Who directed the music video for R.E.M.'s Everybody Hurts?

Jake Scott directed the music video for R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts.”

Scott’s video was filmed in San Antonio, Texas, in February 1993, largely along the double-deck portions of Interstate 10 near the I-35 interchange. Its central image is a traffic jam in which the band and other drivers sit trapped in their cars. Subtitles reveal the characters’ thoughts before the crowd eventually abandons the vehicles and walks away together.

The video’s visual language expands the song’s message beyond the band. A man drops pages from a book onto the cars, and the displayed lines draw on Psalms 61 and 126. The concept was also influenced by the traffic-jam dream sequence in Federico Fellini’s 1963 film 8½.

Scott was a British director working extensively in music videos and commercials, and he is the son of filmmaker Ridley Scott. The video helped establish his profile and received a 1994 Billboard Music Video Award for Best Clip of the Year in the Pop/AC category. Peter Care, another director in the options, directed R.E.M.’s “Drive” video instead.