Clive Owen Returns As The Driver In New BMW Short Film Directed By Neill Blomkamp
BeforeThe KnickorChildren of MenorInside Manor evenThe Bourne Identity,Clive Owenwas best known to U.S. audiences as The Driver, the nameless and unflappably cool hero of BMW’s short film seriesThe Hire. The projects yielded eight installments in total, released from 2001 to 2002, and attracted a variety of high-profile filmmakers from Ang Lee to Alejandro González Iñárritu.
Now, fifteen years later, the Driver is getting ready to get back on the road. Owen has teamed up with directorNeill Blomkampfor another BMW short film,The Escape. This one co-starsDakota Fanning,Vera Farmiga, andJon Bernthal, and looks positively jam-packed with big, shiny action. Check out a teaser — and revisit some of our favorite episodes from the past — below the jump.
Blomkamp gushed about the BMW films toThe Hollywood Reporter:
When I was in film school, these films were really groundbreaking. They seemed like the perfect halfway 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 [laughs].
To help bring his own BMW short film to life, Blomkamp used drones and disposable cameras. BMW apparently spared no expense, as Blomkamp teases, “On a cost-per-minute basis, it was pretty close to major feature-film territory.”
Shooting onThe Escapetook place over the summer and visual effects were completed this week. The 11-minute short film will finally debutOctober 23at 6 PM ET on BMWFilms.com. Returning with Owen are creative directorBruce Bildstenand executive producersBrian DiLorenzoandDavid Carter(the latter of whom co-wroteThe Escapefilm with Blomkamp). Anonymous Content is producing again.
The Hirefilms did a lot to establish Owen as the epitome of British badassery in the 2000s, which in turn made him a fan favorite to replace Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. (Not that it did any good — as we all know, the job eventually went to Daniel Craig.) They also helped usher in a new era of branded content. Years before YouTube was even invented,The Hirewas garnering international hype for its A-list directorial team and slick, expensive style.
The eight original episodes were directed by John Frankenheimer, Ang Lee, Wong Kar-wai, Guy Ritchie, Alejandro González Iñárritu, John Woo, Joe Carnahan, and Tony Scott, and featured actors like Gary Oldman, James Brown, Madonna, Forest Whitaker, and Mickey Rourke alongside Owen. The installments differed in style, story, and supporting characters, but each one had Owen front and center as a driver-for-hire completing a job. The Jason Statham feature film seriesThe Transporterwas reportedly inspired by Owen’sThe Hireshorts.
Here’s the teaser forThe Escape, the new BMW short film directed by Blomkamp:
And here are a couple of our favorites from the original run.Beat the Devilis directed by Tony Scott andThe Followis directed by Wong Kar-wai.
Really enjoyed working with @jonnybernthal and @dakotafanning on this new project. Always wanted to direct one of these….
A photo posted by Brownsnout (@neillblomkamp) onSep 19, 2016 at 4:20pm PDT
