On Sunday, Ben Kingsley asked Super Bowl watchers one very important question: “Have you noticed that in Hollywood movies, all the villains are played by Brits?”
Joined by a sleek Mark Strong (Green Lantern’s Sinestro) and tweedy Tom Hiddleston (Thor’s Loki), the dapper troika debuted Jaguar's first Big Game Day spot ever, mixing James Bond-esque brilliance with understated charm only proper Shakespearian-trained thespians can deliver.
Behold what amounts to a mini film, because it’s way more than just a simple two-minute spot:
Aside from being spot-on with its portrayal of the typical British baddie, the whole ad is delivered with such wit and elegance that it’s really no wonder handsome, critically acclaimed actors from across the pond are totally eclipsing their corn-fed American counterparts.
Not that I’m complaining. I’m totally on board with their dastardly genius. And their dramatic genius. And comedic genius. All the geniuses of genre really.
Mainly because of everything the iconic Kingsley, Strong and Hiddleston say about portraying the evil protagonist in Jaguar’s behind-the-scenes video:
You know you’d never stop talking if you had a mellifluous British accent, and as Strong says while effortlessly commandeering that white Jaguar F-type Coupe around the streets of London: “Maybe we just sound right.”
To that I say thee, yes. Mainly because I’ve never heard Jaguar pronounced jag-u-are before and never want to hear it said another way again.
What’s more, I offer up three family-friendly video favorites (suitable for bookmarking and watching over and over again) that prove only exceptional things are born and bred in Britain.
C is for Cookie
Remember when Cookie Monster and Tom Hiddleston got together to teach all the kids out there a lesson in delayed gratification and adorable photos commemorating the whole exchange were released and subsequently melted the Internet into chocolatey puddles of pure love? Of course you do.
And yes, that one inspires more fuzzies than fear. But this one? Let the Lokification begin.
The Alan Rickman-off
There was that time Benedict Cumberbatch and Jimmy Fallon had an Alan Rickman-off on Late Night that immediately won at all the things. Because we’ve always secretly (or not so secretly) wanted to hear Professor Snape read hip-hop lyrics. Sadly, the full interview clip has mysteriously gone missing from the Internet, and only this four-second clip remains. Two words: Dark Arts.
Epic Tea Time
Alan Rickman needs little introduction or explanation. Mainly because it would take time away from seeing him exist and glare and purse. The dramatic weight he drops ever so drily into every utterance and gesture makes us never ever want to look away from his glowering visage, even though we’re simultaneously terrified and hopeful he might raise an eyebrow in our general direction. Now imagine all of that wrapped in aggressively slow motion and you have “Epic Teatime with Alan Rickman,” while the score from Inception plays. Part of artist David Michalek’s Portraits in Dramatic Time film series, each features a “glacially paced performance” shot by ultra-high speed, high-definition cameras. Inception’s lower-level dreams were never this intense.
Did you see the Jaguar ad? What'd you think?
