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...

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 Cameron’s 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.

Above: A BMW 750 from the climatic chase of "Tomorrow Never Dies"

What is a blind driver?
A blind driver is basically when you’re 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 90’s. What was you favourite stunt maneuver in the sequence?
It was a bit difficult in an underground car park because there’s 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. It’s like watching a tailspin round like a camera movement and you haven’t got time to get your bearings quick enough.

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 it’s a new BMW then you have to fit your own handbrake.

DVD Timecode "Tomorrow Never Dies" Backseat Driver 00:59:07

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 there’s 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