Xfinity Pranked a Couple of Fast and Furious Superfans With This Crazy, Fiery Surprise Stunt Drive

Would it be hyperbolic to say that a couple of Fast and Furious fans are taking the ride of their lives in this new mini-movie for Xfinity? Sure, but it's true, unless these two adventurous movie lovers somehow ever find themselves in an actual—not a carefully staged—high-speed car chase with fiery explosions, airborne vehicles and nitrous oxide. The participants thought they were seeing a sneak preview of the upcoming action flick, The Fate of the Furious, when in fact they ended up re-creating a scene from the Universal Pictures release, complete with stunt drivers who worked on the film and vintage American muscle cars used in the famous franchise. Their reactions don't disappoint. But the question remains: How in the world did they not spill their popcorn? The two-and-a-half-minute spot, from ad agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners, adds some layers of complexity to the typical punk'd-style video by shooting in a single take, with no computer-generated effects, and mirroring step by step what viewers will see on the big screen when The Fate of the Furious opens April 14. But don't fret: No contest winners were harmed in the making of this commercial. "If you're going to do a prank these days, it has to be epic," said Sherri Davis, Xfinity's senior director of brand experience. "And we're promoting a new service with over-the-top ridiculous speed, so this made perfect sense." Xfinity is using the movie, from its Comcast sibling Universal, to help launch the new ultra-high-speed broadband, Gigabit Internet Service, which Davis said cried out for "a chase scene to illustrate something that's tough to describe and better to show." The fans, chosen from more than 3,000 entries via social media, won a trip to Los Angeles, a day at Universal Studios and what they thought was a "drive-in" sneak peek of the film. [kickout id="3"] Adweek visited the set, which was a sprawling power plant near the port of Long Beach, where the fans went into a warehouse, equipped with a massive film screen, and sat in Fast and Furious hero cars, a red Corvette Stingray and a Plymouth GTX. Just as they settled in with their popcorn to watch bits of the movie, the action started IRL. Their seatmates, ostensibly fellow fans but actually professional stunt drivers, handed them helmets, revved the engines and kicked off a chase that mimicked the movie's adrenaline-packed cat-and-mouse pursuit through the streets of Manhattan. "I feel like you're in on this," screamed unwitting but quick-on-the-uptake passenger Michele Fisher to her driver as the race began. What followed, for both fans, was a lot of yelling, smiling, swearing and laughing. "We had told them it was a drive-in, but it was really a drive-out," Laura Petruccelli, GS&P's associate creative director, told Adweek during one of the daylong rehearsals before the shoot. "We wanted the chase to begin with them crashing through the wall of the warehouse." That wall was fake, as was the scaffolding and the flower shop that got destroyed during the rubber-burning melee. See the behind-the-scenes video here: In the film, Vin Diesel's character, Dominic Toretto, has gone rogue, and his colleagues try to catch him during a penultimate four-wheeled scene. There are harpoons involved, but those couldn't get approved for the ad campaign. Pieces of the movie are woven into the commercial to show how closely it replicates the flick. Each car had five GoPro cameras to capture the fans' shock and awe, while drones flew overhead and multiple cameras picked up each stage of the chase. The goal was "eyeballs big, jaws dropping to the floor," said the director, Jeff Tremaine, a filmmaker, TV and commercial producer whose credits include the Jackass franchise. "The key is to make it appear reckless while being completely safe. You're going for a real reaction, so it has to be kind of terrifying. You want to feel their surprise and energy and joy." [kickout id="4"] Xfinity execs said they heavily vetted the participants ahead of time, making sure they were physically and mentally ready for a heart-pounding ride, without giving them any details of what was to come. Fisher, from Philadelphia, is a frequent Tough Mudder contestant, and Joey Mysliwiec, of Chicago, is a skydiver. They both made it through the prank with smiles on their faces, even when their souped-up rides barely (intentionally) missed a gasoline tanker truck and gunned through a series of fireballs (meticulously planned and tested pyrotechnics). They held onto their popcorn even when the Nos kicked in. The video debuts Wednesday on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and the movie franchise's massive social media feeds, and it's part of Xfinity's new dive into experiential marketing. "For the last year, we've had a dedicated budget for experiential," Davis said. "The brand is committed to doing more nontraditional work because it gives people a chance to interact with the brand in different ways." CREDITSClient: Comcast - XfinitySVP, Brand Marketing: Todd ArataSenior Director, Brand Experience: Sherri DavisSenior Manager, Brand Experience: Catherine HuffmanCampaign: XFINITY Fast & Furious 8 Drive-Out Cinema Title of Creative Work: XFINITY Fast & Furious 8 Drive-Out Cinema Ad Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners CreativeCo-chairman: Jeff Goodby, Rich SilversteinChief Creative Officer/Partner: Margaret JohnsonCreative Directors: Jeff Gillette, Jens Waernes, Jon WolanskeAssociate Creative Directors: Rohan Cooke and Laura PetruccelliCopywriters: Laura Petruccelli and Craig ShervinArt Directors: Rohan Cooke, Charles Lee and Louis Xinran Li ProductionDirector of Broadcast Production: Tod PuckettExecutive Broadcast Producer: James HornerBroadcast Producer: Stephanie DeNataleAssistant Broadcast Producer: Samantha Tarde Account ServicesManaging Partner: Leslie BarrettGroup Account Director: Jason BedecarreAccount Director: Georgia NewtonAccount Manager: Perry Kayla FoxAsst. Account Manager: Emily Kelly Brand StrategyGroup Brand Strategy Director: John ThorpeBrand Strategy Director: Andrew Mak Business AffairsDirector of Business Affairs: Judy YbarraBusiness Affairs Associate Manager: Rodney Hameroff Production CompanyProduction Company: HeLoDirector: Jeff TremaineExecutive Producer/Co-Founder: Justin Moore-LewyGorilla Flicks Executive Producer: Shanna NewtonManaging Director/Co-Founder: Brendan KiernanExecutive Producer: Andrew OppenheimerLine Producer: Tina NakaneDirector of Photography: Wyatt TrollProduction Designer- Robb BuonoSFX Supervisor- Jim SchwalmStunt Coordinator- Oakley Lehman EditorialCut+RunEditor: Pete KoobAssistant Editors: Christopher Kasper and Andy BernerManaging Director: Michelle EskinExecutive Producer: Deanne MehlingProducer: Sara Stasinos Color GradeCompany 3Colorist: Sean ColemanSenior Producer: Matt Moran OnlineCT-SFExecutive Producer: Melanie BassProducer: Felicia LibbyFlame Artists: Zac Dych and David Valencic Sound DesignLSDSound Designer: Michael Anastasi MixLimeAudio Mixer: Rohan YoungAudio Assistant: Ben TomastikProducer: Kayla PhungglanExecutive Producer: Susie Boyajan GraphicsAnimator: Natasha CandelariaCreative Director: Mike LandryExecutive Post Producer: John DuttonDirector of Post Production: Michael Damiani —Behind the Scenes Client: Comcast/XfinitySVP, Brand Marketing: Todd ArataExecutive Director, Social Marketing: Nader AliHassanManager, Brand Social Marketing: Cortney BoothmanCampaign: XFINITY Fast & Furious 8 Drive-Out Cinema Behind the ScenesCampaign Website: Facebook.com/Xfinity ProductionDirector of Broadcast Production: Tod PuckettExecutive Broadcast Producer: James HornerBroadcast Producer: Stephanie DeNataleAssistant Broadcast Producer: Samantha Tarde Production CompanyProduction Company: HeLoCamera Operator: Donny AndersonProduction Company: Goodby Silverstein & PartnersAdditional Camera Operator: Michael MillerAdditional Sound Mixer: Mark Sandhoff Editorial/OnlineCut+RunManaging Director: Michelle EskinEditor: Christopher KasperExecutive Producer: Deanne MehlingProducer: Sara Stasinos Color GradeMission Film & DesignColorist: Chris Martin Sound Design/MixOne UnionSound Designer: Matt WoodAudio Mixer: Matt WoodAudio Assistant: Isaac OlsenProducer: Cienna PatmontExecutive Producer: Lauren Mask GraphicsAnimator: Natasha CandelariaCreative Director: Mike LandryExecutive Post Producer: John DuttonDirector of Post Production: Michael Damiani

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Xfinity Pranked a Couple of Fast and Furious Superfans With This Crazy, Fiery Surprise Stunt Drive

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