A young Campbellford boy is getting his 15 minutes of fame.
The newest Tim Hortons commercial tells the story of a young Wayne Gretzky waiting in line to get an autograph from Tim Horton.
According to Muse by Clio, in September, Tim Hortons chief marketer Paloma Azulay found herself chatting over coffee with hockey icon Wayne Gretzky. “I asked him a question I’ve been asking everyone I meet with: Do you have a true story you want to share about Tim’s?” she recalls.
Wayne spun a tale that Azulay found “almost too good to be true,” she says. “I knew this was a diamond in the rough that we needed to share.”
A casting company put out a call for eight-year-old boys who wanted to play a young Wayne Gretzky in a future commercial.
Skip ahead to September and out of 50,000 people, 8-year-old Gordie Gilders from Campbellford was the lucky choice.
Gordie’s mother Teresa spoke to Quinte News and says she and her husband Kyle shot off an audition tape on a whim.
That whim became nine whirlwind days.
It was a quiet couple of days, then another audition in Toronto the next day (Friday), followed by a third audition on the Monday because directors Jody and Torey had it narrowed down to three choices.
Teresa says she was supposed to hear if Gordie had gotten the part by that night but heard nothing at all.
That disappointment quickly disappeared a few short hours later.
It was then back to Toronto for long days of filming but from the time the audition package was sent to the day it all wrapped up, it was only nine days.
Teresa says it was a very cool experience and remembers every detail, down to the jewellery the women were wearing in the commercial, which was from the 1960s.
She says she is very proud of the commercial, regardless of her son being in it.
Now Teresa says Gordie is very interested in learning as much as he can about The Great One.
Now that Gordie has had a taste of the acting life, according to his mom he’s quite content just playing hockey.
Teresa says they have been contacted for Gordie to do other work and obtain an agent but it’s just not something he wants right now.
For Gordie things are different as his school hung a banner congratulating him across the front doors and strangers are shaking his hand and asking for his autograph says his mom.
To read the full story about how the commercial came to be click here.
