Patrick Stewart deflects insults like a champ in Strongbow Cider commercials

Award-winning actor Sir Patrick Stewart is sick of the indignity of starring in commercials -- according to his latest ad.  

After being "fired" from Strongbow Hard Cider's ad campaign last year, the actor behind Star Trek's Captain Picard is back for another self-mocking turn shilling for the British alcohol brand.

Like last year's campaign, the new 20-second meta-commercial, entitled "Impressive Range,” plays on the idea of Stewart's dramatic acting prowess being wasted on selling alcohol-infused apple cider.

"We hired an award-winning actor to show off our award-winning range," the narrator says in one of the ads. "But she cancelled. So instead we got this guy."

"This guy? I'll have you know I won 37 individual awards --," Stewart haughtily responds, before the narrator interrupts him.

While the ad released this week is relatively straightforward, Strongbow's brand director Alejandra de Obeso says the idea is to push the actor to extremes as the campaign goes on and he vainly tries to show off his Serious Actor reputation. 

Stewart embraced the overblown caricature of himself and some of the upcoming ads were actually ad-libbed on the spot, she said.

"Patrick wanted to interpret this very pompous stuck-up character and try to bring out the humor of what an exaggeration his character would be,"de Obeso said. "His level of outrageousness when he tries to show he has an impressive range will just keep on one-upping himself."  

The agency behind the ad, New York-based Droga5, has similarly spoofed its celebrity spokespeople -- and the commercials themselves -- in campaigns for Newcastle (with Aubrey Plaza) and Scion (with James Franco), among others.

Strongbow claims to be the number-one-selling hard cider brand worldwide, but it still hasn't enjoyed the popularity it would like to in America, according to de Obeso. 

The campaign is meant to differentiate Strongbow's flavor variety from its competitors and boost name recognition among a young, American audience.

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