Are you ready to put your pedal to the metal once more? A decade after the BMW promo mini-thrillers with Clive Owen, the company and actor reunite for another outing behind the wheel…
Remember the BMW Film Series from the early Noughties, The Hire? Well, fifteen years after the original short film series was first released… it is getting a reboot with Clive Owen joining forces with director Neill Blomkamp to play ‘The Driver’ once again in another BMW short film called ‘The Escape’.
The original series consisted of eight episodes and boasted a vast amount of big names with Guy Ritchie involved in the directing and Ridley Scott involved in the production (as well as Gary Oldman, Forest Whitaker, Mickey Rourke and Madonna all joining the then up-and-coming Clive Owen on the cast. Each episode featured Owen as The Driver, who was hired to complete various different missions.
The new cast not only sees Owen return to his role as the effortlessly cool but anonymous vehicular hero, but it also includes another strong cast with Dakota Fanning (The Twilight Saga) signed up, as well as The Walking Dead / Punisher actor Jon Bernthal and Vera Farmiga (The Conjuring).
Director of the new BMW short film Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Chappie, Elysium) has commented: “When I was in film school, these films were really ground breaking. They seemed like the perfect half way point between commercials and features. I actually emailed the production company as a 20-year-old and was like ‘I’d really like to make one of these’. They wrote back, ‘Never contact us again’. And here I am.”
This announcement sparks the return of BMW Films, and The Escape will premiere on October 23rdon BMWFilms.com. but if you can’t wait that long a sneak peek video has been released to give a taster of what to expect. Once again BMW have a talented cast and crew to work with, so hopefully it will have the same impact that The Hire had fifteen years ago.
You can see the sneak-peek immediately below and a reminder of one of the older chapters following…
