June 30, 2002, Sunday Fourth Edition

The next thing -- The Driver is revving up for new BMW films

BY Melanie McFarland; Seattle Times staff reporter

He's played the heroic protector and the spy. Men have shot at him, women have screamed his eardrums out, and in spite of the excitement, he managed to keep his cool. But when playing the plain old chauffeur, well, that's when The Driver's the most dangerous. His high-velocity highway racing made a brassy star, played by none other than Madonna, bounce around the back seat of a BMW like a pinball.

Slick and steely as 007, it's hard to believe that underneath all the drama and intrigue, the man known only as The Driver (played by rising British star Clive Owen) was, in fact, a car salesman of sorts. It's true the central character of "The Hire" series of short Internet films was merely a prop for the films' true stars, the BMWs he was driving. Such a smooth operator was he that this fall, The Driver's gunning his engines again for three more flicks at www.bmwfilms.com.

The previous series was created by such top-flight directors as Ang Lee, Wong Kar-wai, Guy Ritchie, John Frankenheimer and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. While no directors for the new films have been confirmed, David Fincher ("Panic Room") is returning as the executive producer. Owen also will be back. "The Hire" is about as bold as product-placement ploys come the product drives the film. The implication is that a mere commercial is a little too gauche, perhaps.

Explaining the reason behind giving their advertising the premiere treatment, "We wanted to showcase the cars in a fun and exciting way, and show them as the ultimate driving machine without selling anything," said Karen Vondermeulen, marketing and events manager with the BMW Group. While this method of advertising hasn't revolutionized the industry, one entity seems to have taken a hint from BMW's cinematic commercial success the Army, which still teases its own Internet films, documentaries following new recruits and specialized soldiers, during prime-time television.

Wildly different in flavor, each of the BMW films "Ambush," "Chosen," "Star" and "Powder Keg" reflect the mood of each filmmaker. (Wong Kar-wai's "The Follow" is no longer available at the site.) Celebrity cameos by the likes of Mickey Rourke and the Material Girl added to the glamour. If this sounds like a lot of trouble to go through to sell automobiles, well, it is. Then again, they're the only "commercials" that show up on the Internet Movie Data Base (www.imdb.com).

Where these films will take The Driver, BMW won't say. Since the first installments of "The Hire" series attracted more than 13 million viewers, we're guessing it won't take much for the latest flicks to catch on with curious Web surfers, if not with other companies in need of chic product placement.

GRAPHIC: photo; BMW : Clive Owen (The Driver) is ready to roll as the central character in BMW's latest series of Internet commercials.

Thanks, Chris