Daily Star- September 9, 2007
by Gary Nicks
Viewers are going ape over a new telly advert featuring a gorilla drumming to the Phil Collins song in The Air Tonight.
The hilarious clip has taken the internet by storm after first airing on C4 during the breaks on Big Brother final night.
It has received more than 500,000 hits on YouTube and is getting more downloads than the current UK No. 1.
The 90-second ad for Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate opens with a slow build up to the 1981 song.
Viewers then see the gorilla launch into its famous drums sequence with perfect comic timing. The ad has left folk in stitches but baffled - because there seems no connection between a gorilla drumming and chocolate bars.
It has even proved a hit with former Genesis star Phil, 56 who said: “Not only is the gorilla a better drummer than me, he also has more hair!”
the actor in the suit is Garon Michael, who has appeared in films including Planet Of The Apes.
A Cadbury’s spokesman said: “Our gorilla has become a bit of an online monster.”
METRO - September 11, 2007
by Ross McGuinness
It turned out to be an inspired advert, even if it sounded pain weird: take one unknown actor, put him in a gorilla suite and get him to play drums to a Phil collins backing track.
The latest Cadbury’s commercial has taken Britain by storm since it launched last month, Bloggers have been going nuts for the 90 second clip, which was viewed almost 500,000 times on YouTube: the week after its release and is part of a 6.2 million advertising campaign.
Put until now, no one has identified the man behind the monkey suit - with many bloggers believing it was even Collins himself. But the advert’s makers admitted yesterday that he was a little-known actor called Garon Michael. Something of a specialist. Mr. Michael has appeared as a primate in the movies, Congo, Instinct, and the Planet Of The Apes remake, and acted alongside the likes of Anthony Hopkins, Donald Sutherland and Mark Wahlberg.
With the Phil Collins song In The Air Tonight playing in the background, the camera starts on the gorilla’s face before panning out to reveal he is playing the drums.
As the 1980 hit song reaches its climax, the scene fades out to be replaced by a picture of a Dairy Milk bar.
Cadbury spokesman, Tony Bilsborough said, “We have been amazed by the way the advert has captured the public’s imaginations.”
Entertainment Weekly,
October 12, 2007
Woodwork
LA Weekly - October 23 - 29, 1998
by Steven Mikulan
....Most memorable, though, is Michael’s awesome impersonation of the gorilla, a mimickry of ape and essence that is breathtaking, from his arm-swinging gait to the rueful, slack-jawed gaze with which he encounters the world...
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