SWAMPSCOTT — “Smaht Pahk,” exclaims Saturday Night Live alumna Rachel Dratch. “Just hit the clickah, cah pahks itself,” replies actor/director John Krasinski.
That’s a snippet of Boston-accented dialogue in a Super Bowl advertisement for the 2020 Hyundai Sonata directed by former Swampscott resident Bryan Buckley, an award-winning filmmaker who has created 65 Super Bowl ads, including the laugh-packed one that is already an Internet sensation and slated to run during Sunday’s game.
Filmed in Boston’s South End, the ad is Boston through and through. The three Massachusetts actors — Dratch (Lexington), Krasinski (Newton) and Chris Evans (Sudbury) show no mercy in inflecting every shred of dialogue with “ahs” as Evans and Dratch react to Krasinski’s ability to park the Sonata in a tight space using remote technology.
The ad gives a shout out to Swampscott and Saugus and other Massachusetts communities.
Buckley shot the ad last November on a chilly, rainy day that he said perfectly captured the hearty New England atmosphere he was after.
“It could have easily been shot on a lot in LA, but it wouldn’t have had the same vibe,” he said.
The advertisement features, according to an online description, quick appearances by Mark and Donnie Wahlberg’s brothers, Bob and Arthur, and an ultra-famous Boston sports personality who will go unnamed for the sake of not spoiling the fun pops out of a window at the end of the ad.
“Smaht pahk,” officially known as Remote Smart Parking Assist (RSPA) technology, is designed to steer the Sonata forward into a parking space or location like an overstuffed garage and move it back out with the driver in the vehicle or outside of it.
Buckley’s biography quotes the New York Times in describing the director as the “king of the Super Bowl” with director titles, awards and business success to his name.
His criteria for a Super Bowl ad is “something I haven’t done before” and one well-crafted enough to land in USA Today’s top five Super Bowl ad selection. The selected ads ignite the type of sustained media buzz clients love.
Buckley and Matt Lefebvre have been nominated for an Oscar in the short film live action category for “Saria,” a film about two orphaned Guatemalan sisters struggling to survive.
He lived in Swampscott from the eighth grade through high school, and always loves going home to visit his father, Richard Buckley; mother, Joan Dion, and stepfather, Ed Dion.
State Rep. Lori Ehrlich graduated from Swampscott High School in 1981 with Buckley and said his success is no surprise.
“Bryan has creativity in his genes. His father, Dick Buckley, is an incredibly talented local artist and he’s always had a wicked sense of humor, so with that combination, I’m not surprised by his success.
“His latest ad highlights what I’ve always said that — he has never forgotten where he came from. He’s a compassionate soul, using his gifts to entertain us and pouring his heart into filmmaking about important causes that would not otherwise have the spotlight. I couldn’t be more proud of him,” Ehrlich said.
