being interviewed on Office Christmas Party