Palace founder Lev Tanju talks us through the brands’ ironic commerical, and their latest collab
“We just wanted to make something really stupid,” says Palace founder Lev Tanju on his decision to cast Hollywood actor Jonah Hill in the ad for the brand’s new collaboration with Reebok. While Hill might not be the first person that springs to mind when you think of the London skatewear brand, here he is – plugging their new trainers. An ironic take on a cheesy celebrity commerical, the ad features the actor explaining why you should buy these trainers. “They’ve got these dope new sneakers that they’ve made in collaboration with some sportswear company called Reebok,” he says, pronouncing said sportswear company’s name wrong. “Take a look. Wow...” Here, Palace founder Lev Tanju explains how they got Hill involved, what it was like on set and whether he and the other Palace boys would consider letting him become a member of his crew, P.W.B.C.
How did you get Jonah to star in the advert?
Lev Tanju: He’s a nice guy and he knows some skaters I know so I just decided to hit him up when we had the idea for the advert.
Why did you approach him?
Lev Tanju: He just cracks me up basically and I’m a fan of loads of the films he’s in.
Does he wear Palace?
Lev Tanju: Yeah, I’ve seen him wear it on the interpipe.
Would you consider letting him become a member of P.W.B.C.?
Lev Tanju: Defo, he’s a total legend, just need to check how many pints he can drink first.
What was shooting the advert like?
Lev Tanju: I actually had to leave the room for a couple of shots or look away a lot of the time because I couldn’t stop laughing. It was really easy to be honest, he just bopped in and nailed it straight away. I also forgot to bring hard drives to get the footage off the cameras at the shoot so I had to run about hungover trying to find a jiggabyte size one last minute and had a mini panic attack.
It’s not the first time you’ve collaborated with Reebok – what makes Palace and Reebok such a good pairing?
Lev Tanju: We all just love the trainers – it’s what everyone used to wear when they were younger so is great to be able to make our own ones .
What are these trainers like, and how are they different to ones you've previously designed together?
Lev Tanju: We’ve done a new silhouette we’ve not messed with before called the Club C. It’s a good skate shoe that a few of the guys like. There’s a white 3m one that is my personal fave. Then we did simple Reebok Classics too with ice soles.
Palace Skateboards x Reebok is launching at the Palace London shop on July 9th and on the web shop on July 9th, 11am (BST)
