The BMW film series The Hire consists of eight short films averaging about ten minutes each produced for the Internet in and A form of branded content , the shorts were directed by popular filmmakers from around the globe and starred Clive Owen as "the Driver" while highlighting the performance aspects of various BMW automobiles. The series made a comeback in , fourteen years after its original run ended. This series of short films center on a nameless protagonist, known as "The Driver" Clive Owen , who is a highly-proficient professional driver of BMW automobiles.
While escorting an elderly man in the middle of the night, the Driver is confronted by a van full of armed thieves and is told that the old man is carrying a large amount of diamonds. The old man claims to have swallowed the diamonds and that the men will likely cut him open to retrieve them. The Driver decides to save his client and attempts to evade the van while being shot at. The Driver eventually baits the thieves into dying in a collision with a parked bulldozer.
The Driver delivers the old man to his destination and asks if he really swallowed the diamonds. The client merely chuckles and walks away before the Driver departs. The Driver is hired to protect an Asian holy child who is brought to America by boat. The child gives the Driver a gift, but tells him not to open it yet. After being pursued by kidnappers and being grazed in the ear by a gunshot, he successfully delivers the boy to a waiting monk.
However, the child signals silently to the Driver that the man is an imposter, indicated by his footwear, just visible under his robe. The impostor monk tries to kidnap the child, but the Driver thwarts him and rescues the boy. Before leaving, the Driver opens the gift, which is revealed to be an adhesive bandage for his bleeding ear. The Driver is hired by a nervous manager to spy on a paranoid actor's wife. The Driver narrates while following the wife, describing the right methods to survey someone, as well as his fear of what he might learn of the wife's tragic life.
He eventually discovers the wife is fleeing the country to return to her mother in Brazil , and that she's been given a black eyeβlikely by her husband. The Driver returns the job's money to the manager, refuses to tell him where the wife is, and tells him to never call him again before driving off. The Driver is chosen by a spoiled and shallow celebrity to drive her to a venue. Unbeknownst to her, her manager has actually hired the Driver to teach the celebrity a lesson.
