‘Christmas Vacation’ cast reunite for Old Navy commercial

Carly Maga
·Blogger

During his 30-year-plus career in comedy and acting, Chevy Chase has created a few characters that have been able to stand the test of time -- and one of the most beloved of those is Clark Griswold of the "Vacation" movie franchise.

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The Griswold family is, in fact, quite well-traveled. They've been to Wally World, Europe, and Las Vegas, but perhaps their most beloved trip was one they took right at home. "Christmas Vacation" (1989) is a holiday classic, one that made Chase a bona fide movie star more than ten years after he was the first original cast member to leave "Saturday Night Live." The film is so iconic that Old Navy has chosen to recreate a quintessential Clark Griswold-ian scene to kick off its holiday ad campaign.

The ad recreates Clark's infamous struggle with lighting 250 strings of lights covering the facade of his home, replacing Christmas lights with Old Navy pants flashing different bright colours. Beverly D'Angelo is there as the ever-patient Ellen Griswold, and Juliette Lewis even reprises her one-time role as daughter Audrey Griswold (having changed her locks from the bleached blonde of her teen days to a more mature red hue). Missing in action is little Rusty Griswold, who was played by Johnny Galecki -- perhaps he was too busy filming "The Big Bang Theory."

Compare the Old Navy ad to the original scene:

Old Navy says this is the first of five "Christmas Vacation"-themed ads that will roll out over the holiday season. And though it's unclear how much the frugal fashion retailer is spending on the campaign, we can assume it means more than a lump of coal for Chase.

The ads also come out as the dust is settling around Chase's drawn-out departure from the NBC sitcom "Community." A critical darling and a cult hit, "Community" will premiere its fourth season in February 2013, most of which has already been shot with Chase in it. His exit from the show means he'll only be absent from two episodes this season, which is largely considered likely to be "Community's" last.

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Chase has always been quite vocal about his dissatisfaction with the show's humour and his role of the racist, sexist Pierce Hawthorne, not to mention a drawn-out, bitter, petty feud with "Community" showrunner Dan Harmon. Quitting just before the very end of the show may seem a bit strange, especially since his former boss Harmon was fired in the spring, but 69-year-old Chase admitted to Huffington Post U.K. that he was only on the show for the money.

"I just sort of hung around because I have three daughters and a wife, and I figured out I might as well make some bread, every week, so I can take care of them in the way they want," he said. "My wife has just been in the Antarctic, and Cuzco in Peru, and Lima, and Machu Picchu... She likes to travel. That was about a month of travelling, and that will take about a year of work."

Chase may have another regular acting gig in his futre: With Ed Helms planning to revamp the "Vacation" series as a grown-up Rusty Griswold, it wouldn't be far-fetched to imagine Chase appearing as Clark yet again in a cameo. Let's just hope this puts an end to the drama until Chase can finally go on vacation for good.