MI6 caught up with 2003 Taurus World Stuntman Nominee and "Die Another Day" stuntman George Cottle...

Interview - George Cottle (Part 2)
29th November 2003

MI6 caught up with 2003 Taurus World Stuntman Nominee, George Cottle last month. In this in depth four part interview we look at his experience on the latest Bond film, driving a hovercraft through a minefield and chasing Bond across the ice in a Jaguar.

Getting To Grips With Hovercraft..

Did you have experience driving hovercraft before you started on the film?
No! None what so ever. To be honest I had never even been on one across the channel. So it was absolutely a new experience all around, I think it was for 90% of the boys on them.

They are hard to drive like a bar of soap with an engine, that’s the best way we could describe it. But we got there in the end, I mean some of the rehearsals I think you could have sold to "You’ve Been Framed"! It was hilarious. But we got there in the end.

Where was the sequence filmed, and how long did it take from prep to shot? The sequence was shot in Aldershot which doubled up as Korea. That’s where we were rehearsing. We had 6 weeks worth of rehearsals there and the actual sequence took 6 to 7 weeks after that. In total around 12 weeks.

DVD Chapter "Die Another Day" Special Edition Like A Hovercraft On Fire

Openings..

How do you think this opening sequence compared to the last few films?
My personal opinion is you’d have to go along way to beat the opening sequence from “Goldeneye”.Wane’s jump from the dam was phenomenal.

But the hovercraft chase was good, it was very original, and it had some good stuff. We had some great fun doing it, yeah I’d put it up there with them but your talking about some serious opening sequences that the Bond's always renowned for. So you know it was good, but it’s in a very hard category. Left: George Cottle gets some last minute make-up before doubling Zao in the Jaguar XKR sequence.

What are the main differences in performing in the hovercraft to a car?
The main differences we found with a however craft is that obviously they have no brakes. The only brakes they have is to turn the engine off - they stop absolutely dead. Every aspect of the land, event the wind, had to be taken into consideration when you were driving them. If you parked them on a slope and just slightly put them onto tick over they’d go off the camber of a slope. That was so hard for us, especially when Vic was putting cameras here camera there and say `right guys, in here out there`. It was phenomenally hard, they're not like a car where you have forward back left right and the brakes - these things kind of have a mind of their own. It was 110% concentration all of the time.

It was not just physical it was also mental. When Vic was laying out where he wanted us to go and what to do, we would walk it 4 or 5 times getting the cameras right on the floor, so it was quite difficult.

The CGI Debate

How do you feel about the advances computer imagery is making into cinema? Do you feel the days of the stunt man are numbered, or will there always be a need to have a man in the midst of the action for real?
I'd like to think that people will always be able to tell CGI. I’ve seen some really good fantastic CGI, in some shots as it’s necessary. But on the other hand you can't beat the audience's reactions and perceptions when you see it’s a real guy doing it and they can actually feel the pressure that that guy is really under.

Real action just fills the whole film more than the computer generated imagery. But with obviously so much CGI around these days, and it’s obviously getting cheaper and cheaper, but I think people will always be able to tell the difference. Left: No need for CGI with the Jaguar XKR in "Die Another Day" - every element of the car was shot for real.

Can you give us an example of good CGI?
I'd even now say the CGI that really set the standard was that in “Terminator 2”. That to me was fantastic and more recent CGI has looked terrible compared to that, and “T2” was ten, thirteen years ago. I can still sit here now and put “T2” on and be wowed by the CGI. I think CGI at the moment is all down to money and the amount of money they throw at it. Hopefully it will keep us employed.

Keep an eye out for the third part where we chat about "Driving on Ice"....

Many thanks to George Cottle.
Images © 2003 Ford Motor Company and Wieck Media Services, Inc

Related Articles:
Interview - George Cottle (Part 1)
Interview - George Cottle (Part 3)
Interview - George Cottle (Part 4)
MI6 "Die Another Day" Coverage