Things are getting weird for James Franco and Jaleel White.
The two actors are the new faces of Droga5's Scion iM and iA commercials in which the theme "Weird, right?" takes center stage.
Droga5's executive creative director Neil Heymann explains to Adweek, "Scion and Scion drivers have always been great at embracing their own weirdness. Scion does things their own way, in spite of what people expect from a car brand… We wanted to balance that weird heritage with a value message."
What better way to do so than with two of Hollywood's weirdest actors?
One commercial spot features Franco and his alter ego, artsy Franco, poking a bit of fun at the actor and his eccentric ways in order to cater to both his fans and his detractors. The two personas showcase their distinctly odd tastes, one driving the iM and the other taking a spin in the new iA.
Meanwhile, a second spot features White and his alter ego: a wax figure of Steve Urkel (because, duh). Seated side by side in the Scion iM, the spot shows how the car's dual climate control prevents wax Urkel from melting while making sure Mr. White doesn't break a sweat. What's better? The audio system allows White to drown out the canned sitcom laughter we heard too often on Family Matters.
"Very few celebrities are known for making diverse and unexpected career choices the way that James Franco is," Heymann said of picking the actor for the first spot. "He's someone who uses his star power to try his hand at all kinds of interesting things, including appearing in car commercials. And we think people will love seeing Steve Urkel and Jaleel White hanging out together on their screens and having some fun with their relationship."
He adds, "Both actors were chosen based on their place in pop culture, and fortunately they felt the same way about this as we did and had a great sense of humor about it."
Of course we already know Franco isn't one to back down from some weird, off-color opportunities. The actor has done everything from penning love letters to McDonalds to having full blown interviews with himself as "straight James" and "gay James."
Thus, hearing about him putting those alter egos on display in these new commercials doesn't feel too off brand for the actor!