I had worked with the director before-he was such a lovely guy. Matthew Alan ( actor, played the brother in the ad) : I was auditioning for a lot of commercials at the time and I was still pretty green. And then when we started to cast the Folgers spot, I requested that he come in. He was so good and so genuine and so sweet, just had that sweetness about him that was perfect for the spot. Ray Dillman: I got a project years ago for the Professional Golfers Association and there was a set of words you don't like to hear as a director: "Oh yeah, and it's going to be non-union talent." But you do find good people, and Matthew was one of those people. Catherine Combs, who played the sister, declined to be interviewed for this article. The role of the brother went to Matthew Alan, who has since gone on to star in the series Castle Rock and 13 Reasons Why. I was trying to see 200 people who had all driven to Santa Monica when they didn’t want to drive to Santa Monica to pretend to be reunited with their brother. But I was just trying to get through the day. Timothy Simons: I suppose, had I thought at the time, “this is going to be a 10-year incest joke,” I would’ve made some more mental notes. And obviously you cast them so they look like they’re brother and sister. He comes home and his sister has gone from a very young girl into a young teenager. When casting for the sister she needed to be just becoming a teenager so she’s changed quite a bit since the time he’s been away at the Peace Corps. Jerry Boyle: You’re looking for a brother who you would assume is the right age that could’ve gone off to the Peace Corps and then come home. It’s not something I have a lot of memories about, outside of the fact that ultimately the commercial kind of seems like the brother and sister are going to have sex. Timothy Simons (cameraman for auditions and callbacks) : This was a very long time ago and if you asked me if I would end up being interviewed about this commercial that I worked on, 10 years later, I would not have believed you, because it was altogether pretty unremarkable. Timothy Simons, the actor best known for playing Jonah on Veep, was new to Los Angeles and worked the camera for the auditions and callbacks. The ad was cast and filmed in Santa Monica, California in the summer of 2009. What people read into it-once that took off-was just insane. something that nobody imagined happening. Obviously what’s happened since then has been a real. Jerry Boyle: You kind of get sucked into the story, which is nice. And that was the inspiration for the story. His son had been in the Peace Corps and had done work out of the country and had come home for Christmas. We struck up this relationship, with him talking about his son and me talking about my son. He was one of those kinds of outwardly curmudgeonly guys, but really, at his heart, a very sweet guy. When Jerry sent me an email where he informed me that Doug had passed away, I was just so hurt by it. Ray Dillman ( director) : I really connected with the writer, Doug Pippin. Those three seconds sealed its fate forever. The camera zooms in on her shy glance, then cuts to his furtive, flirty smile. “You’re my present this year,” she responds. (In some versions he even says "ah, real coffee," as if he didn't just come from where some of the best coffee in the world is produced.) He hands her a small present, but instead of opening it, she peels off the red bow and sticks it on his shirt. A young woman excitedly opens the door and establishes that she’s his sister by pointing at herself and saying “sister!” He’s weary, having just returned from volunteering in “West Africa,” and the two share a cup of freshly-brewed Folgers coffee while their parents are still asleep. “Coming Home” opens with a taxi dropping a young man off outside a snow-covered house bedecked in Christmas decorations early one morning. In 2009, Folgers released a commercial meant to be a modern reimagining of their classic ad " Peter Comes Home For Christmas." Little did they know, it would become a classic of its own-for a very different reason.
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