LEXUS on Screen

J Henderson · February 12, 2022

After upgrading recently to the 4K UHD, I revisited Michael Mann's Collateral (2004) last night, and couldn't help but wince at the scene in which a beautiful white LS400 gets damaged by the taxi that is the movie's centrepiece.

I'm pretty sure I also witnessed a 2nd-gen GS at some point during the film, but anyway I thought this might be a fun topic for people to participate in.

Basically, post every time you see a Lexus on the small or big screen. Giving details (especially images, video) where possible. 🙂

peniole · February 12, 2022

MIB4

peniole · February 12, 2022

Eternals

peniole · February 12, 2022

John Wick

peniole · February 12, 2022

Last one I can remember

Black Panther and tons of appearances on agents of shield

Linas.P · February 12, 2022

Yeah - Lexus recently started adding product placement in Hollywood and to be fair their cars fit futuristic sci-fi genre quite well. Regardless if one hates it or loves it, over the top aggressive design just works and feels more at home in the future then it is in the present. The only thing which is kind of sad is that most prominent appearances were in the movies which I don't regard as particularly good, but I guess they going with assumption that any recognition is better than none. Other strong point - most of the time those are current production models, not some concepts, so when people notice car in the movie they can literally go ahead and buy it, that cannot be said about other brands. That is as well kind of shows that Lexus concepts/prototypes are really relevant - most came to production with minimal alterations to appearance, which is again unusual.

I know placements in Black Planter and Man in Black quite well, thought again I don't consider them good movies. One interesting thing to consider is that Lexus seems to have grown from generic car in the background to more conscious product placement over the years.

Very first appearance of planned product placement by Lexus I believe was in Minority Report where protagonist fights in automated car factory and drivers of this beast of the assembly line:

There is actually page dedicated to listing every car in every movie ever, but I don't want to spoil the party of people remembering and guessing what they remember as Lexus appearance and in what movie.

Rabbers · February 13, 2022

Lexus’ product placements nowadays aim for a futuristic design/technology image exemplified by appearances in sci-fi or semi-contemporary fantasy/action movies. Placements in the late 90s/early 00s, exemplified by TV series like The Sopranos and 24 aimed, rather more simply, to mitigate Lexus’ staid, solid-citizen, “old man’s car” image by presenting it as the marque favoured by characters varying from vaguely disreputable to downright villainous.

Linas.P · February 13, 2022

Do you think in 90s they even planned the placements? Or it was chosen by studios itself as sort of "generic" car, something that doesn't stand out too much?

Dippo · February 13, 2022

Placements were definitely planned in the 90s. TV and film companies wanted access to cars without having to pay for them, and car companies wanted exposure.

Rabbers · February 13, 2022

3 hours ago, Dippo said:

Placements were definitely planned in the 90s …

Absolutely. Although less common in Europe than the U.S. at the time, product placement figured in the media budgets of consumer-goods companies I worked for in the 80s, and the practice was not new. One of the larger ad agencies we used even had a specialist department that negotiated brand deals with film and TV studios.

Leaving aside car chases and action sequences, for which any or most other marques would have been equally suitable, I have always thought that some of the Lexus placements in TV shows were cleverly done insofar as they were appropriate to characterisations and therefore added depth to the productions. Take, for example, the brand-new IS250 in one of the last scenes in the final episode of The Sopranos. This is precisely the sort of car a wealthy father like Tony Soprano would have given his spoilt daughter as a graduation present, and it was entirely in character that she should immediately have kerbed the rims. Then there was the annoying girlfriend of one of the corrupt cops in The Shield who insisted he buy her a GS as the sort of car that would impress her clients as an aspiring estate agent.

Even though I am not at all sure if it was a bought placement, my favorite Is, however, the LC In the Doc Martin TV series in the U.K., which is the perfect choice of car for the show’s highly individualistic (not to say eccentric) but scientifically discerning lead character.

Dippo · February 13, 2022

12 minutes ago, Rabbers said:

Even though I am not at all sure if it was a bought placement, my favorite Is, however, the LC In the Doc Martin TV series in the U.K., which is the perfect choice of car for the show’s highly individualistic (not to say eccentric) but scientifically discerning lead character.

The plate is GX64***. I believe all Lexus company car plates start with G. If it were meant to be a Cornish car, it would have a plate starting W.

Rabbers · February 13, 2022

49 minutes ago, Dippo said:

The plate is GX64***. I believe all Lexus company car plates start with G. If it were meant to be a Cornish car, it would have a plate starting W.

Maybe he brought the car with him from London?

J Henderson · February 13, 2022

Speaking of TV shows, the earlier seasons of Line Of Duty feature a couple of Lexus quite prominently.

Probably a product placement since one of the characters even comments how "flash" the RX is.

Mincey · February 14, 2022

I'm sure that a cop/detective drove an RC in a series many years ago as I thought "Hmmm, what's that then?" when I saw it. I thought it was Idris Elba but I've just turned up nothing in a search.

Rabbers · February 14, 2022

I would have thought Idris Elba is too big to fit into an RC. But, if he ever did drive one, I’m sure the fact would not have escaped the notice of the many devotees of Lexus trivia who post in the LOC.

peniole · February 14, 2022

35 minutes ago, Mincey said:

I'm sure that a cop/detective drove an RC in a series many years ago as I thought "Hmmm, what's that then?" when I saw it. I thought it was Idris Elba but I've just turned up nothing in a search.

You don't mean Luther, do you?

http://www.imcdb.org/i357650.jpg

Rabbers · February 14, 2022

1 hour ago, peniole said:

You don't mean Luther, do you?

http://www.imcdb.org/i357650.jpg

I seem to recall Luther usually drove a seedy old Volvo (much better suited to dents in the bodywork than a Lexus).

Arnett · February 14, 2022

The LC is in Spiderman & Black panther IIRC.

On 2/12/2022 at 10:07 PM, J Henderson said:

After upgrading recently to the 4K UHD

Absolutely love a decent film in 4k. Ive got a Sony OLED UHD 4k TV, if it broke tomorrow id replace it for the same in an instant, Grand tour, movies etc all look amazing on a decent screen.