Bill Murray is one fascinating cat, and he recently was a guest on the Joe Rogan experience, which is a fascinating watch:
Bill Murray
Lost In Translation 2003
Stainless Rolex Datejust
Lost in Translation is a romantic comedy film staring Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray and it is set in Tokyo. It was released in 2003 and was directed by Sofia Coppola. It you want to get lost in a great movie, I highly recommend watching Lost In Translation!
Lost in Translation won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay at the 76th Academy Awards, and was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director (Coppola), and Best Actor (Murray). It also own three Golden Globes and 3 British Academy Film Awards.
Sofia Coppola is pictured below with her legendary director father, Francis Ford Coppola and notice Sofia is wearing a Rolex.
Bill Murray rocks his Rolex Datejust prominently throughout the movie as we see in this image below.
Did you notice the subtle reference I made to “Sly and the Family Stone” in the subtitle of this story, when I used “Leo and the Family Rolex”? The title is a play on the band’s iconic songs, 'Everyday People', 'Family Affair', and 'I Want To Take You Higher', which celebrated the unity and diversity within their group. Despite coming from diverse backgrounds and having varying roles within the band, the members were all included and considered part of the same family! Same with Rolex...
Academy Award Winning Best Actor, Leonardo DiCaprio is now the face of Rolex, or in Rolex parlance, or nomenclature—a Rolex Testimonee. (Maybe Testimonee is French, or something!?!! :-) I'm 99%++ certain "Testimonee" is Rolex's way of saying "Ambassador", in the same way Rolex has long referred (since 1932) to two-tone yellow gold and steel watch models, (including platinum & stainless) models as "Rolesium". Rolex quietly added Leonardo DiCaprio to "The Rolex Family", today—without much fanfare.
Jake's Take
If you think about it, the metaphor, "The Rolex Family", is a brilliantly powerful metaphor on many levels!?!! The two things that stands out most about "The Rolex Family", are first and foremost, how inclusive it is; and secondly, it almost sounds like an invitation of sorts. You see, we, as human beings are very tribal creatures, that yearn to run with the most successful pack of our fellow humans. The slogan of "The Rolex Family" to my way of thinking reminds me of Frank Sinatra singing, "Come Fly With Me!"
So "The Rolex Family" is almost a call to action of sorts...In my option it sounds like, if you wear a Rolex, you are part of "The Rolex Family"—by default...
Over the decades, I've seen Rolex come up with some pretty brilliant marketing slogans and campaign, but I think "The Rolex Family" is probably the best one yet! Kudos to Rolex!!!! Speaking of which, this new Rolex "Reach for the Crown" video that just dropped is also totally next-level inspirational...
Legendary, distinguished and unusually charismatic Canadian actor, Donald Sutherland passed away yesterday at age 88, leaving behind an amazing film legacy that spanned 6 decades. In his career he was awarded many accolades, which included two Golden Globe Awards, as well as a Primetime Emmy, as well as a BAFTA Award nomination.
He is also considered to be one of the best actors to never have been nominated for an Academy Award, but despite this fact, he received an Academy Honorary Award in 2017.
Donald Sutherland starred in the war film, The Dirty Dozen (1967), and went on to appear in M*A*S*H (1970). My most vivid recollections of Donald Sutherland were in Animal House (1978), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Ordinary People (1980), and most prominently starring as Mr. X in the 1991 JFK movie.
Donald Sutherland's son, Kiefer Sutherland is also an extremely famous actor, and is perhaps best know for his starring role as Jack Bauer on the Fox megabit drama series titled "24", which ran from 2001-2010, 2024), for which he won a Golden Globe Award as well as a Primetime Emmy Award. As Jack Bauer, on 24, he famously wore a Rolex SEA-DWELLER as pictured below.
Kiefer Sutherland is also a famous movie star and is known for roles he played in movies like Stand by Me (1986), and A Few Good Men (1992).
Alan Arkin back in 1984 rocking his Rolex Explorer
Alan Arkin
Belongs To The Ages
1934-2023
Alan Arkin passed away today at the age of 89. He was an amazing actor and human being and he wore his vintage Rolex Explorer for over a half-decade, so let's hop in the Rolex Time Machine and reflect on some of his outstanding career achievements as an actor which spanned 7 decades:
The Kominski Method
Rolex Explorer
I have a confession to make: My absolute favorite way to watch a Movie or TV show is cold. Specifically, I like to watch new content without knowing anything whatsoever about what I am about to watch, and that is what occurred when I began watching The Kominsky Method which stars Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin.
The show just blew my mind, and it is kind of like a combination of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Thelma & Louise. Of course, I could not help but notice Alan Arkin rocks a vintage Rolex Explorer on the show as we seen on his wrist in the photo below. It turns out this is his real watch that he wore in real life.
Alan Arkin costars with Michael Douglas who is amazing in the Kominsky Method. Whenever I think of Michael Douglas I think of his portrayal of Gordon Gekko in Wall Street, but after a few episodes of Kominsky I seemed to have forgotten about that. Both Arkin and Douglas were AMAZING in The Kominsky Method.
Alan Arkin is arguably one of the greatest actors in history. In his amazing career that has spanned 7 decades he has won 2 Academy Awards for Best Actor in The Russians Are Coming [1969] & The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter [1969]. He also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Little Miss Sunshine [2007], and Argo [2013].
I remember first watching 'The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter' movie in Film Literature class at George Washington High School in San Francisco in 10th grade, which was a really trippy movie. All I really remember is the character who was like Baby Huey who thew a rock through the bakery window to steal the cake on display as he could not resist it :-0
Spoiler Alert: Alan Arkin didn't reprise his role in Season three which debuted on Netflix back on July 2021, which was a bummer as he was so great in Season One and Two as we see in this trailer for Season 3. I learned he didn't return due to his doctors concern that he might catch Covid:
Th Coffee is for Closers, Always Be Closing (ABC) scene in Glengarry Glen Ross in which Alan Arkin is featured is one of the most famous and iconic moments that feature a Rolex Presidential model.
The backstory is that it was a vintage Rolex DATE model that was given by legendary Director, Francis Ford Coppola to his very talented daughter, Sofia Coppola.
After having read the Hodinkee story, I was naturally curious as it lacked any photos of Sofia Coppola wearing her Rolex DATE, but the great news is I found pictures of her rocking her Rolex DATE as we see in the photos above and below.
Below is a trailer of "On The Rocks" which I recently watched and thought it was excellent:
In the photo seen below from W Magazine taken by Ted Dayton back in 1990 we again see Sofia Coppola wearing her Rolex DATE which was the same year she costarred in The Godfather Part III.
Below is the trailer of Godfather III: CODA. I haven't seen the movie yet, but from what I understand, it has a different beginning and end...The movie is formally titled "Mario Puzo's The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone and it is available on Blu-ray and digitally...
I must mention I am a huge fan of the Godfather Trilogy and have watched all three movies countless times. I saw the Godfather Part III on Christmas day in 1990 in San Francisco at the Regency Movie Theater on Van Ness Avenue and thought it was every bit as great as the first two movies!!! My love for the movie was contrary to popular consensus as people criticized Sofia Coppola's role in the movie, but I thought her acting was absolutely magnificent!
Andy Garcia
Godfather III
Academy Award Nominee for Best Actor
I think the Coppola's should come out with a Godfather: Part 4 in the future, which should feature Andy Garcia, who was also completely amazing!!!!
Andy Garcia was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1990 for his role in The Godfather: Part III. Andy Garcia is pictured below rocking his Rolex Explorer II Orange Hand [Reference 1655].
Photo above appears courtesy of Cigar Officianado
The fascinating thing about Andy Garcia's vintage Rolex Explorer II (Reference 1655) 'Orange Hand' is that he somehow added a black GMT-Bezel to it which I have not only never seen before, but didn't realize was even possible, but damn it looks good!
It is fascinating to note that all four of the major Godfather actors in the Godfather Trilogy have worn Rolex watches to keep the time of their life, so not only Andy Garcia, but also Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as we see below.
Robert De Niro
Godfather II
Academy Award Winner for Best Actor
Robert De Niro starred in Godfather Part II and won the 1975 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal as young Don Vito Corleone.
Robert De Niro has been wearing Rolex watches for 5 decades now as we see him back in 1978 wearing a Rolex Submariner in Deer Hunter.
We see Robert De Niro below is a recent photo with Jason Stratham and De Niro is again wearing a vintage Rolex Submariner. I realize I am daisy-chaining a bit now, but hey, it's RolexMagazine.com after all.
Photo of Marlon Brando appear courtesy of Mary Ellen Mark
Al Pacino
Godfather I, II & III
Academy Award Winner for Best Actor
Al Pacino starred in all 3 Godfather movies and has worn many different Rolex watches for many decades both on and off screen. Al Pacino is pictured below with Marlon Brando on the set of Godfather I.
Al Pacino wore his Rolex Submariner when he accepted his Academy Award Oscar for Best Actor in 1993 for his role in The Scent of A Woman as we seen in this discovery made by Nick Gould.
Sofia Coppola
Academy Award Winner for Best Actor
In this last photo we again see Sofia Coppola behind the camera where she spends most of her time today as a director.
Sofia Coppola's new movie titled 'On The Rocks' which can be seen on Apple TV + stars Bill Murray is her third movie she directed with him. Her first movie with Bill Murray was the 2003 romantic comedy named "Lost in Translation" which Sofia wrote and directed and as we see below Bill Murray wore a stainless steel Rolex Datejust in that movie. Lost in Translation was nominated in 2004 for the Academy Award for Best Picture and Sofia Coppola was also nominated for Best Director...
Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Live and Let Die, Return of the Jedi and Superman are just a small sample of the films, Vic Armstrong has worked on as a stuntman and stunt coordinator, in addition to directing films. He has over 50 years of experience and has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood including Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Sylvester Stallone.
In 2001 Vic received a Technical Achievement Academy Award for "the Fan Descender for accurately and safely arresting the descent of stunt persons in high free-falls. In 2002 he received the BAFA Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema
Armstrong doubled for Harrison Ford in the first three Indiana Jones films and they looked so alike that crew members on set would mistake Armstrong for Ford. Ford signed a picture for Armstrong, taken on the set of The Last Crusade with the message: Vic, if you learn to talk I am in deep trouble!
In the photo below we see Director Steven Spielberg with Vic Armstrong and Harrison Ford on the set of Temple of Doom & notice Vic is rocking his Rolex Submariner!
Armstrong has worn a Rolex Submariner Reference 1680 for over 40 years. This Submariner has a couple of extra details that make it quite special. Armstrong's Submariner came from famed jewelry company Tiffany & Co which used to sell Rolex watches in the past. As part of their agreement with the crown, Tiffany & Co were allowed to print their name on the dial of the watch and these watches that feature Tiffany & Co on the dial are coveted by collectors today.
The other cool factor of the watch, it was gifted to Armstrong by legendary Canadian actor, Donald Sutherland!. How do we know this? Armstrong mentions the back story, as to how he received the watch in his book: The True Adventures of the World's Greatest Stuntman: My Life as Indiana Jones, James Bond, Superman and Other Movie Heroes
Sutherland also had the watch engraved on back, relating to something that happened on the set of the 1979 film, Bear Island, in which Armstrong doubled as Sutherland's character.
We know Sutherland is a Rolex fan and he is pictured below wearing his yellow gold GMT-Master
This special Submariner has accompanied Armstrong to film sets around the world. Armstrong is pictured below wearing it on the set of Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, standing next to his wife Wendy Leech, who is a stuntwoman and doubled for Kate Capshaw in the film. Armstrong and Leech met on the set of Superman II, where Armstrong doubled as Superman and Leech doubled for Lois Lane.
Vic Armstrong is pictured below on the set of The Mummy 3, and notice he is wearing his Submariner with his Tuxedo...
Historically Rolex has always been extremely secretive and discreet, and no journalists in the past have ever been invited "INSIDE ROLEX" to explore and report on all four Rolex Manufacturing faclities in Switzerland.
In November 2013, this changed when Rolex invited Jake to take an unprecdented journey into the heart of Rolex to learn and report on everything he witnessed and learned.
This Super-Detailed 3 Part Story is a "MUST READ" story for anybody who wants to understand what really makes Rolex tick.
