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Stunt Coordinator Gary Powell talks about throwing
Daniel Craig in to the thick of the action in "Quantum
of Solace"...
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Gary Powell On Putting 007 In Action
29th November 2008
The producers promised "Quantum
of Solace" would
have twice as much action as "Casino
Royale", for Gary
Powell that meant twice as many stunts. He talks about working
with the director Marc
Forster. “There is as much action
in the opening sequence as you have in the whole of "Casino
Royale". It has actually been good working with Marc because
he comes to the table with a totally different thought process.
In particular, it works because I want to do these stunts for
real and he wants his film to look as real as possible. He wanted
to use Daniel Craig as much as possible rather than use a stunt
double. Then it’s down to me to say if that works or if
we can use a double instead. There are certain things you can’t
allow Daniel to do. ”
Daniel Craig is always keen to do as many of
his own stunts as possible and Powell has always been impressed
by his capabilities. “We
had already worked with Daniel on "Casino Royale" so,
when we got him back again, we knew what he was capable of and
it made our training process much easier, we just carried on
from where we left off and got straight in to it. I don’t
mind Daniel doing the fight sequences himself, he knows there
is a chance he could get punched in the face or he could punch
someone else. When you are doing stunts at that speed there is
always that risk. Daniel knows the risk and will decide if he
wants to do it - 9 times out of 10, he does!
“Daniel did a lot of his own stunts on "Casino Royale" but
on this, he is doing even more. He is in a building full of fire,
there are fire balls exploding behind him, fire balls in front
of him, he’s landing on fire, sliding across the floor
on fire but you know he can do it, he is more than capable.”
Powell choreographed all the fights in "Quantum of Solace",
he explains how the action has to suit the character so it is
believable and assists the storytelling process. “When
we first got Mathieu and started training with him we knew he
had a big fight sequence with Bond at the end of the film, it
was going to be a fight to the death. Very quickly we could see
that he was not a technical fighter, he was a messy fighter,
so we adapted the fight to suit his style and then fit that in
to the character. When he is fighting now, he is getting the
better of Bond, not because he is a better fighter, but because
he is a maniac. He is coming at Bond in a frenzied attack, kicking,
punching, screaming, hitting him with bars - he’s
a dirty fighter.
“Olga’s [Kurylenko] character is an agent so she
is military trained and we had to push her to that standard -
it was tough for her but she really came up to the grade. In
a way, she had the hardest fight to do because she fights General
Medrano who is twice her size, if not more. Marc was concerned
it wouldn’t work but we trained her hard and it does work.
We are very proud of her progress.”
Working closely with actors who may not have trained before
involves more than physical strength, Powell explains; “As well
as physically, you have to prepare the actors mentally. We know
at the end of their first month of training, if not before, they
are going to wake up in the morning and not want to get out of
bed, they will be aching and tired. We need to prepare them for
that. When you are training actors, everyone has a bad day. We
need to coach them and prepare them because it happens to everyone
but the likelihood is, they will come back the next day and be
twice as good.”
The stunt team need to work with every department on the film
unit, Powell explains; “When we are designing stunts, we
work with costume, hair and make up, special effects - everyone
has to be involved and communicating from a very early stage.
The costume department may want a certain look that I may have
safety issues with, for example, if we are working in fire, I
don’t want the actress in clothes that won’t work
in that environment. With makeup, we need to tell them if after
a fight, Bond would probably have a cut above his eye and a bruise
on his left cheek.
“Stuntmen must have an overall sense of the film and work
to eliminate as much of the danger and risk from a stunt as possible.
When Daniel is running down a corridor with explosions and fire,
I need to discuss with Chris [Special Effects Supervisor] where
Daniel will be when the explosions are fired. The special effects
team need to time everything exactly and Daniel needs to hit
his mark exactly. If he over steps his mark he could end up in
a fire ball - there is a massive amount of trust and hard
work involved from everyone.”
James Bond’s car of choice, the Aston Martin DBS, makes
a welcome return in "Quantum of Solace". In order to
make the cars work in the Italian car chase sequence, Powell
had some minor alterations made. “We have seven Aston Martins,
they are rigged for two different surfaces; the road surface
and the quarry surface which is loose gravel. We have stiffened
the suspension and pushed the wheels out at an angle and used
specific tires for each surface. We take all the traction control
off the cars so, when we want to do a big wheel spin, the car
will allow you to do it. That way the stuntman controls the car
rather than the car controlling the stuntman. In the Aston we
have put a hydraulic hand break in the car so the stuntman can
use the hand break to spin the car round corners. The hand break
is fitted in between the driver and the door so that it’s
easy to reach for without looking down.”
To film Bond and Camille’s jump from the DC3, Powell chose
to film the inserts of Daniel Craig and Olga Kurylenko at a training
facility called Bodyflight. ‘Flying’ in the wind
tunnel simulates the experience of freefalling, Powell explains; “When
the idea first came about we were planning on having a parachutist
do the actual freefall and insert images of Daniel and Olga’s
faces with visual effects. I wanted to use Bodyflight rather
than put the actors on wires with a wind effect so we went there
and did video tests. Marc watched the tests and liked it so much
he decided to do the whole parachute sequence in there. We filmed
Daniel and Olga for a whole day and it looks really good, because
it’s them for real doing the fall. You wouldn’t get
the moves they were doing on wires so we were really pleased
with the outcome.”
Another huge stunt sequence in "Quantum of Solace" is
the boat chase, filmed in Colon, Panama. “The boat chase
sequence got changed very late and Simon Crane [additional unit
director] and me dreamt up a whole new sequence and rehearsed
it very quickly. It was originally supposed to be quite a small
set piece. We got there and decided to make it as big as we could
with what we had, and that’s what we did. From one side
of the Panama Canal to the other we shot the chase, ending up
on an island for the finale. Working on the Panama Canal was
difficult because it’s not a lake, it’s choppy with
hundreds of 1,000ft long boats in your way and the water is changing
all the time. You are trying to do precise turns and you are
being dictated by the water so you can over shoot your mark by
10 or 12 ft. It was tricky, technical sequence to film.”
Gary Powell talks about working with the ‘The
Bond Family’; “I’ve
been lucky, I’ve worked on some great productions with
some great producers, but Bond is a family business. When you
are on the set, you are not just a crew member you are part of
the family. Barbara’s [Broccoli] father started it all
off with "Dr No" and she and Michael [Wilson] are carrying on
his work. As producers, they have the job of keeping the film
within
budget but they trust their crew and will do their utmost to
give you everything you need to do the best job you can for the
film.”
Thanks to Sony Pictures Releasing UK.
Briefing
Produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli (Eon
Productions), QUANTUM OF SOLACE was released in the
UK on October 31st 2008 and is directed by
Marc Forster. Principal photography started on January
3rd
2008 at
Pinewood Studios and around the UK, and foreign locations
including Italy, Panama, Chile, Peru and Austria.
Paul Haggis completed the script based on a first draft
screenplay developed by regular scribes Neal Purvis & Robert
Wade, with later polish by Joshua Zetumer. The story
is a direct continuation of the events of Casino
Royale. 007 faces off against
villains Mathieu Amalric (Dominic Greene), Anatole
Taubman (Elvis) and Joaquin Cosío (General Medrano).
Olga Kurylenko (Camille) and Gemma Arterton (MI6 Agent
Fields) play the Bond Girls. Dame Judi Dench (M), Jeffrey
Wright (Felix Leiter) and Giancarlo Giannini (Mathis)
reprise their roles as Bond's allies. It is British
actor Daniel Craig’s second outing as James Bond,
following his debut film Casino Royale released November
16th 2006.
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