Part six in our countdown to MINI’s 60th anniversary on August 26
The Mini should have its own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, as only a handful of actors can lay claim to such a long career on the silver screen. Here’s just a small selection of its leading roles over the last 60 years.
The Italian Job
Even though it starred big-name actors such as Michael Caine, Noel Coward and Benny Hill, the Mini Cooper S is ultimately the biggest star in the iconic 1969 heist film, The Italian Job, in which a gang of thieves steal a loot of gold from Turin — the home of Fiat — and escape into Switzerland.
MINI part-financed a remake starring Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Donald Sutherland and Jason Statham in 2003.
Austin Powers in Goldmember
This one follows in the wheel tracks of an iconic Jaguar E-Type in the original Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and then a (clearly paid-for product placement) time-travelling Volkswagen New Beetle in the follow-up Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
MINI jumped on the Bond-spoofing bandwagon for the final instalment of the trilogy, Austin Powers in Goldmember with Mike Myer’s Austin Powers character driving a Cooper S draped in the Union Jack as his own personal car.
A Shot in the Dark
Peter Sellars loved his own modified Mini — a lavishly appointed Cooper S complete with wicker cane body panels and a leather interior – so much that he had a replica made for the second instalment in the Pink Panther spy-spoof comedy series, A Shot in the Dark.
It was the Mini’s big-screen debut in 1964 but certainly not its last.
The Bourne Identity
Continuing Mini’s adventurous silver-screen fascination with spy films, amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne thrashes a late-model MkV Mini Mayfair through the streets of Paris to escape from the French police in The Bourne Identity.
Pixels
Is there a better way to save the world and rid an alien invasion of 1980s video game characters than by transforming a quartet of MINIs into Pac Man-munching ghosts?
Ummm… Sure! Well — spoiler alert — that’s what happened in the 2015 Adam Sandler kid-flick Pixels.
More Mini magic: Top five Mini world records Top 10 famous people who owned a Mini Top 10 giant-killing Mini motorsport achievements Top 10 things you didn’t know about Mini
Top 10 Mini’s – 60th anniversary
Keyword: Top five MINI big-screen starring roles