Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin spent Wednesday afternoon at the Ashburn Village Shopping Center to film a commercial for Papa John’s Russia.
The new Russian language ad features Ovechkin, in full hockey gear, making a pizza and puck-juggling tomatoes with his stick. For the segment filmed today, Ovechkin wore a red and foam green striped Papa John’s jersey.
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“I need my eyes closed I think,” Ovechkin joked, as he tried to juggle the pizza topping with the blade of his Bauer twig.
According to Chris Wadsworth of The Burn, the commercial was made to inspire businessmen in Ovechkin’s home country to open more Papa John’s locations in Russia.
The Papa John’s location at the Ashburn Village Shopping Center was taken over by a film crew — with cameras, mounted lights, boom microphones, TV monitors, even a make-up artist. Passers-by slowed down in their cars to stare at the scene.
The commercial isn’t meant for American audiences. According to Papa John’s execs on the set, it’s a Russian commercial aimed at potential franchisees in Russia. They’re using the star power of Russia-native Ovechkin to get business people interested in opening Papa John’s locations in that country. As part of the shoot, the crew had hung up temporary Papa John’s artwork and logos that were all written in Russian.
In early September, we first learned of the commercial after a casting call for the ad was forwarded to our inbox. The casting company Taylor Royall was looking for two caucasians who could speak in Russian and serve as a Papa John’s Manager and Apartment Tenant.
On Instagram, three teenagers who were cast to be in the commercial posed on the sidewalk during down time on set.
Ovechkin was joined at the restaurant/makeshift set by his wife Nastya who posted video on her Instagram account.
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