”White van” man disco for Madonna
It is not often you can claim that Madonna, queen of pop, has sat in the back of your van but for one south Wales businessman it has come true.
Shaun Woodford, who runs a customised car firm near Pontypridd, was asked to build a luxury van interior for the singer’s latest video.
For ?21,000, he transformed the back of “battered white van” into the “70s nightclub on wheels” you see featured in Madonna’s video for her new single “Sorry“.
Mr Woodford said that when the request first came through for the van to be transformed complete with pink neon lights, lilac shag pile carpets and mirror disco balls, he thought it was a joke.
“We weren’t sure what to think at first!” he said. “And it was only when we got the go ahead, that we knew it was for Madonna’s video.”
Mr Woodford and staff at AB Styling Ltd had just a week to kit out the back of a “beat up old van with dents and bumps and with 200,000 miles on the clock” into a 70s nightclub.
“Everything we needed had to be ordered in and there was a couple of moments where I thought it was going to be touch and go, but we did manage it.”
Mr Woodford delivered the van to the location of the video and spent the week on set.
“I saw Madonna passing loads of times but I didn’t get to speak to her because she was surrounded by make up girls and body guards,” said Mr Woodford.
And although he doesn’t star in the video, Mr Woodford did drive the van in some of the shots.
“It was a brilliant experience and by far the biggest job we’ve ever done – you can’t get bigger than Madonna,” he added.
MTV are screening the makeover of the van in a programme on Sunday called Pimp My Van, ahead of the single’s release on Monday.
From BBC News