Fifteen years ago, BMW launched an expensive but exciting campaign, one that I’m surprised hasn’t been duplicated more often since. They hired a bunch of topshelf directors — Alejandro G. Inarritu, Ang Lee, Guy Ritchie, John Frankenheimer, Wong Kar-Wai, John Woo, Joe Carnahan, Tony Scott — and got them to direct short films with their cars at the centre, and Clive Owen serving as the connective tissue in each one as the driver. They were a big hit (Wong Kar-Wai’s effort even premiered at the Cannes Film Festival) and it looks like the car company wants to rev that engine again.
BMW has once again landed Clive Owen, who will reprise his role as The Driver in a new short film directed by Neill Blomkamp. Dakota Fanning, Vera Farmiga, and Jon Bernthal will co-star in the effort, with plot details being kept secret for now. However, the price tag was apparently quite large. “On a cost-per-minute basis, it was pretty close to major feature film territory,” Blomkamp told THR.
Titled “The Escape,” the short will debut online on October 23rd. Check out the teaser below, along with all the previous films in the series.