Movie Stars Doing Commercials

[Agent Richard07]

I noticed over the years that a lot of American movie stars do commercials overseas, yet doing the same thing for the U.S. market, or even doing television seems beneath them. I wondered why, then I found an interesting article that talks about it...

Japanese advertisers Dentsu and Hakuhodo have seven figures in mind: somewhere in the range of $1 million to $3 million, to be precise. That's what megastars like Meg Ryan, Brad Pitt and Demi Moore recently got for appearing in Japanese commercials endorsing face cream, blue jeans and protein drinks.

That might not seem like a lot of money to blockbuster movie stars who command between $10 million and $25 million per film. But when you break it down, a $3 million check for an average of three days work translates into $1 million a day. To top it off, the hours are short and don't involve shooting on location.

Even the rich and famous would have a hard time saying no to those kinds of offers. And most haven't, despite the fact that they're sometimes forced to change their personalities to suit Japanese audiences.

About a dozen top Hollywood stars appear in these quick 15-to-30-second TV spots without the knowledge of their Western fans across the Pacific. And while these celebs want their secrets to remain hidden, some aren't always that lucky.

Schwarzenegger was especially miffed that his goofy 15-second spot promoting DirecTV was posted by Zero One Design at www.gaijinagogo.com. Lawyers for DirecTV and Dentsu warned the Web site last summer to cease and desist from showing the video clip because it infringed on the star's intellectual property rights.

Leonardo DiCaprio's lawyers called the Web site two months ago to ask that the young star's commercial for Orico credit cards also be taken down.

Read more...

I figured that it might be about the money and I was right. They're paid well. I kind of roll my eyes though when I see that they're perfectly willing to do these things overseas then throw a fit if their work is seen back home.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Here are two commercials for Nespresso featuring George Clooney. The second one includes Camilla Belle.

Nespresso Commercial #1
Nespresso Commercial #2

 

[Zulu Romeo]

This is the same George Clooney who was hawking Martinis a few years back:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNpAnOELxdg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywrgPVfOaHY



Nowadays, although not a movie star per se, I feel so sorry for Iggy Pop...

 

[ManOnTheWave]

It's not that surprising really. Commercial work in the US has a certain connotation for an actor. A lot of out of work actors getting a commercial is sort of a gravy train for broke beginners. In Asia, they only want movie stars and pay a million bucks a day and put them up in a five star hotel. It's a working vacation.