“You think I’m having fun?”

When a clip of Turkish Airlines’ new promotional video The Journey was aired at the US Super Bowl, it created a sensation. This was a tv commercial done in a completely different way.

The biggest difference was the length: it is over 6 minutes long. Second, it is directed by acclaimed British director Ridley Scott of The Gladiator, The Alien and Blade Runner 2049 fame.

Scott has turned a commercial for Turkey’s new airport and Turkish Airlines into a chase sequence that looks like something from James Bond, complete with car and helicopter pursuits, an exotic locale and suspense. Scott has even brought in the Dutch actress Sylvia Hoeks (pictured below) who stars in Blade Runner 2049 to play the part of one of the protagonists who is chasing another mysterious woman between flights in Istanbul on (what else?) Turkish Airlines.

The film begins with Hoeks saying “You think I’m having fun?” But obviously she is. And so, it seems is the director, who has been given full creative latitude to film in Istanbul, a city Scott admits he had never been to but where he was mesmerised by the Bosporus, the waterway that separates Asia from Europe.

The bridges over the Bosporous appear prominently, supposedly signifying that the narrow passage is not a barrier anymore and the airline is an aerial bridge between Asia and Europe.

Cleverly done, entertaining, and cinematic techniques that give the film all the hallmarks of a thriller. Says executive creative director Fabian Berglund: “We wanted to make something that celebrates the airline, this new airport and also the city of Istanbul. That is why we ended up making more of a movie than your regular 60-second spot.”

A half-minute clip of The Journey was aired primetime during the Superbowl, where Turkish has been advertising for the past three years. Scott said he took on the director’s job because it “went beyond the limitations of traditional advertising, and allowed me the creative freedom to tell the story”.

Turkish Airlines is planning to release a new film in the series for its other destinations. With 306 cities, and plans to add another 100, the airline will be kept busy. Wonder when Kathmandu’s turn will come.