Watch: 'The Escape': Neill Blomkamp's BMW Short Film Starring Clive Owen
It seems like everything's getting a sequel nowadays, and apparently that even includes popular marketing campaigns from the early 2000s. Last month we showed you the first sneak peek at The Escape, the latest installment in BMW's short film series The Hire. The original project consisted of eight episodes released between 2001 and 2002 and directed by all manner of high-profile filmmakers like Ang Lee, Guy Ritchie, Wong Kar-wai, and Alejandro González Iñárritu, each one starring Clive Owen as the mysterious hero known only as The Driver.
Owen is back behind the wheel of the new short as well, this one directed by Neill Blomkamp and surrounded by top-notch co-stars like Dakota Fanning, Jon Bernthal, and Vera Farmiga. Today we've got the brand-new The Escape short film to share with you, and you can watch it below.
The Escape Short Film
The Escape Behind The Scenes
The Hire films all serve as ads for BMW cars, but they feel less like commercials and more like high-end short films. They have actual (unconnected) plotlines, big-name stars and A-list directors, and even some pretty sizable budgets. "On a cost-per-minute basis, it was pretty close to major feature-film territory," Blomkamp said of his experience directing The Escape. He put some of that money toward fancy camerawork, using drones and disposable cameras to capture the action.
It's hard to believe 15 years have passed since the BMW short film first started. To put things in perspective, that's before YouTube even existed. These days it's not so weird to see a brand promote itself with a web series or extended online-only spots, but I'm old enough to remember that back then, it seemed like kind of a crazy idea.
The plot of The Escape remains unclear, but all you really need to know is that it features a badass Clive Owen, a gun-toting Jon Bernthal, a terrified-looking Dakota Fanning, and lots and lots of action. Oh, and some pretty sweet BMW cars as well. You know, in case these movies make you feel like maybe buying one.
The Escape premiered October 23rd, 2016 on BMWFilms.com. It runs 11 minutes long.
You can watch the original 8 BMW The Hire short films above.
Blomkamp joins a list of BMW Films directors that includes Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Ang Lee; Joe Carnahan, Wong Kar-wai, Guy Ritchie, John Woo and the late John Frankenheimer and Tony Scott. "The Hire" also featured A-list talent in front of the camera including: Gary Oldman, Stellan Skarsgård, Forest Whitaker, Mickey Rourke, James Brown, Don Cheadle, Madonna, Adriana Lima, Danny Trejo, Kathryn Morris, Marilyn Manson, Ray Liotta, Robert Patrick and Dennis Haysbert.