Mila Kunis is doing her best to focus so she can complete another take in her first Super Bowl commercial, but it's a challenge for her not to break out in laughter as she stands in a shower and Ashton Kutcher keeps pulling back the curtain.
“Baby, could you not look at me?” she asks Kutcher.
Kunis and Kutcher, married in 2015, are two stars of the latest Cheetos Super Bowl commercial. Like all ads shot during COVID-19, the crew, talent and agency had to navigate strict safety guidelines. And because this ad will run on advertising's biggest stage, the margin for error is slim. Ad Age got exclusive access to the shoot, via Zoom, for a behind the scenes look at how they pulled it off.
In the spot, Kunis finds Kutcher's bag of the new Cheetos Crunch Pop Mix so tasty that she hides throughout the house, including in the shower, to keep it all to herself.
Details are tweaked each time Kutcher pulls back the shower curtain to catch Kunis with the bag. Perhaps it’s the way he sing-speaks his line, “you even had them in the shower,” or how he stares into the mirror and then turns, or how she strategically clutches the bag. Plus, her fingertips, meant to showcase “Cheetle” — that orange dust that inevitably gets on one’s fingers while eating Cheetos — need to be seen at just the right angle.
“I’m sorry, I know the camera’s really heavy,” Kunis tells the camera person as the couple continues with takes during the bathroom scene.
Another take begins. Soon, Kunis is heard uttering “it wasn’t me,” a phrase that will be heard dozens of times during the shoot and is the premise of the 60-second commercial.