Zac Efron and Jessica Alba are showing off some moves in a new action-packed film that appears to be promoting Dubai as part of a new campaign.
Efron teams up with Alba in a seemingly similar take on ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’, playing a couple that jet sets across the emirate while taking down some bad guys. All in a day’s work we think.
The film opens with an aerial shot of Burj Al Arab, with Efron channelling his ‘Baywatch’ slo-mo walk as he climbs out of a pool. A frustrated Alba chastises Efron for bringing his work to their vacation as they sit at Pier Chic. A second later, a leather-clad man bursts into a restaurant atop a bike, with Alba leaping into the air to fend him off, even as Efron springs into action as well.
A bike chase ensues, taking Alba to the Museum of the Future, with planes, boats and automobiles keeping up the thrills as the stars race through the city’s waterways and the desert, before they leap off the famous helipad at Burj Al Arab, with the words ‘Visit Dubai’ flashing on the screen.
“He’s always getting me into trouble… @zacefron #DubaiPresents,” posted Alba on Instagram with a video of the film, with Efron following with a similar post, tagging his sidekick.
Efron is a noted name in Hollywood, having made a name for himself with Disney’s ‘High School Musical’, along with ‘Baywatch’. Alba, who shot to fame with the TV show ‘Dark Angel’, has starred in the ‘Fantastic Four’ and is lately on the hit show ‘LA’s Finest’.
Fans were alerted to the Hollywood stars possibly being in Dubai when posts on Efron’s Instagram featured him atop a bike in the city’s Al Bastakiya area. Alba also posted an image where she is seen strutting down the Burj Al Arab helipad with camera crew around her.
This won’t be the first time big-ticket stars have promoted Dubai. In 2019, Hollywood’s Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson and Zoe Saldana charted out their own adventures as part of the emirate’s marketing campaign called ‘A Story Takes Flight’.
In three short clips, each actress was seen exploring a different experience in Dubai, while the trio was also pictured taking an abra ride in Old Dubai.
In the first video, titled ‘Feel the soul of the city’, Hudson was seen strolling through the alleyways of Souk Al Kabeer and Bastakiya, the city’s historic centre, with a voice-over asking: “Where is Kate?” Her journey leads her to the Bur Dubai abra station, with brief flashes that show the ‘Mother’s Day’ actress experiencing Dubai’s nightlife by taking a shot at karaoke.
Paltrow’s adventure, meanwhile, took her to Bastakiya as well, before leading the ‘Avengers: Endgame’ actress to Jumeirah where she was seen trying out watersports with the Burj Al Arab hotel in the background. Paltrow’s ‘Fuel your sense of discovery’ video also ends in a nightclub before fading out.
Saldana’s tour, titled ‘Find another point of view’, took the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ star out of the city and into the Hatta desert where she is seen at a Bedouin camp. It wasn’t long before the bright lights beckoned and the actress was seen riding a bike into the city with the Sheikh Zayed Road skyline stretched out before her. Her travels ultimately led her to City Walk, where she was seen pointing at the Dubai Frame.
In February that same year, Bollywood’s Shah Rukh Khan went on an adventure for Dubai’s #BeMyGuest campaign. In a series of six videos, the actor was seen visiting top tourists spots in the city, while reaching out to fans to help him solve clues and discover his next adventure.
In the final episode, titled ‘The Revelation’, Khan is given three coins that spelt out: ‘Be my guest’. With his new discovery, Khan takes the treasure to the beach where he sets eyes on a mystery blonde woman hiding behind the rim of a large straw hat and reading a book. She is later revealed as Paltrow.
While we await more details on the Efron and Alba campaign, we can certainly expect to see more adventures of the duo across Dubai.
