WEBVTT

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- Guy Ritchie, John Wu, Tony Scott,

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what do all three of them have in common?

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They've done films for BMW.

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In 2001 and 2002, and
then once more in 2016,

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we don't need to talk about that one,

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BMW went out to genuinely
interesting filmmakers.

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Ang Lee did one, Joe
Carnahan, John Frankenheimer.

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Where BMW looked to find
all of these directors,

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I have no earthly idea.

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Why BMW funded these, I fully understand.

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So many car ads now are largely CG,

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they're uninteresting, may
feature a couple interior angles

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and a car driving off into the sunset.

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"The Hire" did not.

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"The Hire" had interesting storylines.

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It tackled things like domestic abuse

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in the narrative of a car ad.

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You had Clive Owen, the unnamed driver,

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as the star of each one, each
time in a different vehicle.

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You got to see the full
range of BMW's lineup

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in interesting situations
from visionary filmmakers.

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Again, John Woo.

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Can you fill A BMW with doves?

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This is how you find out.

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That 2001 to 2002 run even culminated

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in Clive Owen standing in as
the ringer for James Brown

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in a drag race against the
devil played by Gary Oldman.

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These discs, this was the DVD
era, were hard to come by.

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You had to get them from
specific BMW dealerships,

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or eventually some of them
found their way online.

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I only got to see them as a
child because my dad went out

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and purchased an X5
when that was brand new.

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Ask him how that went.

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Most of them can now be found on,

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of all places, the YouTube
channel for BMW of India.

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But there are always
discs floating around,

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keep circulating the tapes.

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The higher series is such
an interesting counterpoint

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to so much generic
automotive advertising now.

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They are ads, yes,

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but they reached out to
genuinely interesting filmmakers

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who had neat things to say
through the medium of film.

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Cameras not just showing a car,

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it's doing something
interesting within the scene,

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within the narrative.

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Go out and watch these movies,

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and as the early two
thousands are coming back,

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as we're seeing this revival
in fashion and pop culture,

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bring back car advertising
like "The Hire."

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For more on this and every
other car ad I think is neat,

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keep your eyes peeled at jalopnik.com.

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(upbeat music)