On the 12th of October 2021, Liverpool S.C was contacted by a film company who were about to film a TV commercial in Liverpool and asked for our help. They were proposing to turn part of Exchange Flags in the city centre into a street in Rome and needed some Italian vehicles for the backdrop. We were asked to keep the name of the product confidential at that stage and also the name of the star who was appearing in the commercial. They didn’t want anyone gate-crashing the filming and trying to get close to the star. By now, most of you will probably know that the product is Pepsi-Cola and the star of the commercial is Liverpool F.C striker – Mo Salah!
The task was handed over to myself to organise 5 scooters, an original Fiat 500 car and a Piaggio Ape truck. On Thursday the 21st of October 2021, the chosen vehicles and drivers / riders were asked to be at the film crew’s base in Kent Street in the city centre at 7am. On arrival, we were given breakfast from the film crew’s catering units. The crew then began filming the chase scenes up and down the lower part of Kent Street, where the crowd were chasing Mo Salah. They were using a Mo Salah double for this and he was a really convincing. Word must have got out about the filming and some gate-crashers arrived but they were soon seen off by the security guards. The chase scenes took all morning so we watched those for a while then went back to the base for lunch. It was 2pm before we were called to go to Exchange Flags for the ‘Rome’ scenes.
Fake Italian no. plates were fitted to our scooters!
When we arrived at Exchange Flags, the crew had already transformed it into an Italian street with Italian flags, a street name sign, an Italian restaurant with menu board and fake cobbles on the road. The scooters were used as props for the actors after having fake Italian number plates fitted to them and a small group were purchasing drinks etc, from the Ape van. More chase scenes with the real Mo Salah or his double then took place down the ‘street’. The director was finally satisfied with the day’s filming and at 6pm, we were all allowed to go home.
This isn’t even the real Geoff!
Filming is mostly about setting up the equipment for the scenes and repeatedly doing them until the director is satisfied. It was a long, cold day but we did our bit. The film crew were due to move to a mountain location the following day to shoot some scenes using drones. We’re looking forward to seeing the finished product, although knowing how these things work, it often takes a full day of filming for just a few seconds on screen.
