Nike's World Cup commercial showcases Iñárritu's filmmaking flair
Writer-director Alejandro González Iñárritu, whose films include "Babel," "Amores Perros," "21 Grams" and the Cannes Film Festival premiere "Biutiful," has shown a unique talent in weaving together seemingly unrelated narratives into a coherent whole.
Rarely has that skill been on greater display than with a new Nike soccer commercial that was unveiled Thursday ahead of next month's World Cup.
Called "Write the Future," the three-minute Nike ad stars soccer legends Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Landon Donovan and Ronaldinho. There are also quick appearances from the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant, a pingpong-playing Roger Federer and television's Homer Simpson. In one sequence in the commercial, the Mexican-born director imagines how Rooney's life might have turned out had a particular soccer play not gone well for the star of Manchester United and England's World Cup team.
The commercial was made at advertising agency Wieden & Kennedy. Trevor Edwards, Nike’s vice president for brand and category management, has said that the spot is one of the best Nike has ever turned out.
Will it sell Nike apparel? Who knows? But the ad is certainly going to elevate Iñárritu's status as a storyteller, even as he waits for a Cannes buyer for "Biutiful" to come forward.
-- John HornClicking on Green Links will take you to a third-party e-commerce site. These sites are not operated by the Los Angeles Times. The Times Editorial staff is not involved in any way with Green Links or with these third-party sites.
Landon Donovan a star soccer legend? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Posted by: fstain | 05/20/2010 at 05:40 PM
Great piece to get the atmosphere going for the world cup.
Iñárritu shows he's capable of expanding his talent to other forms of the art.
Posted by: Frida | 05/20/2010 at 06:40 PM
Well, considering that he has made commercials before (for years actually) and he truly loves Soccer, this is expected of him.
Posted by: Harold M. | 05/21/2010 at 04:43 PM
not sure if this would be interesting to you
Posted by: jordan liss | 05/21/2010 at 05:01 PM
LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of the greatest pleasures of life is starting June 11th....................
Posted by: Melvin | 05/21/2010 at 05:51 PM
for as much face time as he gets in the commercial, it's really too bad and pretty embarrassing for Ronaldinho that he wasn't even called up for the preliminary Brazil quad...
Posted by: marcus | 05/22/2010 at 12:46 AM
John,
how could you possible forget to mention the greatest captain and current world champion Fabio Cannavaro? The best part of the commercial is his 360 flip!
Other than that, nicely done.
Simone
Posted by: Simone Vitale | 05/24/2010 at 11:29 AM