Inside Change the Ref’s shocking film about a girl battling cancer—and gun violence

The feeling of having the rug pulled out from under you is exactly what Klick Health sought to evoke when it storyboarded Change the Ref’s latest film, “American Cancer Story.” See all of Ad Age’s 2024 Creativity Award winners here Launched last week ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting, the 90-second film directed by José Padilha features an elaborate misdirect. The vast majority of the spot tells the story of a girl battling cancer. Then, in its final few seconds, it abruptly and shockingly changes course to focus on an even greater risk to children’s health. Gun violence is often framed more as a political debate than a public health crisis. But the film lays out the reality in black and white: While cancer is the No. 3 cause of death of children in the U.S., gun violence is No. 1, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The objective of Klick Health’s creative team was to humanize those CDC statistics. “Our goal was to do two things: to raise awareness of the CDC’s data, and then put a face to the data,” Rich Levy, chief creative officer at Klick Health, told Ad Age, adding that the agency worked with 10 cancer organizations and several gun violence prevention groups on this project. “Beating cancer is tough enough, but having to also worry about gun violence in schools is a whole other thing.” The film is also meant to show Americans that they have a responsibility to try and stop both problems—be it through funding cancer research or calling on Congress to pass stricter gun laws. “This is not about gun violence versus cancer. This is gun violence with cancer. We can prevent both, and they’re both killing our children every single day,” said Bernardo Romero, maker at Klick Health. “No pain is bigger than the other. Losing a child over gun violence is the same pain of a parent losing a child over cancer. We are here to try to tackle both from a different angle.” “Kids need protection in this country, whether it’s disease or whether it’s guns,” added Tim Jones, executive creative director at Klick Health. Researching cancer stories Upon receiving the brief from Manuel and Patricia Oliver—the founders of Change the Ref, who lost their son Joaquin Oliver in the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida—Klick Health conducted rounds of interviews with parents of children with cancer, doctors, cancer support organizations and others to understand what having a child with cancer looks and feels like. Working with Padilha on the screenplay, the team developed a treatment that depicted, as accurately as possible, the hospital visits, chemotherapy treatments, scans and more that are required when battling cancer. In directing the film, Padilha took an observational point of view to depict real life, much like his entertainment work on “Narcos.” “There was one very specific line in the script that came almost directly from a parent’s mouth—the line that said, ‘The fight against cancer is never over,’” said Levy. “A mother said to us, ‘For many of us who are in these parent advocacy groups, even when we get all clear, it’s not over. There are still things to do. There are still medications to be taken. There are still hospital visits and doctor visits.” “What I love about this film, what José brought to this was, nothing was ever overexaggerated. It’s quite a restrained film in the performance,” Jones added. “There were times where any other director would have maybe ramped up some things to get more of an emotional response, but I love that he played it observationally. And I think that quietness adds to the ending.” The violence at the end is very explicit, which was a difficult decision, but the team felt it was necessary. That was the first scene they filmed, with Manuel and Patricia Oliver’s oversight. (Patricia Oliver also plays the teacher in the film.) “We were so sensitive to [how Manuel and Patricia] would be feeling because it’s almost like them seeing what happened to their son,” Levy said. “But they were like, ‘Finally, someone is telling the true story. Finally, someone is depicting what it really feels like to be a parent in this situation. We need people to see what it’s really like and not whitewash it.’” “We felt a moral obligation [to show it],” Jones added. “On the cancer side, [we are] showing every little detail of somebody struggling and the reality of that. How can you then skip over or make it not as impactful on the on the gun violence side? Making one softer than the other would do an injustice to all those parents who are struggling on both sides.” Developing the score Moved by the premise, Padilha reached out to his contacts and asked James Valentine, founding member and lead guitarist of Maroon 5, to score the film. A supporter of pediatric cancer research, Valentine agreed, immediately sending about 10 different ideas. They eventually landed on a solo guitar track meant to evoke a sense of unease. It was a first for both—Padilha’s first ad and Valentine’s first original score. “These are two really important issues that I’ve cared about for a long time,” Valentine said in a behind-the-scenes interview shared with Ad Age. “As an artist, it’s hard to know what you can do to contribute to the problem, so to be asked to lend my creative skills to the project is a no-brainer. “Composing music for a piece of work like this is certainly a challenge because these are devastating stories,” he continued. Initially, the music he wrote was “too busy,” he said. He gradually pared it back until it captured the feeling—somber, uneasy, melancholy—that parents and loved ones feel when losing a child. A longer cut for film festivals “American Cancer Story” was produced by Douglas Costa and his team at Taking Over Films, with visual effects by Pierre Buffin of BUF. A five-minute version of the film will premiere at film festivals later this year. While Klick Health declined to share the extended cut, it is expected to contain a longer buildup of the cancer story, a full song from Maroon 5 and other details that honor Joaquin Oliver. Meanwhile, an abridged version that does not show the actual shooting will run on TV. The campaign comes as the latest data from the CDC says gun violence became the leading cause of death for children and teens in 2021, accounting for almost 19% of fatalities—more than car accidents or pediatric cancer, CNN reported last year. Change the Ref is calling on people to donate to pediatric cancer research to “eradicate cancer for good,” according to the campaign website, and spread the word about gun violence and demand urgent change from politicians and lawmakers. See all of Ad Age’s 2024 Creativity Award winners here

Inside Change the Ref’s shocking film about a girl battling cancer—and gun violence

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