5 Men and a Limo

Infobox Film
name = 5 Men and a Limo


image_size =
caption =
director =
producer = Aspect Ratio Films
writer =
narrator =
starring = Clinton Hendricks
Don LaFontaine
John Leader
Nick Tate
Mark Elliot
Al Chalk
Hal Douglas (cameo voiceover)
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Aspect Ratio Films
released = 1997
runtime = 4 min., 21 sec.
country = USA
language = English
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0379787

"5 Men and a Limo" (1997) is a short film (4.35 minutes) produced by Aspect Ratio Films as an introduction sketch for the 26th Annual "Hollywood Reporter" Key Art Awards. In the film late voiceover actor Don LaFontaine picks up four other voiceover actors in his limo to travel to the awards. The actors talk about themselves and the awards, making humorous references to common phrases and techniques they use when voicing movie trailers. Besides LaFontaine, the other actors appearing in the film are John Leader, Nick Tate, Mark Elliot, and Al Chalk. Hal Douglas provides his voice for a telephone call, but does not appear.

The limousine in the film is LaFontaine's. The driver is Clinton Hendricks, LaFontaine's personal sound engineer and driver. [http://web.archive.org/web/20030202022609/http://www.fadeinmag.com/kaye/feature.htm Archive.org copy of "The Man With The Golden Voice"] , "Fade In" magazine; published February 2003; retrieved July 3, 2007.]

Reception

The film's original purpose was to serve as an introductory sketch for the 1997 "Hollywood Reporter" Key Art Awards broadcast. According to John Leader, the sketch played to a packed house at the awards ceremony and was so well received that the next day, bootlegged copies began circulating around the internet [http://www.johnleader.com/biography.html Biography of John Leader] ; retrieved July 8, 2007.] ; to date, one copy of the film has over 440,000 views on YouTube alone [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQRtuxdfQHw "5 Men and a Limo" on YouTube] ; retrieved October 5, 2008.] . In addition, the five voiceover artists, many of whom had few on-camera credits to their names prior to "5 Men and a Limo", had become instantly recognizable; LaFontaine went on to do on-screen appearances in commercials for GEICO as "that announcer guy from the movies", while Leader has done on-screen commercials for Burger King and Kudos granola barsOh Yeah by Swiss band Yello, after Don LaFontaine introduces Al Chalk.

References

External links

* [http://www.donlafontaine.com/DLF2007/Index.html?p=NowPlaying.html&pt=Archives LaFontaine's clip archive page] , which includes this film and other material
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379787/ IMDB entry for "5 Men and a Limo"]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQRtuxdfQHw 5 Men and a Limo on YouTube]