Schitt’s Creek star Eugene Levy will have some commercial love during Super Bowl LVI, but just not during the game. He joined Marvel actors Brie Larson, Dave Bautista, and Danai Gurira for an action-packed Nissan commercial set to air on Sunday. The spot shows how the new 2023 Nissan Z sports car can change someone from a comedy straight man to an action movie star. Can also guarantee a new hairdo.
At the beginning of the one-minute commercial, Larson, who serves as a Nissan brand ambassador, pulls up to a movie set in the yellow sports car and asks Levy if he wants to take the car for a spin. Levy reluctantly agrees, and he takes a drive around Los Angeles that gets steadily more outrageous after he spots Gurira and Bautista dining outside a restaurant. Levy’s Schitt’s Creek co-star Catherine O’Hara also makes a cameo.
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Following a set of action-packed stunts, the scene cuts to the Thrill Driver movie premiere, where a long-haired Levy shows up with Larson on his arm. At the end, the three Marvel stars leave the premiere in a Nissan Ariya, with a stunned Levy stuck watching them alone.
“It was a big decision for us to get back into this game; the timing was perfect to put the ‘new’ Nissan on a bigger stage,” Allyson Witherspoon, vice president and chief marketing officer, said in a statement. “This ad takes Nissan’s ‘Thrill’ campaign to the next level. We have an incredible cast, it is beautifully produced and it is action packed. We wanted to show how one ride in a Nissan can truly change everything. This is a launching point for the Nissan Ariya and Z, and we will make a big splash on this global stage.”
The commercial is Nissan’s first Super Bowl spot in seven years, and the automaker is one of five with a spot during this year’s game, notes CNBC. It was directed by Craig Gillespie (Cruella, Pam and Tommy) and produced by TBWA\Chiat\Day NY. The spot will be accompanied by a Thrill Driver poster campaign and movie trailers for social media. Super Bowl LVI, in which the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams will play for the 2021 NFL championship, kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday on NBC.
Levy is a four-time Emmy winner, most recently picking up Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Schitt’s Creek in 2020. He also won Emmys for SCTV Network 90 in 1982 and 1983. As for Larson, she stars as Captain Marvel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and won an Oscar for Room. Larson has been featured in Nissan commercials since 2020.
