When Midland set out to make the music video for their song, “Mr. Lonely,” Cameron Duddy, who directed the video with his brother, admits, – “My brother and I conceived this video, outlandish as it was. It seemed like it was going to be too expensive and we didn’t have somebody to play the lead in it. We knew we wanted to get somebody outside of the band and we also knew that we probably weren’t gonna be able to afford the concept as it was. We were gonna have to make concessions.”
But as fate would have it, all of the stars seemed to align at the right time. Cameron explains, “Dennis Quaid heard through a friend of a friend that we were looking for somebody and volunteered himself, which was really unique because music videos don’t pay, number one. It’s typically like 16 hour days. You’re not sitting around in an air conditioned trailer getting massaged, you’re like in it.”
Once they had the star for their video, Cameron says the location fell into place as well. “The Ranch, a show on Netflix, stepped in and let us borrow their set, which is a bar set. So it was this impossible scenario that came together and allowed us to pretty much just do whatever we wanted for a whole day.”
You can see the comedic video for “Mr. Lonely,” in which Dennis Quaid did most of his own stunts, now on Midland’s YouTube page.
Midland – Mr Lonely video :56
Cameron Duddy – “My brother and I conceived this video, outlandish as it was. It seemed like it was going to be too expensive and we didn’t have somebody to play the lead in it. We knew we wanted to get somebody outside of the band and we also knew that we probably weren’t gonna be able to afford the concept as it was. We were gonna have to make concessions. And then miraculously both those things ended up falling into place. Dennis Quaid heard through a friend of a friend that we were looking for somebody and volunteered himself, which was really unique because music videos don’t pay, number one. It’s typically like 16 hour days. You’re not sitting around in an air conditioned trailer getting massaged, you’re like in it. And then The Ranch, a show on Netflix, stepped in and let us borrow their set, which is a bar set. So it was this impossible scenario that came together and allowed us to pretty much just do whatever we wanted for a whole day.”