• by Danielle Oster , 8 hours ago

Comedic actor Dean Winters (“Highest 2 Lowest,” “Oz,” “30 Rock”) reprises his popular character as the titular “Mayhem” for Allstate.

Three new ads directed by Jake Scott (“American Woman,” son of director Ridley Scott) of Ridley Scott Associates, continue the campaign’s long-running formula of finding humor in Winters portraying a wide variety of the types of mayhem the insurance company anticipates in its coverage.

In “Big Rock,” Winters is a boulder about to fall off a hillside and cause destruction; in “Baseball Dad,” he is a father coaching from the stands and taking his son’s baseball game far too seriously; in “Action Hero” we see him steal a classic Ford Mustang for a prototypical action movie chase.

“Mayhem has been around for 15 years, and this latest work shows how we’re evolving the campaign without losing what makes it work," Allstate CCO David Hernandez said in a statement. "’The Action Hero’ cinema spot is a first for us – made specifically for the big screen, it's complete with an original score that helps give it the energy of a classic Hollywood chase scene."

In addition to “Action Hero” playing on the big screen, the campaign is running across linear and streaming TV, and online video.

Allstate sought out Winters for the “Mayhem” role 15 years ago because he was “the perfect level of famous: just recognizable enough to click, but not enough to be a distraction,” according to Vulture.

Winters told the publication that he initially turned down the role, because “he became an actor so he wouldn’t have to put on a suit and sell insurance,” as well as concerns about his physical limitations due to health conditions. But Allstate was persistent.

“If I was an inflatable raft, they were the air machine,” he said in the Vulture interview. “They filled me up with life.”