Lauren Wallace: ?I?m a hundred miles away, son, ready to...

Lauren Wallace: ?I?m a hundred miles away, son, ready to strike?

The toughest, coolest, most ruthlessly ambitious driver in motorsports was born in Richmond, resides in Chicago, doesn’t have a driver’s license and is more familiar with the nuances of Hamlet than those of Denny Hamlin. Meet Lauren Wallace, the fictitious pre-adolescent pepperpot whose quest to replace distant cousin Mike Wallace behind the wheel of the No.7 GEICO Racing Camry is the premise for a series of popular and wickedly funny television commercials created for GEICO by the Richmond-based Martin Agency. Many believe Lauren to be a flesh-and-blood prodigy who one day will shove opponents out of his way on the high banks at Daytona. That perception is a tribute to the work of Eddie Heffernan, a 14-year-old actor who has breathed honest-to-goodness life into Lauren’s voice, mannerisms and ill-concealed contempt for his adult cousin. “As an actor, I can sort of relate to [Lauren the driver],” said Heffernan, who will not appear at Richmond International Raceway this weekend. “I’m probably not as cocky as Lauren is, but I understand his passion. Believe me, when I need to be, I can be pretty competitive.” Nor is that the only similarity. Lauren is a take-no-prisoners go-kart driver. Heffernan, a freshman at a Chicago-area public high school, says laps at a go-kart track near Nags Head, N.C., have long been personal highlights of his family’s vacation trips to the Outer Banks. “Every Christmas, I used to ask my parents for a go-kart,” he said. “One year, I actually got one. I drove it until it broke down.” Magic occurs when the right actor and the right role find each other. Steve Bassett, the Martin Agency’s senior vice president/creative director, said his firm conducted casting calls in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Most of the candidates, he said, “were typical Hollywood kids who tried to play [Lauren] cute. Eddie was the one who understood that Lauren had to be wise beyond his years. He played him as a man in a little boy’s body.” He had help, of course. Lauren’s lines were created by Joe Lawson, a former Martin Agency copywriter. Most are memorable. Some are delicious: “I didn’t say I wouldn’t go fishing with the man,” and “I’m a hundred miles away, son, ready to strike,” and “If he comes near me, I’ll put him in the wall.” More at Richmond Times-Dispatch

Date: May / 1 / 2008
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