Deepfake Dolph Lundgren Sweats Buckets for Old Spice

If you’re going to graft the tough-talking, CGI-enhanced, Reagan-era head of action star Dolph Lundgren on to youthful, modern male torsos to sell deodorant, why stop there?

Might as well send the freak-o-meter into orbit by blasting geysers of perspiration from faux-Dolph’s armpits into his co-star’s face during action-flick parodies promoting Old Spice Sweat Defense Dry Spray antiperspirants.

Well played, Wieden+Kennedy. That’s sublimely soggy stuff, random and icky in the classic Old Spice tradition. Props to Biscuit Filmworks director Andreas Nilsson, who delivers some manically moist moments with a keen eye for Hollywood hokum.

What, gentle reader, you want more Dolph? Here’s a pail-full:

Dude, down a MTN Dew and chill! (Another brand that loves sweatvertising.)

Does anyone remember Lundgren these days? It totally doesn’t matter because you can’t look away from that absurdly angular face! He’s name-checked in the ads, so youngsters can Google.

According to a W+K rep, “a campaign like this is uncharted territory. It’s different from deepfaking an actor on a late-night talk show, where they’re looking straight to camera. What we’re creating hasn’t really been done—deepfaking a face into a tense action scene that’s rife with drama.”

For the visuals, W+K pulled virtually “all of the material Dolph was featured in from the ’80s and ’90s,” the rep says. “From there, the algorithm generates a completely new face from the source images, which means we don’t have the ability to make Dolph look like one particular photo or role. His likeness is an aggregate.”

Ultimately, “the deepfake process results in a computer-generated version of Dolph that initially looks quite robotic. Our VFX artists then spent a month integrating the face the algorithm generated into the film we shot.”

“Robotic” also describes Dolph’s acting approach, but his flat-line delivery shines here, especially on “I Lied,” the catchphrase from one of the commercials.

Yep, that’s really DL not emoting for all he’s worth.

Alas—or perhaps thankfully—he doesn’t sing, unlike deepfake Willie Nelson, who warbled in W+K’s wacky Omega Mart spot with an actor supplying the vocals.

CREDITS

CLIENT Old Spice
PROJECT NAME Redvolution Global 2022

W+K PORTLAND
ECDs Ana Balarin | Hermeti Balarin | Eric Baldwin | John “JP” Petty
Creative Directors Erik Fahrenkopf | Sara Phillips
Art Director Karen Zack
Copywriter Andrew Chhour
Head of Production Orlee Tatarka
Executive Producer Katie McCain
Senior Producer Amanda Weiss
Producer Katie Schaller
Design Producer Kelly Cousins
Designer Ken Berg | Curtis Pachunka | Liliya Dru
Retoucher Amy Ellars
Strategic Planning Drew Phillips | Christian Clay
Media/Comms Planning Jason Strickland | Emily Graham | Emily Wuetcher | Leo Corcoran, Chris Ableidinger | Abbey Mirigliano | Tenley Sandusky | Phillup Chiu | Tara Duenas | Sergio Gocobachi | Torie Morris
Account Team Thomas Harvey | Crystal Thomas | Patrick McLaughlin | Carla Lozano
Business Affairs Teresa Lutz | Kristian Evanculla
Broadcast Traffic Eric Nguyen

PRODUCTION
Production Company Biscuit Filmworks
Director Andreas Nilsson
Partner / Managing Director Shawn Lacy
Executive Producer Holly Vega
Line Producer Peter Knowles
Head of Production Sean Moody
Director of Photography Lasse Frank
Production Designer David Kharaishvili

EDITORIAL
Editorial Company Cut+Run
Editor Ben Campbell
Managing Director Michelle Eskin
Executive Producer Amburr Farls
Head of Production Brady Fiero
Producer Brady Fiero

VFX
VFX Company Kevin
ECD / Partner Tim Davies
Head of CG Mike Dalzell
VFX Supervisor / 2D Lead Ben Smith
Senior Executive Producer / Partner Sue Troyan
Senior VFX Supervisor Jami Schakel
VFX Coordinator Louise Bloomfield
Set Supervisor Pete Smith
Deep Fake Jeff White, Dr. Fakenstein
CG Artists Carl Harders, Kathryn Dougan, Kerry Graham, Matt Longwell, Igor Stefanovic
2D Artists Dag Ivarsoy, Robert Murdock, Steve Gibbons, Remedy Huynh, Rob Winfield, Susanne Scharping

COLOR
Company Primary
Colorist Daniel de Vue
Executive Producer Thatcher Peterson
Producer Jenny Bright
Coordinator Jessica Clark

ORIGINAL MUSIC
Music Company Walker
Executive Producer Sara Matarazzo | Stephanie Pigott
Senior Producer Danielle Soury

SOUND DESIGN/MIX
Sound/Mix Company LIME Studios
Audio Mixer Rohan Young
Audio Assistant Jeremy Nichols
Producer Samantha Sotomura
Executive Producer Susie Boyajan