 |
| |
How do you escape a tank being driven by James Bond
through the streets of St. Petersburg in a limousine?
"GoldenEye" Stunt driver
Steve Street tells MI6 in part 1 of an in depth interview...
|
|
Interview - Steve Street (Part 1)
26th August 2003
MI6 had the chance this week to catch up with the 2002 Emmy
Winner for Outstanding Stunt Coordination, Steven Street. He
has performed as a stuntman and specialist driver, on “Goldeneye”, “Tomorrow
Never Dies” and “The World is Not Enough”. In
the first of a three part series of interviews, he chats to MI6
about his accomplishments and his experience on the sets
of the
Bond
films.
Getting Started...
How long have you been in the stunt business? How did you start out
as a specialist driver?
I’ve been in the stunt business for 30 years, at
the tender age of 15 I ran off and joined a traveling auto circus called
the 'Hollywood Helldrivers'. I learnt all my basis over the 10
years in live shows and 20 years in film and TV.
What was your first film to perform as a stunt driver/stuntman?
" In The Name Of Your Father" I
was driving mainly military vehicles, it was quite precise stuff.
My big break,
I believe, was 'Braveheart' , where I was able to shine and gain
a reputation.
GoldenEye
At what stage did you come onboard GoldenEye?
Fairly early on in the prep stages, so I got a say in what crashes we were
going to do. Where was the sequence filmed, and how long did it
take from prep to shot?
For the tank escape sequence; it was filmed partly in Russia, in St. Petersburg
and partly at Leavesdon in the studios, where we built our own street for the
scene. I think from start to finish it probably took 6 weeks to shoot.
'...performing with
extraordinary skill and panache, the most dangerous stunt
driving sequence I have made in 20 years of directing
Action Movies...' Ian Sharp - 2nd Unit/Action
Director 'Goldeneye'
|
|
DVD Timecode
"GoldenEye"
St Petersburg Tank Chase
01:17:25
|
Above: The real bridge in St. Petersburg
that will forever live in Bond-lore.
|
Was the car retrofitted for the escape sequence?
No we just
changed the handling for the vehicle. A Volga it’s
was like their limo, its not much of a sporty car so we higher
the suspension and lowered the car slightly. We put lower profile
tires on it; hydraulic handbrake etc. It handled a bit better.
We used specialist people for that sort of thing and we just
make small modifications as we go along.
Above: General Ourumov escaped Bond's tank in a Volga limo. |
|
How close to the story boards and pre-visualisation
did the chase end up?
Fairly close really, I mean the storyboard itself was quite late. We’d
only just had a sort of a rough idea of what we wanted to do. We rehearsed
certain scenes to see what was good and what was bad and we just went with
the good stuff.
How many escape cars did you use for this chase sequence?
The one I was driving and I think we had a further 5 or 6 of those. The police
cars and the ones we crashed we had probably about 50. |
Keep an eye out for the second part of the interview where we
chat about the BMW chase in "Tomorrow Never Dies"..
Many thanks to Steve Street.
Related Articles:
Interview: Steve Street
(Part 2)
Interview: Steve Street
(Part 3)
MI6 "GoldenEye"
Coverage
