Telstra’s latest campaign turns network security into an intergalactic showdown, starring none other than Steve Buscemi as a scheming alien overlord. The Reservoir Dogs and Boardwalk Empire star commands the Zalunians, a bumbling race determined to unleash “scamageddon” on Australia—until the mighty Telstra network shuts them down.
The 90-second hero spot, directed by Randy Krallman of Smuggler and filmed in Prague, mixes sci-fi homage with absurd comedy. Buscemi delivers lines like, “Don’t target a mighty network. I guess we forgot,” with a perfect blend of menace and wry humor. Bear Meets Eagle on Fire’s founder and chief creative officer, Micah Walker, said Buscemi had “the right mix of nostalgia and humorous hostility” to bring the villain to life. The casting came after “a list of folks we thought could play the emperor villain” and some serendipity—Buscemi is married to an Australian, a fact the team only learned on set.
The character draws on classic genre tropes, from Flash Gordon’s Ming the Merciless to Star Trek and Doctor Who antagonists, with a touch of Spaceballs silliness. Creative director Ian Williamson credited Buscemi’s improvisation for adding “unscripted gems” that made the emperor feel both fresh and familiar. Watch below:
That retro-futurism runs through the production design, from analogue buttons and chunky knobs to green monochrome screens, all meant to signal that even these “advanced” aliens are due for an upgrade. “The combination of those decisions hopefully makes it easy for a viewer to understand the Zalunians are no match for Telstra,” said creative director Paul Gregson.
Telstra head of brand and marketing communications Alita McMenamin called the spot “a very entertaining product demo” that highlights not just the network’s size but its security. For Walker, the goal was simple: talk about blocking scams “more distinctively and memorably” without falling into the trap of overly serious category tropes. The result is a tongue-in-cheek space epic that proves not even alien invaders can outsmart Telstra’s firewall.
CREDITS:
BRAND: Telstra
- Chief Marketing Officer: Brent Smart
- Head of Brand: Alita McMenamin
- Head of Creative: Anna Jackson
- Marketing Specialist: Rebecca Tearle
- Media Manager: Robbie Aoukar
- Operations Director: Paula Marreiros
AGENCY: Bear Meets Eagle On Fire, +61
MEDIA: OMD Australia
PRODUCTION COMPANY: SMUGGLER
- Director: Randy Krallman
- Director of Photography: Kaname Onoyama
- Producer: Gustav Geldenhuys
- Executive Producer: Allison Kunzman
- President: Patrick Carmody
- Chief Executive Officer: Patrick Milling Smith
- Production Designer: Jiri Matura
- Costume Designer: Terezie Dvorakova
- Makeup SFX: Josef Rarach
- Artist: Martin Pec
POST / VFX: ARC
- Executive Producer: Daniel Bradford-Fry
- Editor: Peter Sciberras
- Edit Assistant: Liam James
- Blockhead Sydney
MUSIC/SOUND: Rumble Studios
- Executive Producer: Michael Gie
- Composer: Jeremy Richmond
- Sound Designer: Tone Aston
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