Director David Zucker and actor Robert Hays, known for their collaboration on the movie “Airplane!,” are teaming up again to shoot the Department of Tourism’s summer 2013 TV commercial.
Gov. Scott Walker and Tourism Secretary Stephanie Klett made the announcement and welcomed Zucker and Hays Monday at a press conference in Milwaukee.
The filming of the TV spot is taking place this week in the Eagle River area. The spot features Hays and a cast of supporting players in comedic hijinks on a Wisconsin lake.
“It’s been 32 years since I worked with Bob in ‘Airplane!,’” said Zucker. “And I’m pretty sure when this commercial shoot is over it will be another 32 years before we do this again.”
Hays, who famously played Ted Striker, an ex-fighter pilot with a fear of flying, in “Airplane!” said, “When David called and asked me to join him for a commercial promoting Wisconsin tourism, I said, surely you must be kidding. Of course he responded, ‘I am serious, now let’s go see a gladiator movie.’”
This is the second Wisconsin tourism ad that Zucker, a Wisconsin native, has directed. In December 2011, he directed the Department’s winter TV spot at Milwaukee’s Riverside Theater. It featured the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra performing a concert and breaking into a comedic snowball fight.
Klett said the story line of the latest ad will be kept under wraps until next spring’s Governor’s Tourism Conference, but she added that it will be keeping with Wisconsin’s brand of fun and Zucker’s trademark slapstick.
