Garda Lake | JAMES BOND

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007, 007 location, Carrara, carrara marble quarry, filming location, Garda, Italy, James Bond, James Bond filming location, James Bond location, James Bond travel, lago di garda, movie location, Quantum of Solace, travel

At the beginning of ‘Quantum of Solace’ James Bond (Daniel Craig) in Aston Martin DBS was chased by criminals in two Alfa Romeos 159. Moreover Italian police joined in on the chase. After evading pursuers 007 drove to Siena.

Second unit with director Dan Bradley was working in northern Italy for several weeks to film that 3 minute sequence. First part of the car chase was filmed in April at Lake Garda. Second part of the sequence was filmed near Carrara in May 2008.

At the very beginning of ‘Quantum of Solace’ camera was skimming across the Lake Garda approaching the tunnel at the water. It was filmed in northeastern part of the lake.

Stunt pilot Marc Wolff recalls working on this scene: We were flying as low as we could over the water. Second unit director Dan Bradley said: ‘Is that as low as you can go?’ I circled around and said: ‘Look’. You could see that the back end of the skids had left a trail in the water because they were dragging along the surface. When you are flying at the certain speed the nose is a little bit higher. The back end of the two skids had dragged into the water and had left their mark. I said: ‘Dan, I don’t think we can get any lower, unless we become a submarine’. (Interview with Marc Wolff – pilot who has worked on 12 Bond films)

Lake Garda in northern Italy. — *Northeastern part of the Lake Garda.*

Car chase was filmed on the road near Navene on the east coast of the lake and near Limone Sul Garda. The road had to be closed during filming. To take people in and out of town special ferry was arranged.

For dynamic shots gyro-stabilized remote-controlled camera crane called ‘Ultimate Arm’ was used. It was attached to the roof of a Mercedes ML55, that was painted matt black to limit reflections. It could reach a speed of speed 200 kph and the camera could be just inches away from the action during high speed chase.

Stunt driver Martin Ivanov recalls working on the part in the tunnel: Everything was at first rehearsed and tested. It was mostly the scene with the truck that had a blown tire and pushed me into the wall. These were stunts with special effect rigs. There was not much space for improvising. They first shot me going through the traffic. Then we’ve spent a lot of time with going around the truck. It required probably three takes. It was quite difficult to spin 360 degrees in the narrow tunnel. We did it two times. When I was doing it the gearbox cable was snapping from the impact probably. I did 360 spin, I lost the door and I wanted to accelerate but I couldn’t change the gear because the cable was gone. It happened both times. After this spin there was another truck coming towards me but it was shot separately. In one take, which was actually in the movie, it was very close. I had no driver’s door and truck’s bumper was really close, so I could feel the wind from that. (Interview with Martin Ivanov – stunt driver who has played in 4 James Bond films)

There were several accidents on the set. Especially two of them were described in international publications. Aston Martin employee, who was delivering a car to a publicity shoot for the movie, crashed a £134,000 Aston Martin DBS into the lake. The driver was not hurt, but he had to pay fine for unsafe drive. Completely destroyed car has been later purchased by a collector. Few days later two stuntmen playing villains in Alfa Romeo 159 were involved in an accident. Aris Comninos was in a coma. His co-driver, Bruno Verdirosi, was also treated in hospital.

Production manager Terry Bamber recalls both accidents: Unfortunately there was an accident when one of the Aston Martins crashed into the lake. We were setting up for filming and the driver was bringing the Aston Martin for photo shoot. I think it was raining that morning and he lost control on a bend but luckily he hit the barrier. In fact the barrier speared the Aston like it did in the film with the lorry and the car and it flipped backwards over the barrier into the lake. The car hit the water upside down and sank to the bottom. The driver told me the story that it was like James Bond sequence. It must have knocked him down slightly. When he came round he was upside down. It was pitch black. He had to get seatbelts off then his jacket that he was wearing. Luckily the window had smashed so he was able to get out and swim up, because it was only 150 ft. deep there. By that time people were there to rescue him. I can remember that it happened 28 minutes past 6 that I heard about the accident because I thought that it would be another insurance claim, but fortunately it wasn’t that bad. I think he had a broken collarbone and had some stitches on his face. It was quite an amazing story how he survived, but that was nothing to do with us. He was doing a publicity shooting arranged by Aston Martin and wasn’t part of filming. There was also an awful accident with a stuntman that happened while we were filming. We had the Medivac standing by that could fly the stuntman directly to hospital. He was in a coma for a long while. It showed again that Barbara and Michael were fantastic there, making sure that we looked after the family, they went to visit him to make sure that everything was OK. It was quite a horrible moment when that happened. (Interview with Terry Bamber – production manager on James Bond films)

James Bond turned left to avoid roadblock. It was filmed at the intersection of Via IV Novembre SS45bis with Via Benaco SP38 at Lake Garda, near Tremosine. Aston Martin DBS and black Alfa Romeo 159 drove through two short tunnels. That scene was filmed nearly 300 km south from Lake Garda on Via dei Colli, near passo del Vestito, not far from Carrara. Also on Via dei Colli the last scene with Alfa Romeo falling from the cliff was filmed. Other car chase scenes were filmed at marble quarries near Carrara. Stunt coordinator Gary Powell said, that they had to change tires in cars when they moved from tarmac mountain road at Garda Lake to marble quarry. There was only one brand of tire for Aston Martin, therefore they had to cut their own treads into the tires.To create the scene seven Aston Martins and nine Alfa Romeos were used. There were also two Land Rovers. The one that hit the building and fell from the cliff had no engine. It was removed and gasoline was taken out so it wouldn’t create unnecessary explosion.

Filming in the Carrara quarry was difficult due to dust, among other things. Stunt driver Mark Higgins recalls: You could taste it on your lips. It was like powder and we could taste it every night while taking a shower. What else is interesting about the quarry that you never have the impression how steep it is when you watch the movie. When you actually drive there for real roads are lot more aggressive, quite steep. (Interview with Mark Higgins – stunt driver who has played in 4 James Bond films)