The Setups

Scene one - A police car rams into a heavily damaged tanker. The officers firing on it try to stop it crashing into the new airplane. The tanker is parked, and being rocked by the stunt crew. The police car was put into position and rocked by stunt co-ordinator Gary Powell by standing in the boot. The car then shot backwards. This shot took 3 or 4 takes to complete. First, water doubling for kerosene is supposed to spray out of all the bullet holes in a strip. When some holes do not spray a second take is needed. After the failed takes, the aluminium skin was striped off, squibs replaced and then over an hour of work goes into re-painting and weathering the truck to give it the same look for the next take.

Scene two - The second shot is of one of Daniel Craig’s stunt double hanging out of the tanker cab as it races towards the new airplane. In the film, a terrorist known as Carlos, who is determined to blow up the airplane, drives this tanker. A stunt driver is used to double for Carlos. The airplane is a modified 747, and the art department have altered the engines and other external features. The 747 is marked with yellow squares to enable the special effects team to ‘add’ a second floor to the plane (these can still be seen in the trailer for the film, but will be replaced with "Sky Fleet" graphics in the film). The runway is constantly wetted down by fire-prevention crews, on-hand to see that nothing goes wrong. The tanker races down the tarmac towards the plane and a fleeing crowd. Many cars bearing the Miami police logo are on hand to add the extra realism.

The 2nd Unit - which features a smaller crew than the first unit - focuses on stunts, action, and insert shots, which do not normally require the primary cast.

The Primary Crew
Alexander Witt (second unit director)
Gary Powell (stunt coordinator)