Apparently you can still get work at age 65, and for Helen Mirren, just two days of work is more than most of us make in 10 years.
Of course we have no idea how much negotiating went on between Mirren and the Wii Fit people, but apparently Nintendo wanted her, specifically, at any cost. “Nintendo insisted they wanted Helen and no one else. They wanted an older, more attractive woman to show that the Wii isn’t just for children,” said a friend of Mirren in an MSN story.
As someone whose mother wanted nothing but Wii Fit for Christmas two years ago, I know the exercise game can spark a lot of interest among the 50+ crowd (sorry, mom, for telling people how old you are). Based on the number of Wii bowling tournaments we’ve seen in retirement centers across America, Nintendo has actually managed to do the unthinkable and turn senior citizens into gamers.
Mirren will obviously be able to reinforce that message. For $700,000, we hope Nintendo really gots its money’s worth. We expect to see Mirren commercials plastered all over TV, print ads to appear in every issue of AARP The Magazine from now on, and Mirren’s face to show up on future prints of the Wii Fit Plus game box.
The TV spots will show Mirren actually playing the game, singing its praises, saying stuff like, “You need never get bored as every day you can tailor a new workout.”
What would be even cooler is to see her play Wii Fit in her Queen Elizabeth II get-up. That probably would have cost an extra $100,000, though.
