And was/is widely derided for it. Not only was it a sell out, it was an embarrassing sellout. Those commercials were laughably bad.
Judi Dench may have been “widely known and admired” among London theatre-goers for certain, and among fans of obscure British cinema but she didn’t have the film resume that would give her the kind of exposure that would result in her being a celebrity that could command a premium for commercial work until her appearance in the 1995 film Goldeneye. My cite is Dench’s IMDb.com page.
How much of the filmgoing public do you imagine has ever seen any film or stage production of Shakespeare outside of an English Lit class forced to watch Zefferilli’s adaptation of an expurgated version of Romeo and Juliet or a Hollywoodized version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream featuring film actors mostly struggling with the Bard’s dialogue? Dench is a fantastic actress but the stage is full of actors that nobody but theatre people have ever heard of because they just do enough television and small film work to make a living. Alec Guinness had a great career in film but I bet you couldn’t find one person in ten who could name a pre-Star Wars role outside of Bridge on the River Kwai and maybe Lawrence of Arabia.
Not his fault; when the dialogue has no known way if speaking the way it is written there is only so much a thespian can do. “There’s too much directing around here.”
Stranger
Seriously though… the only real argument here is that by having famous actors do relatively penny-ante commercials, they’re basically taking roles from other, lesser-known actors. But at the same time, having Chris Hemsworth in your ad is a whole lot more noteworthy than some no-name character actor who mostly acts in commercials and character roles on TV shows, which is why they hire Hemsworth.
But ultimately, the same question applies to any role a well-known actor might play. Why does Chris Hemsworth need that money to play Thor? Why not get a guy who looks like him to play the role and pay less to someone else?
…as has been pointed out: the numbers on these “net worth” websites are not an actual indication of wealth. For example this one declares Lexi Alexander’s net wealth to be 5 million dollars:
But she has made it clear (I can’t find the Twitter post because Twitter search is BROKEN) that this number is far from the truth, it’s completely made up.
Secondly: this is their job. Some only work a few months a week, so when they get a call from their agent that says “this brand are doing a commercial next week with this director in this location, are you interested?”
The celebrity either goes “sure!” or “no thanks!”
There really isn’t much more to it than that. Some might need the money. Some might need the exposure. Some want to work with a director, some might want to travel on somebody elses dime, some might just be bored. Some might be investing in their future, others might be living in the moment.
There isn’t a single correct answer here.
I can’t remember my own reaction, but (a) I’m guessing the pause-for-emphasis announcement was that it was DAME Judi Dench, and (b) I wonder if I thought, “I don’t know who that is; but, since she’s DAME Judi Dench, she’s probably, like, a highly acclaimed Shakespearean stage actress, or something; so, uh, wow.”
A clever trick if you can swing it, I must say.
But yeah, like bump and I said, the advertiser wants a noteworthy actor in the ad, so they’ll make an offer. And someone will take it or not take it based on all the criteria mentioned.
They have no moral duty to decline.
It’s a remarkable resemblance.
“Noooooo!”
Stranger
Twenty or so years ago, I had a big soft drink manufacturer as a client. We pitched a campaign for them, for which we had planned to cast a mid-tier comedian/comic actor; we’d come up with a short list of comedians whom we felt fit the brand’s personality. The chosen comedian would have appeared both in our TV ads, as well as making promotional appearances around the country.
We and the clients agreed that our first choice was Ryan Stiles (who was then, as he still is, a regular on Whose Line Is It Anyway?). After several discussions with Stiles’ agent, he turned us down: he liked the monetary offer just fine, but he didn’t like to fly, and had no interest in doing a promotional tour that would involve a ton of flying.
Not to be morbid, but Jeremy Renner’s situation also makes the case for actors to bank as much money while they can – you never know when life may deal you sudden, catastrophic expenses through a medical emergency, lawsuit, etc.
There’s also another consideration I haven’t seen here - maybe the actor just wants a new experience. It’s why a TV star may try their hand at stage or a movie star may have a cameo in a TV episode. Perhaps these actors are offered a commercial and, having never tried it before, want to see what it is like.
This is important to keep in mind. Once you reach a certain level of wealth and fame, you are no longer just an actor, you become the equivalent of a little corporation, with you at the center as the product, the brand, and the CEO, all at once. You get too many phone calls for you to answer them all, you can’t read all the scripts that are routed your way, you have probably three or four properties to manage, and on and on: lawyers and agents and personal chefs and gofers and who knows what else. Someone like Beyoncé is an extreme case, but she has a full-time staff of something like 30-40 people. As quoted above in the thread, it’s expensive to be rich.
On top of that, something that hasn’t been mentioned yet in this thread: It was discussed in industry circles during Bruce Willis’s recent decline that one reason for continuing to take garbage parts even in poor health is that there may be a need to satisfy a work requirement to maintain health coverage. Yes, it may be absurd to think that someone with, say, 50 million in the bank wouldn’t be able to just pay for a health plan out of pocket. But medical expenses can mount up and drain savings very fast. So if I’m a choosy actor who prefers to work infrequently, and I’m behind schedule on picking my next project and my coverage is at risk but I can do a quick luxury-car commercial in Europe to keep up my union insurance for another year, why wouldn’t I?
Considering that actors become successful by marketing their ability to connect with audiences, why would commercial work be considered a step down? Even the greatest actors have bombs on their resume.
It used to be that it was part of protecting the brand-image “mystique” of the big leading man/lady movie star to not be involved in something like common TV commercials, at least not in their own home market. Part of the same mentality that deprecated TV in general as opposed to film. May even have been something driven by the agencies and studios, rather than by the actors themselves, to create artificial scarcity and “gatekeep”.
Only if they have a part on Dr. Who.
That’s odd, unless the commercials were so visible that they might hurt his image or typecast them for parts he didn’t want. Big stars a while ago would only make commercials in foreign markets. Woody Allen was big in Japan IIRC. But anyone being in a commercial that ran enough to be this kind of problem would be up to his neck in residuals, which is a good thing.
Orson Welles was the exception, but everyone knew he was always looking for money to fund his next project, so he had an excuse.
Wealthy people with wealthy lifestyles have wealthy bills. And they didn’t get wealthy by turning down work.
I have never seen it (Jaws 4) but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built and it is terrific.
- Michael Caine
Doesn’t seem to have stopped her from continuing to be cast in films and TV, though; AIUI, she is currently filming Allelujah.
Mind you, I don’t think Dench or any other actor needs a “pass” on choosing to make commercials, no matter how much other work they get or what disabilities they’re coping with. But having to learn her dialogue orally instead of by reading the script doesn’t seem to be disqualifying Dench from “regular” acting work in any way.
Nah, you’re thinking of Doctor Strange. Benedict Cumberbatch, the actor who plays him, is bound by the usual contractual obligations of the spacetime continuum just like all the rest of us. 
ETA: oh phooey, ninja’d by Voyager. Duh.
Yeah, I worded it wrong. I meant to say that nobody should complain about her in particular. I have no issue with celebs in commercials.