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How do you escape a Hamburg hotel car park without
being seen? "Tomorrow Never Dies" stunt
driver Steve Street tells MI6 in part 2 of an in
depth interview...
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Interview - Steve Street (Part 2)
7th September 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 second of a three part series of interviews, he chats to
MI6 about his accomplishments and his experience on the sets
of the
Bond films.
Tomorrow Never Dies
At what stage did you come onboard the project?
I
came in during the prep stage. I was quite late coming
on because I was doing James Camerons Titanic.
So I perhaps came at the last minute really. Actually I
was doing private Ryan. Private Ryan was filming in Hatfield,
so I actually started off on the Bond then I went on to
Ryan while they were doing other stuff. Then I came back
to Bond for 6 weeks to do this sequence, then after that
I went back to Ryan.
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Above: A BMW 750 from the climatic chase
of "Tomorrow Never Dies" |
What is a blind driver?
A blind driver is basically when youre
not driving in the normal position i.e. you could be in the boot
of a car or behind
the drivers seat, driving by remote cameras and screens. In this
case I was in the rear of the car.
This is one of the most innovative car chases of the 90s.
What was you favourite stunt maneuver in the sequence?
It was a bit difficult in an underground car park because
theres not a great deal of space. First we rehearsed the
underground car par sequence in an open car park with cones where
the concrete pillar and cars would be. When you actually get
in their and their real cars and real concrete pillars it makes
things quite different. So that in its self is quite difficult.
But a thing like a handbrake turn in a blind drive is different
too. Its like watching a tailspin round like a camera movement
and you havent got time to get your bearings quick enough.
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How many cars (setups) did you use for this chase sequence?
This time there were quite a few things we had to do for different stunts. We
had 8 or 9 BMW's fitted out for different reasons. But I was always sitting
on the floor; we cut my portion of the backseat out, so I was sat in the back
with pedals, steering and gear stick etc. in the back with me also were 3 monitors
so I could see. |
How heavily was the car modified,
where were you positioned in the car, (how did this affect
your driving)?
They were not that heavily changed, just small modifications.
But then if you wanted a car to do a handbrake turn because
its a new BMW then you have to fit your own handbrake.
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DVD Timecode
"Tomorrow Never Dies"
Backseat Driver
00:59:07
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Where was the sequence filmed and how long did
it take from prep to shot?
We rehearsed in an
open car park with the cones
representing other cars and concrete pillars. We measured the
course.
It was mainly filmed in green cross shopping center car park
though theres a little bit in Germany.
Probably no more than 4 weeks.
Keep an eye out for the third part of the interview where we
chat about the "The World is Not Enough"..
Many thanks to Steve Street.
Related Articles:
Interview: Steve Street
(Part 1)
Interview: Steve Street
(Part 3)
MI6 "Tomorrow Never
Dies " Coverage