Justin Bieber Has Been 'The Guinea Pig Of The Social Media Era,' His 'Intentions' Director Reveals

By Rob LeDonne


Any time director Michael D. Ratner first met with Justin Bieber, Ratner had no idea he would soon become “as close to being in his shoes as possible for an extended period of time.”


Networking with with the ubiquitous pop superstar on a string of viral assignments, Ratner had an intimate look at the highs and lows of the 26-year-old’s life, including his relationship with his partner, Hailey; his ongoing health issues; and why he grapples with fame. Ratner not only served as director and executive producer of Bieber’s 10-part YouTube documentary series Seasons, yet he also helmed the music video for Changes single “Intentions” (view count: 35 million and counting in just three weeks) and executive produced visuals for “All Around Me” and “Habitual,” which dropped this week. It’s only his latest in a string of high-profile celebrity partnerships with the likes of Kevin Hart, Blake Griffin, and Ashley Graham.


“It’s been a pretty crazy time,” Ratner told MTV News. He first linked up with Team Bieber through Scooter Braun, Justin’s manager, with whom he’s working on a music anthology series due out in April. Right after a beginning conversation with Bieber that lasted well over a hour about vision and their respective aims for the project, the bond between Ratner and the pop star solidified. “It wasn’t just a director with a camera in his face,” he mentioned. “It’s a conversation with somebody he trusted. That relationship was earned after awhile as we went deeper and deeper.”


MTV News caught up with Ratner to talk about his intimate teamwork with Bieber — completely on display during Seasons right now streaming on YouTube) — and having an indoors look at the most intimate moments of one of the most famed people on the planet.


MTV News: how come do you suggest Scooter connected you with Justin?


Ratner: Good things happen while you anticipate the trends, and I think we’re routinely thinking ahead, whether our show with Netflix [a limited series called Historical Roasts], or the podcast Pretty Big Deal with Ashley Graham. Scooter mentioned to me he thought I should check out this footage that Joe Termini, [an eventual] co-director shot; he captured the nascent stages of Justin putting with each other Changes in the studio. I was just blown away and knew that if I had that visceral reaction to it, others would too.


MTV News: Why were you blown away?


Ratner: At that time, he’d really been gone for a while, so you definitely never saw him as a grown man in his process at all. You’d visualize him on Instagram here and there, yet you never saw him come into his own, singing and performing and working on his craft. While I saw it, I had these flashbacks of the Justin who was growing up that we all knew as music fans. I thought the footage was a potential launching pad for something special, especially if they had interest in using it in a documentary that didn’t just completely mask the album process yet to also trim some clarity into the key of what he’s been up to and going via past couple years. It was Justin’s idea to do a documentary, yet of course he required somebody he trusted and shared a vision [with].


MTV News: What was your relationship with Justin like directing that series, and why did you get him to open up to you so much?


Ratner: The connection between us is actually intangible. You can’t describe it. I think that trust is earned, and we had that really good beginning conversation. Although because the process went on, the interviews went from being interviews to conversations, and that’s once you get the magic. That's as soon as you get everybody talking about these episodes and why raw they are and why they can’t believe he was so open and durable. It’s because there was that trust and comfort factor.


MTV News: The documentary is interspersed with news reports, giving viewers a sense they’re going in back of the headlines. What was it like for you to have this behind-the-scenes look? How did you perceive Justin’s handling of the media?


Ratner: In Justin’s case, maybe you could combat one, two or three articles; yet once there’s 10 a hour? At some point he just had to just mention, much less is more, and I don’t need to respond to all these. People who know me know me. Justin is the initial global mega-star to grow up and be the guinea pig of social-media era and the world wide web overall. I think he’s done a pretty excellent job of [creating] a blueprint on how to nickname that.


MTV News: There's an episode called “The Dark Season” where you literally went into his doctor's office while he’s getting a blood test, and Justin not only talks about his drug abuse although reveals for the initial time that he has Lyme infection and Epstein-Barr virus. How did you navigate handling such delicate subject matter?


Ratner: I think the conversations about the more hard times in his life were cathartic. At one point, he thought the cameras were off and he goes, “You know, this seems so good. I didn’t think I was mature enough to share,” and I mentioned, “Have you spoken about this?” And he mentioned, “No, not really. I just wasn’t there yet.” For a long time he was cooped up in his mind and in this echo chamber. He’s human and he’s living a real life, whether having Lyme infection or if he was talking about being put on lithium any time while he shouldn’t have been. If Justin Bieber’s looking to seek that help, maybe you will as well.


MTV News: You’ve worked with not only Bieber, however Kevin Hart (directing his webseries Cold as Balls) and Blake Griffin (on a upcoming podcast), among others. Is there a typical thread between all of those superstar names?


Ratner: With all of these people, there’s a wonderful work ethic, attention to detail and passion. With the names you listed are people who are operating at the best of the fields and their crafts. With incredibly talented people, I habitually assumed that whenever somebody has raw talent, they very likely just have “it” and so they don’t need to do the additional work. Nevertheless what I found is that once you’re that successful it’s the mixture of perfectionism, work ethic, and talent.


MTV News: You directed the “Intentions” music video, and I think the most obvious approach would have been to make something glossy with Justin and Hailey. Yet as an alternative, it serves as a phone call to social action: You feature real personalities from Alexandria House, a business that shelters girls with children. How did that idea come about?


Ratner: Justin is very clear with his mission; to his credit, his mission is to use his platform to help others. Whenever you think about that focus to use his platform to do that, it gave me clarity to get creative. I’m overjoyed to mention it was a team effort; Scooter was instrumental in putting this idea with each other and empowered me and my team to run with it. We also had countless conversations with several different groups from Los Angeles. It was phenomenal to really make a difference in that community and the people we affected between [featured subjects] Bahri, Marcy, and Angela.


MTV News: You filmed the video entirely on location in Los Angeles, so how did you grapple with the logistics of being on the street with Justin and a persons vision he attracts?


Ratner: It was most crucial to us to be authentic, so rather than being on a set, we wanted to film at the particular Alexandra Residence. With that, it unfortunately put us on the street and it also was... Chaotic. He can draw an audience. We had paparazzi lined up across the street. We had group kind of a security barricade doing their best to play defense for us. We actually had the security play their radios at a decently loud volume group in attempt to block the paparazzi from being able to hear the song and leak it prior to its release. They created this sound buffer and you also couldn’t really hear it.


MTV News: Being in the middle of chaos is something Justin deals with on a day-to-day basis, so how does he react to that? Did you learn anything from him on how to be at the center of a storm?


Ratner: I think it’s astonishing how regular it is for him. Once we were leaving MTV studios and we were just getting mauled. It was a crazy scene. We got into a sprinter as soon as we were done filming, and he was just laughing. I was just like, “That is just not normal.” In the documentary, we attempted to convey a sense of that and show that he is relatable in several ways as a human being, although his circumstances as a superstar makes him unrelatable. And for his efforts navigating that, we should be applauding.


This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.