Sep

The beauty inside

A shapeshifter in love..

A man wakes up as a different person every morning. Until one day, against his better judgment, he falls in love. It’s an intriguing premise—not quite right for Hollywood, perhaps, where movies need one or two unchanging stars, but perfect for social media, where involving as many people as possible is the whole point.

Intel and Toshiba are doing just that with The Beauty Inside, an episodic social film starring Topher Grace, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and dozens of ordinary fans who auditioned via webcam to help portray the main character, Alex. The agency, Pereira & O’Dell, which made last year’s interactive suspense film The Inside Experience for the same two clients (thematically, both movies play off the classic “Intel Inside” positioning), saw great promise in a love story this time—particularly one about the fluid nature of identity, told through social media and in some ways a metaphor for social media. “Young adults have their online persona, and it can be very different from their real personality. So it felt timely,” said chief creative officer P.J. Pereira. It also felt fresh for the space—branded content is still dominated by thrillers and juvenile comedy—and a great fit for Facebook, which, at its best, is its own giant compendium of love.

“It’s an absolutely romantic story,” said Pereira. “I think that’s why people are so psyched about it.”