‘Heated Rivalry’ Star Connor Storrie Looks Scary Good in Nia DaCosta’s New “Short Film”
The cottage gets its own Scream makeover in a new Verizon campaign starring Connor Storrie. Directed by Nia DaCosta and titled “Look Behind You,” the campaign brings us to a secluded cottage in the woods, where Storrie arrives.
Strange things slowly begin to happen. While Storrie cooks dinner and practices his line reads from a script, the alarm system goes off suddenly. Earlier, the house’s sound system also went off unexpectedly. Storrie wanders about the house while an eerie horror movie score plays in the background, compounding the feeling that something isn’t right. While all of this is happening, the camera continues to linger on Storrie’s denim-glad backside. They know what we want.
The tension comes to a head when a knock on the door reveals a man in a rain slicker a la I Know What You Did Last Summer, who tells Storrie that he’s his rideshare driver. Confused, Storrie looks at his phone and sees that he butt-dialed the driver, along with the sudden changes in lighting and sound throughout the house.
Catching a glimpse of his backside in the mirror, the words “The Best Butt” followed by “The Best Network” appear, before ending with “There’s No Escape.”
The short ends with Storrie turning to the camera and saying, “Service so good, it’s scary.”
More ads need to be given the film treatment
It’s increasingly rare that an ad gets this kind of treatment, and putting DaCosta and Storrie together was an incredibly smart move on Verizon’s part. Outside of the Super Bowl, the advent of streaming has more or less done away with creative advertising. Sure, at the end of the day it’s just peddling its wares, but at least people get to have fun with it! Plus, this just proves that Storrie needs to be in a horror film, and that DaCosta needs to keep directing them.
“From the concept to execution, this was an incredibly collaborative and creatively fulfilling experience,” Storrie said in a statement Tuesday morning. “Verizon is a brand that really understands storytelling and culture, so they fully leaned into the idea. And working with visionary director Nia DaCosta took everything to another level.”
“I had such a great time working with Connor and making this spot for Verizon,” DaCosta also said. “The team was amazing and we had so much fun bringing this to life.”
According to Verizon, this project is Storrie’s “first brand film” and DaCosta’s “first brand project.”
“The collaboration and creative process was pure magic,” Verizon EVP and CMO Leslie Berland said. “We set out to bring Verizon’s network to life in a way that’s bold and unexpected, and we’re thrilled with the result. Nia is an absolute artist, and Connor is simply a phenomenon.”
You can watch “Look Behind You” here.
(featured image: Verizon)
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