Sunday, April 01, 2007

claire & patrick & fred & ginger


While The Gap has done other musical TV ads before, the most memorable being one choreographed to the "Dance in the Gym" number (music by Leonard Bernstein) from "West Side Story," none has been as enchanting - or as arresting - as the company's latest, featuring Patrick Wilson and Claire Danes in a male/female competitive bop to Ethel Merman's "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" (from Irving Berlin's "Annie Get Your Gun").

Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the husband-wife team behind "Little Miss Sunshine," the ad features Wilson and Danes in a "dance-off" that ends with Danes tearing off Wilson's khaki "boyfriend trousers®," leaving him in his boxers, and then slipping into them herself.

As reported by Diane Haithman in today's Los Angeles Times, "The idea, according to Gap press materials, is to 'capture the fun of wearing a boyfriend's favorite.'"

Anyway, it's a delight.

Wilson, currently in "Little Children" opposite Kate Winslet, is of course a musical-comedy vet, having appeared in "Oklahoma!" on Broadway and "Phantom of the Opera" on screen. Per Haithman, "Danes is not without dance credits; various bios take note that Danes 'enrolled in a dance class at age 6.'"

Just one question: Who did the choreography?

BTW, Wilson and Danes can also be seen together in the upcoming, all-star art-house film, "Evening."

To check out the ad itself just click here:

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love that ad! I recognized Patrick Wilson but had no idea that was Claire Danes. She's a pretty good dancer!

Anonymous said...

I thought I was the only one hooked on that commercial. It took pains for me to tape it but now I have it to enjoy way into the future. Thanks for printing the neat still of Patrick and Claire!