“I Hung My Pants Up When I Did My Last Commercial 10 Years Ago”: David Beckham Reveals How He Trained For Raunchy Hugo Boss Ad As He Approaches 50th Birthday
As he nears his 50th birthday, David Beckham rolled back the years recently when he posed in his underwear for a Hugo Boss ad, bringing back memories from yesteryear.
Today, Beckham revealed he trained for 14 weeks prior to the ad, cutting out “good food and wine” from his diet.
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“I hung my pants up when I did my last commercial 10 years ago and never thought I’d do it again,” said Beckham, who was at the inaugural MIP London in conversation with Netflix content chief Bela Bajaria. “I told my team I’m not going back in my underwear but then we signed the Boss deal and they said they had an underwear campaign and I was under quite a bit of pressure at that point so I agreed and trained for it.”
Beckham revealed an “embarrassing” moment when his mother-in-law came round and said she and her friends were “zooming in” on the ad and “you can see everything.” “I was like, ‘Well don’t zoom in then’,” joked Beckham.
Beckham was the subject of the eponymous Netflix doc series two years ago, which was co-produced by his Studio 99 banner, although he has stressed in the past that he did not have editorial oversight. A similar Netflix doc about his wife Victoria is currently in the offing from Studio 99 and Dorothy Street Pictures.
With some time now having passed since the Beckham doc, the soccer superstar said it showed an “emotional side to sport” that he knew there could be in TV drama or docs.
“It was so great to see the people who watched it, loved it, who got so much from it, who said, ‘Thank you for reminding us of the story, I didn’t know you went through those things’,” said Beckham. “Whatever it was, people from the ages 10 to 90 were coming up to me saying it was an incredible doc.”
He reiterated previous remarks about how difficult it was to explore his demons when making the doc, and said at times he had tried to pull the plug. He pointed out that he hadn’t seen some of the archive footage that Netflix unearthed and it took him aback.
The show has also generated its fair share of viral moments. Beckham chuckled as he explored the infamous ‘Victoria Rolls Royce’ meme and the couple’s dance in the final ep to ‘Islands In The Stream’, which exploded on TikTok. “As the song came on and we’re dancing I’m like, ‘This is going to cost Netflix a fortune’,” he joked. “As soon as I heard ‘Islands in the Stream’ I just thought can we get this passed?”
In a quickfire chat with Bajaria before the serious questions got underway, Beckham also revealed he is “not into UK drama,” although, given that he was in a room full of British TV execs, he on a couple of occasions tried to row this back. He said his favorite movie is Ratatouille and favorite show is Yellowstone.
Post-soccer career
Beckham talked the MIP London audience through his post-soccer career. While he was mostly concentrating on the sport during his decorated career, Beckham said he had always had his mind on developing partnerships as he was playing the beautiful game.
“Building a business was something I did throughout my career,” he said.
“I have been with ADIDAS for 30 years but it is hard work with those brands, you have to commit, deliver and focus on what is important for the brand. Authenticity is something I focused on for the whole of my career. People believe I take the supplements, wear the products and it’s true. That’s where the storytelling part comes into it.”
Beckham and Bajaria were speaking at MIP London, which ends Thursday.
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