Director couldn’t get Jamie Oliver angry for CMAT music video

The director of CMAT's latest music video says she tried - unsuccessfully - to make Jamie Oliver act angry during filming.

Eilís Doherty directed the video for the Irish singer's track The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station, which features the celebrity chef.

In the song, CMAT - real name Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson - voices her frustration towards Oliver, singing "God, I hate him".

Doherty said she was shocked at first that the TV chef agreed to be in the music video.

"But I also was like, he's a smart man, because I think being able to laugh at yourself in that way is so powerful," she said.

"I think his daughters are big CMAT fans, so they probably had a wee word with him to do it as well."

In the music video it cuts between CMAT performing in a stylised, retro-inspired studio and Oliver working in a busy restaurant kitchen, before the two worlds come together as he joins her on the drums.

Doherty said Oliver was "up for anything" on set, but struggled to adopt the stereotypical fiery TV chef persona she had in mind.

The filmmaker from Letterkenny in County Donegal has built a career directing ad campaigns for major international brands.

But it was a direct message she sent during the Covid-19 lockdowns that led to her first collaboration with Dublin artist CMAT.

Since then, the pair have worked together on eight music videos.

"As a director when someone is so sure of themselves, when they're so good at performing and have such a strong identity, you're like, okay, the cake is half baked," Doherty said.

"So working with someone like that is like a dream."

She helped develop the visuals for CMAT's performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which was inspired by Donegal's rally car scene.

For their latest collaboration they headed to London to film Oliver at one of his Italian chain restaurants which was preparing to reopen.

They only had two hours to film and Doherty described the shoot at the restaurant as crazy.

"I don't think I was ever on a set that had so many other people walking around that weren't involved in the film making, like they were training in the kitchen or setting up furniture and decorating the space for the opening," she said.

"Chefs were walking around and I was giving out to them for being in our shots and they were being like, 'who are you?'."

Doherty said Oliver "totally got it" and was up for doing nearly anything to make the video work.

But she had been told in advance he would not swear.

"I was just like, it'd be so funny if he just went full Jeremy Allen White in The Bear," she said.

She added that she tried to push him into a more chaotic performance by shouting different scenarios at him, but he struggled to appear angry.

"I genuinely don't think he gets mad at his staff because he just couldn't do it," she said.

"I was trying to shout things like 'you have 20 orders in and the chef isn't doing anything right' and he'd be like, 'that's not me'."

For the video she drew inspiration from 1970s television shows such as The Brady Bunch and The Cher Show, combining stylised camp performance scenes with more chaotic moments in the restaurant.

Doherty described Oliver as "lovely" to work with and said he stayed to chat with the crew after filming, even making them food.

On a podcast CMAT said the track is less a direct criticism of Oliver and more an exploration of irrational frustration and how such feelings can be misplaced.

Doherty said while the idea began as a joke, the finished video takes on a more sincere tone.

"Because it's like a beautiful moment that this song, like dissing this guy, but not really dissing. For him to then come into the video and give everything, I think that really stays with people," she said.

"It's like oh, they actually came together and it's created a really nice moment.

"I think that's why people are really enjoying it. And you can see some of the comments online being like - 'I wasn't a Jamie Oliver fan before but now I think I am."