‘Anaconda’: Nicki Minaj Director Details Video Concept / Explains Why Racier Shots Were Removed

Fitness model David McIntosh stood as one of two entertainers enlisted to co-star in Nicki Minaj‘s ‘Anaconda‘ visual, teasing his role in the project in footage released here.

Unfortunately for him, he was nowhere to be seen when the final edit of the video was released, thrown to the cutting room floor before its leading lady saw it make VEVO history.

Ever wondered why? If so, hit the button below to read a detailed analysis of the video given by its director Colin Tilley, who explains just why David’s scene never saw the light of the day.

Via ‘XXL’:

A lot went into that video. Nicki sent me that song two months before we even shot the video, and it was actually something completely different. I was living with that song. I would go to her house, we would talk about ideas. She’d talk about the way she wanted to look. All this stuff. Then a month and a half went by. “Damn, I guess I’m not doing this video, I’m not really sure what’s going on.” Then she hit me back and she’s like, “Yo, we just redid the song. I want you to check it out.” So I went through to the studio. She was in there with Da Internz and what not. And the song had just gone to a whole ‘nother level. I was like, “Oh, shit.” Any ideas I had before that, I threw out the window. Just ’cause it sounded so different. On some whole other shit.

I had a specific way I wanted to shoot Nicki for this. It was definitely all about female empowerment and making sure we capture the right dancers to surround her. As far as the world that I wanted to create with that video, I kept hearing all these crazy animal noises and all this shit. And I kind of got this jungle-y vibe.

I wanted this to be Gilligan’s Island meets the original “Baby Got Back” video. I wanted to still pay homage to the original “Baby Got Back” video with just the quirkiness and the way that they danced. I wanted to add the 2014 Nicki Minaj to it. I put the Gilligan’s Island twist to it, which I think really set it off. Since we shot that jungle setup, Nicki freaked out. “This is so sick.” Everybody was like, “This is definitely the tone we’re going for.” We shot for two days. We shot on a sound stage. We built all the sets. It was just about creating that lifestyle. The “Anaconda” lifestyle. The best dancing. Amazing shots of Nicki looking awesome.

They shot that cover image on set. I remember Nicki showing it to me and I was like, “Yo, that’s definitely the one.” And literally that night they put it out and obviously that went viral real fast. All this shit we shot the last two days, when we put this thing together, this thing is gonna go viral so fast. It’s ridiculous. While I was editing, I was like, “Oh my God, it’s about to go crazy.” Of course, when we released it, it broke the 24 hour record.

One of the sets we shot didn’t make the cut. Some crazy shots didn’t make the cut. But I think it all happened for a reason. I think that the way the end came out, I think it worked perfect for the general audience of the world. I think it got the point across perfectly. It almost would have been too much. It would have been too much for people to handle. Heads would have actually exploded.