References

Since Lola has been so successful all over the world, it didn't take long before the first references to this film were spotted in tv series, commercials and even a German election campaign...

This is a list of all references I know of or people told me about, if you know other references to Run Lola Run, feel free to send me a mail. :-)

Movies:

• Any Given Sunday
  USA 1999, Director: Oliver Stone
  
  After ca. 2h 20 minutes, Oliver Stone uses a ca. 3 minute version of the Introduction track from the Lola soundtrack as the background music for a sequence in which an (American) football team is back in the game after one of the main players has been hit by a hard tackle.
  
  
• The Bourne Identity
  USA 2002, Director: Doug Liman
  
  According to upcomingmovies.com, this film is deliberately shot in a Lola-esque style. Further info when the film is released. So far, the Introduction from the Lola soundtrack is used in the background of the second half of the trailer of Bourne Identity.
  
  

TV Series:

• Seven Days:
  Season 2, Episode 14 - Deja Vu All Over Again -
  US airdate: February 23rd 2000 ¦ German airdate: December 9th 2000
  
  Talmadge is taking a vacation, but gets kidnapped by terrorists and takes a suicide pill to ensure that no secrets are revealed. Parker gets send back in time to save Talmadge's life, but goes through the whole scenario three times, each time with a slightly different result.
  It has everything you know and love about Lola: three variations of one situation, the main character running through the city, a techno sound with female vocals and snare drum breaks, the biker, the clocks, running across a steel bridge, an accident of the runner and a car, a time-lapse flight across the city... It's hard to decide whether this episode is an hommage or a shameless rip-off. :-)
  
  
• Roswell:
  Season 2, Episode 203 - Surprise -
  US air date: October 16, 2000 ¦ German air date: July 21st 2001
  
  A song from the soundtrack is played on a cd player and both the film and the soundtrack are mentioned.
  
  
  [...]
  (In Whitaker's office, Liz is dancing a bit while organizing some files. Whitaker comes in and wonders what's going on)
  LIZ: Oh! I'm sorry.
  WHITAKER: Where'd you get that?
  LIZ: Oh...um, there were just some CDs out on your desk. I can put them back.
  (As Liz turns off the boombox, Whitaker locks one of the file cabinets. Liz notices this)
  WHITAKER: No, it's fine. Run lola run, huh?
  LIZ: It's a great soundtrack.
  WHITAKER: Yeah. It's really cool. I loved this movie. Story of my life.
  LIZ: I know what you mean.
  WHITAKER: It's after 7:00. What are you still doing here?
  LIZ: Oh, um, I was just gonna finish up these reports.
  WHITAKER: They'll be here tomorrow. Go home. Here, take Lola.
  LIZ: Oh, really? That would be so great, because I have this party I want to get to.
  [...]
  
  
  (by kind permission of crashdown.com)
  
  
• The Simpsons: Season 12, Episode 18 (#CABF14) - Trilogy of Error -
  US airdate: April 29th, 2001 ¦ German airdate: February 2002
  
  The episode describes a day in the life of the Simpsons three times, every time with a different main character. Lisa wants to take her linguistic robot to the Springfield science fair, but with her missing the bus, Marge and Homer on their way to the hospital by car and Bart "borrowing" her bike, all that's left to do for her is to run. When she does, the sequences are "shot" in a true Lola fashion, even with the original Running Two from the Lola soundtrack in the background.
  However, the whole episode is rather an hommage to the narrative style of Pulp Fiction than to Lola, but still, there is a minute of true Lolaness in it. :-)
  
  

Miscellaneous:

• Although it may appear slightly over the top to list an occasion where someone just mentions Lola (after all, if this was the criterion, this list would never end), I think it is worth noticing that during the Oscars® 2002 ceremony, a clip was shown in which people referred to their favourite films, and even Run Lola Run was mentioned.
  
  
• In 2000, a commercial by the brewery Labatt on Canadian tv copied the look and feel of Lola.
  
  
• In 1999, a tv commercial of the German mail order firm Otto was rather a third class copy of Lola and had its entertaining moments merely because of the unintentional humour that stemmed from it.
  
  
• In January 1999, Berlin politician Eberhard Diepgen also ran with the Lola hype. A poster showed him with the words "Diepgen rennt" to show his dynamism to work for Berlin, printed in the well-known Lola font.... Even the design of his homepage was "following" said design, to put it mildly. But apart from the obvious copyright infringement, Tom Tykwer didn't want to be used for political campaigns and obtained a temporary injunction which said that the poster mustn't be displayed anywhere anymore.