Director Dan Streit Takes Us Inside Nike's Audacious World Cup Film

'Rip the Script' rolls big as the tournament's kick-off approaches

The World Cup is so ready for its closeup in “Rip the Script,” a sweeping initiative from Wieden+Kennedy anchored by a 6-minute film designed to fuse soccer in our collective consciousness with breathless, breathtaking style.

Directed by Dan Streit via Somesuch, the narrative boasts a host of pitch stars—Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland and Vini Jr. among them—plus LeBron James, Kim Kardashian, Travis Scott, Channing Tatum and other celebs.

Embracing the notion of “cinematic” marketing full-bore, the work opens on a commercial set and explodes into infinity from there, with numerous media touch points coming into play as footballers move through familiar Hollywood genres (action flicks, arthouse fare, talk shows, etc.)

Scenes shift at lightening speed to illustrate the power of soccer culture across entertainment, fashion, music and more.

It’s a lot to take in at one viewing, but the message is clear: Soccer’s an equal footing with any other sport or creative force you could name. Indeed, setting the storyline in a movie studio reinforces the notion that soccer’s shaking up the landscape with the compelling sound and fury of a summer blockbuster.

And Nike’s all in, naturally, with “Rip the Script” kicking off sundry retail activations, merch, content drops and more.

“We made this film to meet football communities exactly where they are. Not just on a screen, but in their world and deeply engrained into their subcultures,” says Helena Thornton, VP, Nike brand management. “We didn’t want to follow the traditional playbook. We wanted to give them something worth talking about, worth clipping, worth wearing, worth showing up to. A story they don’t just watch—one they can make their own.”

Here, Streit—well-versed at helming quick-cut spectacles across music videos and features—chats with Muse about the ins and out of bringing Nike’s World Cup vision to life:

Muse: How’d you learn that you’d gotten the gig?

Dan Streit: After pitching, we hoped for the best, but managed our expectations because even being considered was already a huge win. We were given a heads up that we were in good standing after a few days, but after about another week of patience, my executive producers Seth Wilson and Ryland Burns called me and told me that we were chosen. It was a bit hard for us to process with so many feelings—intimidated by the sheer scope of the months-long production journey and nervous about the huge shoes we had to fill with Nike’s legacy World Cup ads. Once Nike and W+K chose our approach, we felt extremely confident and supported in pulling it off. And that feeling never really went away, especially with the all-star crew we had to back it up. I can’t express how thankful I am for the team we had.

Did you get a script and more or less shoot scene for scene? Or were there lots of tweaks along the way?

The initial brief had a lot of what you see in the final spot, but in much more simplified steps, beginning with an Mbappe-focused cinematic ad that breaks into BTS with a hothead director, leading to the players running off. The core was there, but many, many bits had to be developed along the way—some even being reworked the nights before we shot. It was tough, but that definitely kept it interesting.

One of the main elements I brought to the table was aiming to stylize the BTS moments in a docu-style/reality TV format, visually championing the “kayfabe” that feels as real and unscripted as possible. It allowed us to be a bit less rigid and focus on capturing the moment instead of always worrying about the picture-perfect technicals.

On your very first day of filming, what went down?

On the day before our first shoot day, one of our main footballers got injured and we found out he wasn’t going to make it to set until later in the shoot. We had to pivot quickly, and started by filming all of his bits with a body double, somewhat as a rehearsal for our eventual day with him. On that same day, we filmed all of Nico Williams’ bits on the main pitch and in our talk show set. Nico was so kind and excited to be there and brought such lovely energy.

What was the toughest part of the project?

The explosion scene with Ronaldo had to be the most difficult. We were facing wind and rain issues, going over-time, anxiously anticipating this massive pyro bit we had been planning for months. We almost had to push it to the next day, which would’ve been a nightmare for the production. But we finally pulled the trigger and it was undeniably one of the most fun shoot days of my life. Not sure if I’ll ever get to experience something like that again.

What was the best part of all?

Again, the explosion was just so fun. The crew couldn’t help but to massively cheer after it went off, even though everyone was supposed to play horrified at the “death.”

But the most unexpectedly fun bit to shoot was the ending, when all of the crew begins to scramble. The assistant director, Guy Forgaard, and I had to get on the megaphone and politely ask everyone in the room to be involved as background extras. We had just about everyone—the entire production crew, the Wieden+Kennedy agency team, Nike executives—all running around and pushing each other for 2 hours and having the times of their lives like little kids. It was hilarious and cathartic and priceless.

What does the film say about how Nike relates to soccer and the cultural landscape?

Nike was smart to let us approach this ad in a way that doesn’t take them too seriously. We made something irreverent and playful and silly, but I’m confident that the spot never stops being reverent to the sport, the players and the legacy of Nike World Cup ads. It’s certainly chaotic and ADD. But we fully embraced that. And I believe you can see us having so much fun with it. That playfulness is what people want to see at the end of the day.