How Sprint Snagged James Earl Jones for Those Amazeballs Commercials

Let's be honest, Sprint's "Everything's Important" campaign starring James Earl Jones and Malcolm McDowell are comedy times infinity plus another infinity.
 
After watching the legendary actors embody bros unsure about evening plans, giddy girls discussing cute boys, and an annoyed married couple, one reaction — after the laughter subsided —seemed to rise above the rest.
 
How did Sprint get Darth Vader (Jones) and Alex DeLarge (McDowell) to do that?!
 
To get the answer, omg! went straight to the source and asked the legendary Jones how a phone company got him onboard to perform such frivolity. 
 
"I love doing commercials," the thespian, who just completed a run as Benedick in the London production of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing," tells omg!. "It's as simple as that. The work is very specific. All theater is about storytelling and the storytelling we do on a commercial is so, so specific and sometimes — as in the case of the Sprint commercials that we're doing — it's just a few words … and these two old guys, who aren't ashamed of making fools of themselves."
 
As for his now infamous utterings of "Hottie McHotterson," "totes adorbs," and the universal winner, "Totes McGotes," Jones, who insists he has no comedic chops, says he wasn't what you'd call an expert on the youthful slang.
 


 
"The majority of the words I had never heard before," confesses the actor.
 
And while he didn't veto any of the phrases presented to him, Jones admits he hasn't incorporated them into his vocab, either.
 
"[The explanations] would go in one ear and out the other. It didn't help to know [their meanings], it helped to know how to say it, that's all." He adds, "My main concern was, 'Am I gonna insult the young people who speak like that?' And [the director] Noam Murro said, 'I'll take care of that. I'll make sure that you're not doing anything that is excessively negative or mocking.' But we had to be very intense. He wanted us to be as intense as you would be if you were doing a classical play. So we had to go for it, but not as comedians."
 
Whatever the method, the spots — which will number nine by the end of the year — have become extremely popular, and have achieved the ultimate form of flattery: parodies.
 


 
Even Jones says he is "surprised" that the ads have been so well received, and notes that he garnered some cool uncle points as a result of appearing in them.
 
"I have a niece in California that's so happy that her uncle can talk like she does now," he laughs.
 
Continuing to reach a new generation is exciting to the man behind the voice of Darth Vader, who reveals he's not yet been contacted about reprising his bad guy role in J.J. Abrams's "Star Wars Episode: VII."
 
"The [ad] that's playing right now is the 'Totes McGotes' and I think it might have some lasting among young people, 'cause it's the way they talk," he says, adding, "I like that a lot. I'm 83 years old, and I like having been in touch with that many generations." 
 
Watch the behind the scenes video from the commercial shoots: