In Roger Federer’s first big move since becoming Switzerland’s new Tourism Ambassador, a new ad campaign has shown him trying to get Robert De Niro on board to do a ‘Welcome to Switzerland’ film.
While perhaps an unlikely pairing, the two have instant on-camera chemistry that rivals De Niro’s connection with his greatest co-stars and Federer’s with his greatest doubles partners.
As De Niro watches through Federer’s sample film, that takes you through Switzerland’s most beautiful landscapes, he refuses to participate in the film, saying: “Roger, I’m a certain type of actor, I need an edge, conflict, jeopardy, Switzerland is just too perfect!”
It’s hard to disagree as the video pans past glittering glacial lakes, the rugged beauty of the alps and quaint Swiss villages.
When Federer politely concedes to De Niro that he’s right about Switzerland, things reach a boiling point and De Niro responds: “That’s exactly what I’m talking about, you guys are too nice. You should’ve said f*** you.” While seeing Robert De Niro drop the f-bomb to Roger Federer probably isn’t what most people expected to see today, it’s quite spectacular.
While Roger is all smiles and super cheeky throughout the video, his acting is really quite great and he knows it too.
With his legendary tennis career slowly but surely drawing to a close, maybe soon we’ll be seeing him in sitcoms and feature films.
You also can’t deny that the campaign definitely does its job and makes Switzerland look incredibly tempting as a post-COVID travel destination, where you can relax in the lack of drama and conflict that De Niro might need, but you certainly don’t.
