Please help - this movie looked *amazing* & I can't remember its name! (1 Viewer)

[Alex ArbabZadeh]

Hiya all,

I recently saw Minority Report in England and before the movie there were a number of cool trailers. One of them particularly caught my eye - it was about a guy who is "always right" - I remember the narrator saying something like "How can a guy always be right?".

It shows him driving in the new Mercedes SL convertible and being chased by loads of police, at which point all the red traffic lights as far as the eye can see turn green. They also showed police in a helicopter being affected by something that looked like an electromagnetic pulse.

The weird thing is that I was sure it was Benicio del Toro starring (I'm a big fan of his and he rarely gets the "starring" role, so that's why I noticed), however, when I searched for him on the IMDB it lists no such movie as I remember in coming production!

I realise I'm being vague but something just made me remember the trailer just now but I don't seem to be able to recall all the details... I'm sure it was something about always being "lucky"... "lucky star" or something.

I'm sure one of you must know the movie I'm talking of - this is driving me mad!

Cheers,

Alex.

 

[Brad Porter]

From the IMDB...
Link Removed
Benicio Del Toro's Thriller Hoax
TV and movie fans were duped over the weekend into thinking Traffic star Benicio Del Toro was about to star in a new action thriller. A trailer for what looks like a glossy Hollywood blockbuster starring the Oscar-winning actor has been exposed as an elaborate fake designed to promote the launch of a new Mercedes car. Scenes from the fictional action movie show Del Toro being chased around Los Angeles by helicopters, absconding with secret files and firebombing a mysterious shack in the desert. The two-and-a-half minute film, called Lucky Star, was shown on TV and in theaters around Britain over the weekend after Mercedes got special permission to show the advert during the trailers rather than the commercials. Lucky Star is directed by Michael Mann, the Oscar-nominated director behind Heat and The Insider. But cinema-goers were given few clues to the real purpose of the film. Mercedes was not mentioned and only the most eagle-eyed of viewers would have even noticed the car was a Mercedes. Richard Payne, the communications manager at Mercedes-Benz, says, "Where you see cars most dramatically and excitingly portrayed is in movie trailers. It's not a commercial selling that car, it's talking about the whole excitement and dynamism of the brand."
Brad
edited to add the link

 

[Alex ArbabZadeh]

Cheers Brad,
I feel a mixture of an idiot and disappointment (it looked like the ingredients of a good film - mystery, action, intrigue, Bencio del Toro, the Mercedes )
Ahh well!
Alex.

 

[Holadem]

Mercedes got special permission to show the advert during the trailers rather than the commercials.

Does anyone else think this is crossing the line? I usually don't react much to stuff like this (I don't care about product placement in movie for instance) but this takes the cake!
--
Holadem

 

[Ricardo C]

Agreed, Holadem. This is definitely a new low

 

[Scott Weinberg]

I don't like it either. If you're trying to sell me something, you damn well better TELL me you're trying to sell me something.

And people wonder why the modern world is overloaded with jaded cynics.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

How awesome would a Michael Mann movie with Benicio Del Toro doing cool action-guy stuff in a hot car be though, if it were really made? Cooler than the other side of the pillow, methinks.

 

[Seth Paxton]

You have to think that somebody is on the phone to somebody already pitching it for a full-length feature.
"What's the story?"
"We don't have one, but we have this great 3 minute commercial..."
Actually, that sounds like how most films get made, even the good ones.
I agree that they are pushing it with that. Couldn't it have just run as the last commercial before the trailers kicked in?

 

[Paul_D]

Damn, I saw that trailer too, and it looked sooooo good. There were 3 distinct warning signs though:

1) It was shot with a DV camera.
2) There was no studio or even distributor logo at the beginning.
3) It's was a totally different narrator's voice to the usual gravle-voiced bozo.

Shame. Looked like a fun time in the cinema.

 

[Sean Oneil]

LOL

 

[Iain Jackson]

Well, I don't know about other cinemas, but the one I saw Minority Report in showed the Lucky Star 'trailer' between the end of the adverts reel and the start of the trailers reel (which begins with "The following trailers are suitable for this feature" or something like that). And there was also the tell-tale BBFC certificate logo in the bottom corner of the advert, whereas most trailers have a certificate shown before the trailer starts. Plus, I had seen the ad already on the TV, and with all the gratuitous shots of the Mercedes, I worked out that it was all a hoax.

What would be interesting to know is what all the credits at the end say? Are they the actual production credits for the advert?

 

[Peter Kim]

This appears to be a response to the BMW short films, THE HIRE. However, in LuckyStar, the line between marketing and movie is much more blurred.
The entire trailer can be downloaded at:
Official Luckstar site and trailer
Beware, the full-size trailer is a bear to download at 14.2mb. Also, there is a downloadable 'deleted scenes'. This is 12.1mb.
Much like the BMW marketing, Mercedes Benz is mixing in a contest.

 

[Richard_D_Ramirez]

I download the teaser and trailer for Lucky Star, and all I have to say is "I wish I saw this trailer in the theater!" An obvious response to the The Hire series, Mercedes Benz is upping the quality of these filmed advertisements.
I'm not sure why some of you are upset about these type of films mixed in with trailers. After all, aren't trailers just "commercials" for upcoming films?
If the quality of "trailers" such as Lucky Star, The Follow, and The Chosen remain top-notch, then I say keep 'em coming! It certainly beats a straight-up Pepsi ad which features a certain screecher of singer...
8^B

 

[Peter Kim]

Well, it sounds as if there's a new cottage industry of autocinema anti-verite cropping up...
BMW net films go for star power
John Woo and Tony Scott will direct, with Clive Owens reprising his role from the original series. Ridley Scott acts as producer of the new series.
BMW and Mercedes Benz must have figured that the original series struck a resonant chord with the target market to venture further into this avenue of marketing.

 

[Iain Lambert]

Coolness - I've been admiring the Lucky Star advert since I first saw it, and caught it in all its cinematic glory when I finally saw Minority Report at the weekend (possibly my film of the year so far, by the way). Only now I've gone to the website have I noticed that its produced by the top guys at Mill Film, who did the effects for the last few Ridley Scott films and the glory that is Hannibal's titles.

 

[Johnny V]

Well, whether it was disingenuous or not, it accomplished its goal. Alex specifically remembered what kind of car it was .