The Chevrolet Impala and Caprice and the Ford Mustang are also big players, Potten said. But movie logic often requires that a car - if it is to be more than a casual prop - project something other than sweetness and light.Īndre Potten, administrator of the Internet Movie Cars Database, which tracks appearances by vehicles in films, says the most commonly seen movie vehicle appears to be the Ford Crown Victoria, because it plays well as both cop car and taxi. The cars, which were introduced in the United States with the 2001 model, are sometimes placed in movies and television shows on a promotional basis, the spokeswoman said.īecause the Prius is in demand for movies and television, lack of star status notwithstanding, Toyota has not customarily paid placement fees, said a representative of Brand Arc, a Santa Monica company that provides cars for appearances in movies and other media.
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(For the record Emile Hirsch, the hot-shot driver in "Speed Racer," drives a black Prius in the real world, his publicist said.)Īccording to a Toyota spokeswoman the Prius goes from zero to 60 miles per hour in 10.1 seconds, but could go faster if, like the Lexus hybrid, it were tuned for performance rather than efficiency. In an interview recently posted on Diaz said her Prius "saves me probably from a lot of tickets," because it is not as fast as a Porsche. "They're all pushing for this when it makes sense." Cameron Diaz, Levin noted, often asks that her character drive a hybrid on screen if possible. "We've got all the studios on our board," Debbie Levin, the association's president, said. The Environmental Media Association, a nonprofit organization that promotes ecological consciousness in show business, both on screen and off, has been urging studios and producers to give the Prius and other hybrids a stronger presence in movies and television shows. "The Mini had a purpose, it was a character," Gray said. In "The Italian Job," Gray's 2003 remake of a 1969 movie that starred Michael Caine, the bandit-heroes led by Mark Wahlberg used a souped-up fleet of Mini Coopers to beat the traffic in Los Angeles and swipe a fortune in gold bars. To shine in a film, however, Gray said, a car - large or small - must be integral to the plot. "Any car has a chance" at stardom, said the film director F. Cars that make a big impression in films can be as clunky as the yellow Volkswagen bus in "Little Miss Sunshine" or as meaty as Steve McQueen's 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback in "Bullitt." But they tend to be assertive in a way that the Prius, with its quiet demeanor and emphasis on efficiency, is not. On television these quiet, fuel-efficient cars - which blend electric and internal combustion technology - have been a strong presence since Larry David started tooling around in a first-generation Prius on "Curb Your Enthusiasm."īut movies are another matter. A Prius devotee in real life, Alba played a hapless klutz whose silver hybrid had to be jump-started by a red Thunderbird, and nearly electrocuted her rescuer in the process.įrom the valet stand at Orso to the executive parking stalls at 20th Century Fox, hybrids are seen everywhere on the Hollywood circuit. Jessica Alba had no luck at all with hers a few months later in "Good Luck Chuck," from Lionsgate. God drove one, briefly, in "Evan Almighty," a comedy that struggled at the box office when Universal released it last summer. The Walt Disney Co.'s Pixar unit is at work on a follow-up to "Cars." And Warner Brothers has been quietly collaborating with Clint Eastwood on "Gran Torino," setting the Web a-shiver with anticipation of an homage to the Ford car of the 1970s.īut Toyota's slope-nosed, high-rumped Prius - the world's best-selling hybrid, and a must-have accessory for carbon-conscious show business players - has remained something of a novelty act on the big screen. Universal Pictures is preparing the fourth movie in its "Fast and the Furious" series, full of ferocious street racers.
Vehicles, both hot (like the fanciful, post-petroleum racers in "Speed Racer," opening on Friday), and not (all those Jeep-like things set to bump through the next "Indiana Jones" two weeks later), have been enjoying an on-screen heyday. But the Prius, car du jour among Hollywood insiders, is not looking much like movie star. Able to leap through car pool lanes with a single occupant. LOS ANGELES - It is cleaner than a smoking Beetle.