All Bets Are Off for The Academic in Cinematic Heist Movie Promo

Indie rock band The Academic has reunited with Great Guns director duo TEARJERKER for a cinematic tribute to the heist movie genre - and a critique of betting shops. Set inside a bookies, the promo for new single ‘Pushing Up Daisies’ stars the band as dejected gamblers, completely oblivious to a robbery going on around them. 

The music video is the second instalment in a trio of promos directed by TEARJERKER for The Academic’s new album, Sitting Pretty, and the sixth collaboration between the duo and band. Taking place inside a rundown betting shop, we watch a gang of robbers burst in, terrorising all those inside - apart from The Academic. As the mask-wearing thieves smash windows, assault employees, and set off explosive dye-packs, the band are too deep into the world of gambling, focused only on their bets and paying no attention to the violence around them. 

After falling down a YouTube rabbit hole of CCTV footage of real robberies, what really struck TEARJERKER was the messiness of the hold-ups. Compared to what is seen in films, many had an amateur, clumsy nature - which ultimately inspired the energy of the promo. Not only did the film offer TEARJERKER the opportunity to experiment with the heist genre, but it was one of the first times the duo had choreographed an action sequence - something that had been on their minds for a long time. Referencing iconic movies of the genre such as Snatch, The Town, and Uncut Gems, they worked with stunt coordinator Adam Richard to perfect the tone of the film - who himself had worked on the stunts team for Snatch. 

Shot in an abandoned electricity board in Bethnal Green, the team needed to build the entire bookies set from scratch, leaning on the expertise of production designer Ben Clark to turn the vision into reality. With only one day to shoot the film, TEARJERKER worked to fit in everything from throwing stuntmen and chairs across the set to setting off a huge dye-pack explosion. This moment was particularly tricky, as the team only had one take to capture the perfect shot. Thankfully, the shot was a success and chaotic energy of the shoot translated into an intense, cinematic final product. 

TEARJERKER comment: “One of our favourite challenges is figuring out how we can fit the artists into the worlds we create. Bookies are a grim place where dreams go to die, so we loved the idea of juxtaposing the high octane heist with the soul-destroyed punters whose lives revolve around the bet. The band are completely oblivious to the robbers storming in, as if their lives are put on hold by the addiction to the race. We hate bookies, so we wanted to make a sort of anti-advert for them.”

Now with six collaborations under their belts, The Academic and TEARJERKER have bonded over their love for cinema - particularly the films of Richard Linklater and David Lynch. With the band speaking in musical references and favourite albums, and TEARJERKER communicating with cinematic references and filmmakers, this instant connection has led to a high level of trust on both sides - as well as creative freedom for the directors. 

TEARJERKER say: “A lot of artists are nervous about doing anything other than a traditional performance video, but The Academic has never said ‘no’ to our weirdest ideas. At this point we’ve shot the band stuck inside washing machines, vending machines, a freezer, an abandoned water park and possibly the hardest challenge yet, on Zoom. For Sitting Pretty we wanted to push everything further and create a full cinematic world around the album. ‘Don't Take It Personally’ is a gothic romance, ‘Pushing Up Daisies’ is a gritty heist and we can't say much about the next one, but it's very different.”