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JAMES BOND

Tag Archives: No Time to Die

‘No Time to Die’ in Poland

19 Sunday Sep 2021

Posted by Piotr Zając in No Time to Die

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

billboard, No Time to Die, NTTD, poster

‘No Time to Die’ in Poland is known as ‘Nie czas umierac’. It will be released in polish cinemas on October 1st. There will be several local premieres with film screening starting at 00.07. Tickets have been already in sale since September 13th. Official polish premiere will take place on September 29th in Warsaw in Cinema City Sadyba.

Below you can see a few photos of ‘No Time to Die’ posters in Poland.

'No Time to Die' poster in Poland
'No Time to Die' poster in Poland
‘No Time to Die’ poster at DCF cinema in Wroclaw, Poland.
'No Time to Die' poster in Poland
'No Time to Die' poster in Poland
‘No Time to Die’ poster at DCF cinema in Wroclaw, Poland.
'No Time to Die' poster in Poland
'No Time to Die' poster in Poland
'No Time to Die' poster in Poland

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Interview with Mark Higgins – stunt driver who has played in 4 James Bond films

31 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by Piotr Zając in Mark Higgins, No Time to Die, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre

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interview, Mark Higgins, No Time to Die, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre, stunt driver

Mark Higgins is a triple British Rally Champion. British Rallycross Champion. Awarded five times as ‘National Driver of the Year’. He has also scored points in World Rally Championship and competed in FIA Rallycross Championship. He is the stunt driver since ‘Quantum of Solace’. More on: www.mark-higgins.com

 

Piotr Zajac (bondlocations): You are rally driver who became stunt driver. You have won British Rally Championship three times, you have scored points in the World Rally Championship. You must be the fastest stunt driver in the world !

Mark Higgins: My big passion was always rallying. That is what I always wanted to do. We had the championship wins. Alongside we’ve been rallying in China for around 10 years. I was lucky enough to be team mates to people like Colin McRae, Carlos Sainz on Rally GB for three times. I was test driver for Ford for 8 years and for many other manufactures. We had great career in rallying. If I could do it again I would do it. I still get the oportunity to do it. We were meant to be doing some rallying last year. If things get better in the middle of this year I hope to do a couple of rallies just before I get too old. I am still excited about rallying.

I’ve seen on your Instagram account just a few days ago that you’ve renovated Honda Civic which you won the British Junior Championship in 1994.

Yes, I’ve been working on that for a while. It is just a little fun project really. I’ve found the car. It was not a very expensive car, but it was great car and quite important in my career. I’ve also renovated my first factory car. It’s been in a garage for a few years. Great memories from those little front wheel drive cars. They were great fun in those days, 30 years ago.

What are your plans for rallying?

I would like to do some more rallying in Ireland. It is probably one of my favourite places to rally on the tarmac and the Isle of Man. The Donegal International Rally is the rally that got away from me. I was very close to win it a couple of times, we had a really good battle with Sebastian Loeb (9 times World Rally Champion) one year, so I would like to go back there. It would be a modern R5 car I would’ve thought. Depending on the regulations because I was told that modern WRC rally cars may be eligible in Ireland. It is all open in the air. Nobody knows what is happening at the moment with Covid.

Rallying is like a tradition in your family.

When I was kid at school I was asked who I wanted to be and I said: ‘rally driver or fighter pilot’. I wasn’t clever enough to be the fighter pilot, so my passion is rallying. My grandmother and grandfather rallied together in the sixties. My mother was my first co-driver. My dad was a really good driver on the island. My brother won Rally America Championship 8 times, he is British Championship winner as well. It is very much a big part of the family. Then we moved to the rally school, which was very good for us, when we came to the UK in 1993.

Do you continue that motorsport tradition with your kids?

My brother loves karting now. He is doing a lot of that with his son. I do a bit of karting with my son as well. The new generation is carrying it on.

You were born on the Isle of Man, which is famous for motorcycle races. Do you also like to ride motorcycles?

There are lots of accidents during races on the Isle of Man. My dad was very clever. He didn’t allow me to have a motorbike when we were living there. I think that it was a very, very good thing that he did, because I probably would have ended doing something like TT race. I love my bikes. I have race bikes and enduro bikes, but that was good that I got into it later on when I was maybe a bit more sensible. Otherwise I may have gone down that route. Thankfully I stayed with cars which probably kept me alive, but the TT has been a big passion in my life. As you probably know we did that lap in a Subaru (click to watch).

I know that you broke the lap record on the Isle of Man.

The record was not the most special part. It was just good to get right there on one lap and set the time. We only had two goes in that car, so we had very limited time. We could go quite a bit faster, but that was a very special thing to do. It’s been very popular around the world. I think more people know me from my TT lap in the Subary than from anything else.

In Subary you were doing also some ‘crazy’ things like driving down the bobsleigh track.

Yes, that was very good fun, very interesting. Interesting story with that. We literally were running out of time and we had one more day. If we would be probably three hours later going down that bobsleigh run the course would actually be melted. If you see some of the videos the walls are falling away. It was a wacky thing to do but good fun. (click to watch) We also went to Romania over the Transfagarasan. That was also nice trip in Subaru as well. (click to watch)

Both videos reminded me of James Bond films. There were chase sequences in bobsleigh tracks in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ and ‘For Your Eyes Only’. Winding road in Romania looked like a bit like the road from ‘Goldfinger’.

I’ve never ever associated them together in any way at all. It’s first time I’ve ever heard that. It is quite inetersting that they are so similar really. My opportunity to be a real James Bond sometimes (smiling).

Your rallying experience was the reason why you got an offer to become stunt driver?

I went to James Bond franchise through Ben Collins who was doubling Daniel Craig on ‘Quantum of Solace’ together with Martin Ivanov. They wanted the rally driver to come down to the gravel section on the quarry. Ben mentioned it to me very loosely one evening: ‘Would you like to be in a James Bond film?’. You can imagine the response. I’ve never worked on a film before, so it was my first ever film. I’ve never ever heard anything more until three or four months later when I got a phone call: ‘Are you free for the next three months to go to Italy?’ That was my first trip over to work on a film.

In ‘Quantum of Solace’ you were driving Alfa Romeo in the opening sequence.

That is correct.

You mentioned the gravel section on the quarry. Were you also involved in filming at Garda Lake?

We did also a chase at Garda Lake. Funny thing is that I’ve spent my life in rallying being told not to crash and I remember our stunt coordinator Gary Powell asking me on the radio to hit Martin (Ivanov) harder at the back of the car. We had some great fun. Me and Martin actually became very good friends. Since that film we work together a lot.

Which Alfa Romeo were you driving?

We all had numbers at the time. I think I was ‘Alfa 1’ for the first part of the scene and then I moved to ‘Alfa 2’ when we got on to the gravel scene. Originally that was gonna be a very long car chase for about 15 minutes. When it came to the final editing they chopped quite a bit out of the film.

One Alfa Romeo disappeared from the film.

The chase was always done with three cars at the beginning. We had an idea how the chase would  look like and then we went to a see movie. It was quite different but that’s often the case with most movies.

So you don’t know whey they cut off one car from that sequence?

No, no idea.

Where Alfa Romeo cars modified somehow?

They were quite standard. We had about two weeks testing on an airfield. We’ve played around with settings. We used the rally knowledge to change the tracking of the car. We had hydraulic handbrakes in cars as well. Obviously there were roll cages. They were modified, but not massively modified. I thing we had winter tires on the cars as well so they were better on the gravel.

Martin Ivanov told me that you had some problems with engines and you had to  cut additionally the tires for better grip.

Yes, that is correct. There were always little issues here and there. The problem at any modern car now is the electronics. Trying to get them to cut out all the fail safe modes, traction controll etc. is becoming big problem now in our industry. Then often enough we are putting separate engine and gearbox to the car with their own wiring loom because it is nearly impossible to switch off all the electronics in modern cars.

When I drove to the Carrara quarry to visit the location my car was covered with dust. I guess it was also a problem while you were filming there.

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 agressive, quite steep.

Your next Bond movie was ‘Skyfall’. You were driving Landrover as Moneypenny in the opening sequence. Andy Lister, who Daniel Craig stunt double on the train, told me that you were driving like ninja between cars falling from the train. Did you see anything in the dust or you just had feeling when to turn.

Sometimes it was a feeling. Thankfully I always had a reference of a big train on the left hand side, so it wasn’t too bad. We had a lot of different work on that film. It wasn’t like a real car chase but it was a nice sequence for the Land Rover, which is not designed for that type of fast work. Trying to slide that around and go as quickly as possible was a good challenge. We all enjoyed working on that. It wasn’t typical Bond car chase because there was only one vehicle really and obviously big bike chase in Istanbul. We did a lot of work there, not so much with the car, more on foot. We were the stunt guys inside the Grand Bazaar.

Martin Ivanov told me that he was selling oranges together with Ben Collins. What was your part?

In the place where they were selling oranges I was driving Land Rover and the POD car all the time. I think that we were shoppers in the Grand Bazaar jumping away from the bikes. That was quite an interesting film for me because I ended up having and operation on my throat when we were in Istanbul. They got me back to work the following day, but I wasn’t allowed to talk for two weeks. I remember that on the very first day I met Daniel (Craig) on set. He was alongside me as Moneypenny so he was in a passenger seat. I couldn’t speak to him so I had to write him a note. I think that note said something like: ‘Don’t worry, I won’t be doing the bedroom scene’, because he looked across at me dressed like Moneypenny. I think he must have wonder what he was looking at (smiling). I couldn’t speak for two weeks and I know that it was very frustrating for stunt coordinator on the radio.

When I was watching the sequence I was wondering if the scene with Moneypenny breaking off a mirror was planned or it just happened accidentally and was used to make the scene more funny.

That was a big gag from the start and that was done in purpose. That was actually Ben Collins who did that. It was done with the POD vehicle driven from the roof. Ben did all POD work in that film, so he was driving when Naomie (Harris) was inside the car. I did all the clean shots with the car.

One more quiestion about the scene with cars falling from the train. How many times did you have to repeat that?

I think there were two or three takes. The problem was that there were no signs where the cars went. Although they were getting taken off at the same time with the same rotation of the excavator arm, because that was electronically controlled, you could never tell where they were gonna bounce. VW Beetles were complete cars without the engine. I think that in the first take we were a bit blocked and we couldn’t push through the gap. In the second or third attempt I just got through, we got the shot and it was great. It was quite interesting to wonder where the cars were gonna go when they landed. I didn’t know if they were going to bounce and come towards me or dive after the right. I just had to pick a path and make it. I think we did three takes. In the first two the cars went exactly the same so I thought: ‘I know where I’m gonna go now’ and then on a third one they went completely different (smiling).

How long did it take to prepare everyting for the next take?

It is normally good two or three hours to clear all the mess, glass and cars around and then go again.

Did you also play in some other scenes in ‘Skyfall’?

Yes. We did some parts in London. We were always involved in scenes with cars in some way if that was even driving a taxi. I did some work with the black Jaguar with Dame Judi Dench who played M. She was amazing. Between us all we just sheared it around. If one person was busy or was doing something else then someone else was driving.

So you were also MI6 driver.

Yes. Between me and Ben (Collins) we were sharing that together. I also did a bit of Aston Martin DB5 work. I was driving when the car exited and drove up towards Scotland. We didn’t do it with Judi Dench but there was a double with me in the car.

In ‘Spectre’ you were driving Aston Martin DB10 as James Bond. I saw you driving that car in Rome in March 2015.

https://bondlocations.wordpress.com/

Mark Higgins driving Aston Martin DB10 at Tiber river in Rome.

That was good time there. Obviously all was done in the night. It was very strange to see Rome with only a few cars around. Rome is always so busy with cars. We really enjoyed that. The cars were fantastic. I don’t think that many people had an opportunity to slide through the Vatican at 90 mph.

Was Aston Martin DB10 good to drive?

Yes, it was really good. The car was based on Aston Martin V8 Vantage in terms of the chassis. We were surprised how reliable the car was, even going down the steps. We didn’t have any reliability problems with the car. Any car that is rear wheel drive with front engine is always quite good balanced to drift. I did some work with Martin’s car (Martin Ivanov was driving Jaguar C-X75) and that was really difficult car to drive, because it had engine at the back and had a lot of power. It was quite snappy car, quite hard to control so I definitely had the easier car to drive of the two in that chase.

Did you also drive Jaguar C-X75 on the set?

I didn’t drive it on the set, but I did a lot of testing before.

The Jaguar had a steering wheel on the left hand side. Was it more difficult for you?

If I have a choice I prefere left-hand drive car because all my rally cars are left-hand drive. I feel like I’m working in a left-hand drive car and in a right-hand drive car I’m going shopping or driving to work.

I’ve read somewhere that several Aston Martin cars were damaged on the set. Is it true?

I don’t recall any issues with the car on ‘Spectre’. We haven’t damaged any car. Every car survived apart from the one that was meant to be crashed.

What happened to the car that jumped into the river?

They pulled that back out. I think they used that car in the studio, so it was used again. One of them was cut in half so they could put cameras in the studio when Daniel was inside.

You didn’t have to drive that car when it was jumping into the river?

No. I think it was on an air ramp so it was actually fired like from a cannon. So we didn’t get to swimming on that one, but me and Martin had to do some underwater testing in a swimming pool at night. We had breathing apparatuses in the cars all the time just in case they went into the water. Just in case something would brake when we were driving along the river or driving down the stairs towards the water. There were always divers around but me and Martin had to go to a swimming pool in the evening and just practice moving the regulator and things like that.

You were driving very close to the river and also driving up the wall at the river.

Yes, we did the banking. We had to be there at about 80 mph to make it work. Otherwise the cars would fall down. I think you don’t get the impression in the film how steep that was. We had to be at certain speed otherwise it couldn’t stay upon the wall. That was always good fun.

Did you try that with Aston Martin DB10 from the beginning?

We had Aston Martin Vantage which had the same suspension put on as DB10 because it was a bit wider. We used it for most of our testing. That was ideal. Sometimes we had another car to play around with but generally we had Vantage to replicate DB10.

At what speed were you filming the car chase on streets of Rome?

It varied. Some section we were doing getting close to 80-90 mph when we could. A lot of the time we were restricted to what the tracking vehicles filming us could do. Me and Martin definitely could go faster but there was no point as going ahead of camera car. You work to the camera car. It depends on the shot. If you work to the camera car you work to that speed. I know that Gary Powell likes to carry speed so we were doing what we could when it was possible. There was some really good stuff that we did and it was really fast but it didn’t actually make it to the film. You don’t get the impression on that speed on certain cameras.

Did you drive Aston Martin DB10 with POD?

Aston Martin DB10 on 'Spectre' set in Rome.

Aston Martin DB10 cars on ‘Spectre’ set in Rome. First one with POD system.

Yes, I drove a little bit in some of the opening scenes of the car chase. I drove it in Rome as well. We did a bit of work on that. I’ve never been a fan of PODs. I don’t enjoy them. They don’t feel like real car at all, but they serve a pourpose. I had to be very careful when Daniel Craig was below.

There were some rumors in newspapers that Daniel Craig hit the roof when he was in the car with POD and had to go to a hospital. Was it true?

No, it was just exaggerated. We didn’t really know about that.

During the chase in Rome you jumped throgh the parked car.

The car landed really good. We thought that we may have damaged the suspension but it worked really good. I think we’ve done that shot two or three times. That was a good fun.

Was the car that lost its roof in that scene specially prepared?

There were preperations on the car. There were cuts. Sometimes they use different material for the roof as well because it could potentially come straight through the window. They are very safety conscious and they look at the best ways to make that work.

Then there was a funny scene with Fiat. Was it empty when you were hitting and pushing that small car?

No, there was always somebody in the car. I remember that my stunt coordinator said: ‘hit him harder’ and I did hit him really hard on one occasion. I know it hurt his neck quite a bit. A good friend of ours Dave Ware was driving the Fiat. We had reinforced bumber in the Aston and there was metal in the back of the Fiat so it was definitely quite a hard hit.

Did you also drive Aston Martin at Blenheim Palace in UK, where the sequence began?

Yes, I drove the Aston in Blenheim. It was a very simple shot but those were really difficult few days. Trying to get speed going backwards with the car on that gravel and on a slight hill was difficult. It was hard to get something that looked good. Then we ended up doing quite a lot of work on that POD car in which we never were going backward before. It was very frustrating few days. We were there for about three nights for that opening scene I think. Obviously when you turn back to the normal car it is very straight forward but the POD car is always a challange. It is automatic, the steering doesn’t react like we would like it to. You are very restricted to what you can see because you are in a cage. We had millions and millions of pounds of expensive cars around us that we definitely didn’t wanted to hit.

You jumped when you were going through the gate. Was there a ramp on a road?

No, that was just natural bump there and we got a bit into the air which looked great on the film.

Were you also driving in Austria?

I was there and I drove a POD car a couple of times. I didn’t do an awful lot of driving in Sölden but there were few bits where we just dived into cars. We did quite a lot of testing up there and beforehand. We were playing around and setting all the vehicles. I did more on the rehearsing but I was there for the whole duration of it all. I think we were there in total six or seven weeks.

Did you also play in some other scenes in ‘Spectre’?

As that was most of the driving sequence, there was also sequence with the new discovery from the helicopter.

Can you say anything about ‘No Time to Die’?

I can only discuss what has already been spoken about and on the trailer. Obviously Matera was a big challange in terms of the whole terrain. We had to use Coca Cola for better grip. There was quite a few scenes when we had to clean off the black rubber from the street as the Coke allowed the tyres to stick to road more. The Coca Cola did a better job than I’ve ever imagined it would do. We had certain parts where it gave us too much grip and we had to reduce te Coke spraying. We had one guy going around every morning laying down the Coke. Matera was a great location, very challenging place to drive, very narrow with big curbs everywhere. Then we had a really good scene up in Scotland. We also did some work in Norway. That is probably as much as I can talk about that film for now. I’m very excited how it is going to turn out when it eventually comes to the screen. This movie should be great. I’ve heard some very good reports about it.

Thank you for telling me all that great stories. I hope to talk with you again about ‘No Time to Die’ after the premiere.

January 15th 2021

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Interview with Martin Ivanov – stunt driver who has played in 4 James Bond films

20 Sunday Dec 2020

Posted by Piotr Zając in Martin Ivanov, No Time to Die, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

interview, Martin Ivanov, No Time to Die, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre, stunt double, stunt driver, stuntman

Martin Ivanov is a rally driver who became world famous stunt driver. He is well known for his stunts in James Bond films, as well as for doubling Matt Damon in Jason Bourne series and great performances in many action blcockbusters.

Interviev with Martin Ivanov

Interviev with Martin Ivanov

Piotr Zajac (bondlocations): Before you became stunt driver you were rally driver. You also drove a Formula 1 car. It was impressive how you drove under jumping truck (video).

Martin Ivanov: When I had a call from my client about this job I thought that it was once in a life time chance to drive a Formula 1 car. We went to former military air base. The first day in was raining all the time and it was really wet, so it was quite dangerous. On the next day it was dry, but still cold. The tires were cold, so there was not much grip. I had a few runs in Formula 1 car to get the filling, to get used to the clutch and steering wheel. It was quite easy because of all the systems in the car. I was driving up and down just for fun to try Formula 1 car for about 40 minutes or 1 hour. I was trying to make left turn as close as possible to the ramp. Then we went for a jump. I was supposed to cross in the middle of the truck. When the time of filming was coming closer and closer everyone in the team was getting more and more nervous. The director and the producer said that I could cross in front of the truck and thanks to special camera settings it would look like I was crossing under the truck. I said that we should do it for real, without any camera tricks. I had backup plan for safety. When I was driving I was watching if the truck was on the ramp and if the ramp was still in one piece. Everything was fine so I turned left. If anything would be wrong I would just go straight. After turning left I went on a small road on aside. It was covered with mud. The car spun, but I went back. Tires were ice cold and it was like 5 degrees celcius so I had no grip, especially in mud and in the puddle in Formula 1 car.

That was in 2014 when you were already known as James Bond stunt double. Your first 007 movie was ‘Quantum of Solace’. You were driving Aston Martin in the opening car chase sequence together with Ben Collins.

The sequence was mostly done by me. Ben did just a few fast straight runs. He did a little bit of the tunnel sequence at Lake Garda and a little bit of straight driving near Carrara. I did all of the action scenes like drifting or spinning in the tunnel and the whole part in Carrara quarry.

A few years ago I was in Carrara quarry. The road was rather bumpy like for off-road rallies. Did you have to repair Aston Martin quite often because of that?

Aston was surviving quite well. We had more problems with Alfa Romeo cars. There was a problem with engine, we had to cut tires for better grip.

Did you have special suspension and tires in Aston Martin for filming in Carrara?

We put spacers so it was a bit higher. We had winter tires, which were softer, better for loose gravel. That was it.

How long were you filming the whole car chase sequence?

We had a couple of weeks of testing and preparation. Then we were filming for over a month. At first at Garda Lake for a few weeks and then in Carrara for two or three weeks.

How did you film 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.

Was Daniel Craig present on location? Did you film any scenes with him in a car at Garda Lake or in Carrara?

Mostly he was filmed in front of green screen in the studio, but he came few times on location. We had a car that we called Go Mobile. It was a platform with engine on which any car body could be placed. The stuntman was a driver and actor could play.

Did you drive this platform?

No. There was a driver sent from the company that rented that Go Mobile from USA.

How many Aston Martin cars did you have on set?

We had six or seven. Some of them were clean, some of them were damaged i.e. without driver’s doors. Some cars had special effects rigs to help in doing stunts.

Did you also play in other scenes except car chase?

All of the drivers played in the sequence with horse race in Siena. We were dressed like Italian horse race spectators. Daniel Craig was chasing Glen Foster. They were running and pushing people back. We were just those people who were standing on their way.

In ‘Skyfall’ you were fruit seller in the opening sequence in Istambul.

Yes. We were selling oranges with Ben Collins. We were running away when Audi was sliding and crashed into the table with oranges.

In what other scenes in ‘Skyfall’ were you involved?

I was mostly background driver.

You had much more work in ‘Spectre’. You were driving Jaguar C-X75 as Mr. Hinx. I’ve seen you in action in Rome. I was there at the Tiber river when you were filming final part of the car chase with Jaguar in fire and Aston Martin sinking in the river. How did you prepare for that scene?

We put protection on ebonite on Jaguar. There were gas tanks or something like that mounted in the car. When the fire from Aston hit the Jaguar the gas caught fire.

Was there any stunt driver in Aston Martin when it jumped into the river?

No, the car was on a cable. There was no engine in that car. It was filled with foam so it was not sinking fast.

I rember that one Jaguar was with POD system on the roof. Was it also you driving that?
Jaguar C-X75– Jaguar C-X75 with POD system on the roof on the ‘Spectre’ film set in Rome, Italy.

I was driving in POD on Jaguar. I remember that this POD was very strange. We were rehearsing for two or maybe more weeks just driving that POD and trying hand brakes, drifting. It was very hard to drive POD on the Jaguar. It didn’t work as we wanted. The steering was super heavy and not responsive. At the end we used it for maybe three hours one night and that was it. We just drove straight on the street. That was just a few seconds in the movie.

How is a steering wheel in POD connected to the steering system in the car?

There are different types. Usually we use hydraulic system. There is a pump at the steering wheel connected with hydraulic hoses to hydraulic actuator at the steering column. They are very heavy, sometimes they allow to turn more and sometimes less. Those with mechanical connection by shaft with joints between steering wheel in POD and steering column in the car are much easier to drive. You have the same feeling as driving normal car. Special effect engineers built electric one. I drove it. It was very strange. You don’t get the feeling. Sometimes it switches off because of a glitch and you have no steering. The best is POD with mechanical connection.

Did you have any technical problems with cars, especially when you were driving down the stairs? I know that gaps between stpas were filled with concrete, but still it was not smooth road.

On one take when I drove down the stairs I broke rear control arm so the wheel was turning itself. We didn’t have many other problems.

In ‘Spectre’ you were also driving Land Rover in Austria. Bobby Holland Hanton with whom I was talking a few months ago was one of your passenges. He said that it was ‘hair raising experience’ when the airplane hit the roof. Was it also scary from your perspective as a driver?

No. For me it was always too slow. Defenders were not very powerful. It was quite difficult to accelerate uphill. Especially when you are in mountains so there is less oxygen. Power drops down even more. It was difficult to make car chase in that slow car. Range Rover Sport was very powerful and fast, but Defenders were just dying.

I thought that they were specially prepared for the movie.

They were prepared, but the engine hasn’t been changed.

So you would prefere to drive Range Rover Sport.

I was supposed to be driving that car with Dave Bautista, but last night before the beginning of filming director Sam Mendes called stunt coordinator and said: ‘Martin can’t be Dave Bautista’s driver because he looks like an underwear model, not like a gangster’. Evangelos (Grecos) who was in the second Defender went to Range Rover and I was in Defender for the whole chase.

So in ‘Spectre’ you were driving Land Rover in Austria and Jaguar in Rome. Was it also you driving Jaguar at the Blenheim Palace in UK, where the beginning of the car chase was filmed?

No. I was still in Austria. That was someone else driving in UK.

You have also played in ‘No Time to Die’. I know that you are not allowed to reveal anything from the plot, but maybe you could tell something about filming scenes that we have already seen in trailers.

In trailers you could see a car chase that we were shooting in Norway and in Scotland. You could see me many times in trailers how I was doing that flip in Range Rover over Toyota. After that we went to Italy to Matera to shoot another car chase. I was driving black Jaguar there.

I’ve read the story about Coca Cola sprayed on the street to improve traction.

We used Coca Cola first on ‘Skyfall’ when we were shooting in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul on marble tiles that were really slippery for the bikes. We were spraying Coca Cola on those tiles and we got better grip than on normal asphalt. In Matera all roads were made of stones and were very slippery. We had quad bike with big tank full of Coca Cola that was spraying it all over the street. As soon as you put Coca Cola you have so much grip that you can’t even drift.

Did you have to repeat spraying with Coca Cola every day?

It was repeated even during the day because after a few runs it was covered with dust and it was loosing the grip.

Thank you for the meeting and for sharing all the stories from James Bond films sets.

December 14th 2020

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Interview with Kai Martin – stuntman who has played in 5 James Bond films

02 Tuesday Jun 2020

Posted by Piotr Zając in Casino Royale, Kai Martin, No Time to Die, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Casino Royale, interview, Kai Martin, No Time to Die, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre, stuntman

Kai Martin has been professional stuntmen for nearly 2 decades. He has worked on 5 James Bond films – from ‘Casino Royale’ to ‘No Time to Die’. In four of them he was Daniel Craig’s stunt double. Find more on his website.

Piotr Zajac (bondlocations): You have played in 5 James Bond films – all with Daniel Craig as 007. How you got there?

Kai Martin: I became qualified stuntman in 2001. Then I’ve worked in Madrid for a year in live shows and in Germany for 6 months afterwords. In 2004 I got into films. Next year my grandmother died and left me some money. I always wanted to go to China to train with Shaolin monks. I took that money and went there for 4 months, what was a big thing for me. Amazingly just after return I got a job on ‘Dr. Who’ as one of Shaolin monks. My wage was just more or less about what I’ve spent in Asia. Travel to China really raised the bar of who I was as a man I guess and in terms of my skills and my overall ability. Then I got a call from Gary Powell, which I couldn’t believe, in December 2005. I was then aware that Daniel had been cast. Looking at him I knew I could do it, I could be Bond. I just had this intuition that it could happen to me. Fortunately I had some good friends: Adam Kirley, Lee Morrison, Glenn Foster, Ben Cook already working on the Bond film. I think it was the last minute December 2005. Gary needed an extra stunt double for Daniel and he called me. He spoke with me a little bit about the job and asked me to come to Pinewood Studios on second or third January 2006. It was quite a dizzy period for my mind. I couldn’t belive this potential opportunity was kind of around the corner. There was another guy taking part in audition. We both met Gary and went to meet the director. Martin Campbell was an amazing guy. Then literally as I was walking out he just said: ‘Kai you are going with us tomorrow. Pack the bag, we are going to Prague’. That was pretty much it. If think when Gary called me I was in Spain riding motocross bikes. I returned on January second or third. In the afternoon I was packing to go to Prague. At that time especially after going to China my fitness level, my whole body was of ready. I had no idea what ‘Casino Royale’ was gonna be, none of us really did, but I was so ready. Training in China for 6-8 hours a day, mentally living that kind of lifestyle that preceeded phone call from Gary put me in the right place. I think that without going to China I could not survive (smiling). That it how it initially began for me with Bond.

Was it something special for you to be in James Bond film?

To be honest Bond for stuntmen is like olympics for athletes. It is iconic. Especially for Englishmen. Traditionally James Bond is tall, dark and handsome. I naturally gravitated towards those films and loved them but never trully could imagine myself being a Bond because of hair color, height etc. When Daniel got cast I thought I could do this. That was the shift. Daniel with light hair is quite contrast to previous Bonds. When it did come round I couldn’t believe it. It was incredible.

For the first time we could see you on screen in ‘Casino Royale’ opening scene.

The actual crane to crane jump was done by Ben Cook as James Bond. Adam Kirley was doubling for Sebastien (Foucan). Unfortunately Ben broke his hand. Ninety percent of that sequence still needed to be filmed. That is when I jumped in. So Ben did the main jump and all the rest is myself going up and down the crane. We shot all of that on location. All close ups of Daniel and actors were shot low down but still in the Bahamas. We didn’t go to Pinewood to finish anything there.

Kai Martin on the set of 'Casino Royale'
– Kai Martin is running on the crane as James Bond and Daniel Craig is looking at him doing the stunt. Photo courtesy of Kai Martin.
Kai Martin on the set of 'Casino Royale'
– Kai Martin fighting on the crane as James Bond. Photo courtesy of Kai Martin.
Kai Martin on the set of 'Casino Royale'
– Kai Martin (on the left) on the crane as James Bond. Photo courtesy of Kai Martin.

It was not the only scene when we could see you in ‘Casino Royale’?

I was also in a sequence with Bond chasing the bad guy through the airport.

You were jumping on a truck with fuel?

Yes. That was really hard. I think it was a week or two in Prague and all the rest was at Dunsfold at night. James Bond runs up the stairs, jumps off. That was pretty tricky to roll off and catch the last minute.

How did you prepare for that stunt?

We didn’t rehearse for the airport sequence. I just pretty much did it which sometimes has to be the case. Sometimes you just have to do it. You can rehearse, rehearse and rehearse, put all the safety factors in place, understand where the cameras are gonna be, but sometimes you just have to go for it. That was pretty much that. I didn’t know what was coming in the airport and I’m glad I didn’t, really. (smiling) I remember that being one particularly hard night. Just getting the timing right, not fall at the back of the truck. I’m glad we didn’t rehearse, just did it. Even if you rehearse things can be different. It is nice to be organic, go for it and see what happens.

Kai Martin on the set of 'Casino Royale'
– Kai Martin on the fuel truck. Photo courtesy of Kai Martin.

In ‘Quantum of Solace’ we could see you in foot chase sequence in Siena in Italy.

In February 2008 we shot all the interior in Pinewood on 007 Stage. That was the fight on the ropes in bell tower. There was Daniel, Glenn Foster and myself as well as Richard Hansen. I’ve done lots of stunt work with Rich. We’ve shot all the fights, coming off the scafolding, unravling, grabbing of the gun etc.

Kai Martin on the set of 'Quantum of Solace'
– Kai Martin filming the fight on the ropes in bell tower. Photo courtesy of Kai Martin.

How did you prepare that complex sequence? It looked very spontaneous, very natural, but I am sure it was planned in details?

That was extremely hard work. We’ve started preparation in October 2007 as I remember. Actor Gavin Marshall known for an impressive rope work was brought it. You can’t learn in few months something that someone has done for lifetime. The thing is that the stunt has special skills whatever it is, but it always comes back down to performance. The stunt is a performance at the end of the day. We did rehearse that for a long period of time, but because of the nature of that, it was very tricky with ropes moving all the time. We did have choreography but then things got changed in a moment quite quickly and we had to adapt.

How long did that sequence take from the idea to the final shot?

Months. I would say that for me personally it began early October 2007 and finished at the end of February or maybe beginning of March 2008. That was my life – hanging on ropes. I remember that it was hard work, because main unit was shooting on 007 Stage in a day time and we had to shoot at night. It had nothing to do with actual location etc. but it was just logistics and scheduling thing. At 3 a.m. I was 60 feet up in the air with rope wrapped around me. For me personally that was very hard from start to finish. In ‘Casino Royal’ I had to jump on moving truck that was hard but in one evening it was done. It is a creative process, you are learning all the time. Sometimes it is good to have some preperation and sometimes it is good to do it in one day.

Kai Martin on the set of 'Quantum of Solace'
– ‘That was my life – hanging on ropes’. Photo courtesy of Kai Martin.

You were also doubling Daniel Craig on location in Siena.

We went to Siena at the end of March or beginning of April 2008. We’ve spent a good few weeks prepering for exterior scenes. Bond chases Mitchell, he goes up the window and he jumps on the bus – that was me, I rehearsed that. I rehearsed the long jump across. I remember braking a rib and a finger. I got to do that in Siena. That was a good stunt. Bobby (Hanton) did a lot of exterior work in Siena and also Daniel did a lot of it. He did one roof to balcony jump. I think he hurt his shoulder but he did it. I was there watching. That was a big jump and Daniel did that. They were coming off the roofs. Bobby had done some stuff on the exterior. Then it came back to Pinewood and it was me falling down the roof because it was collapsing. Then it was Daniel in Siena. He jumped from the collapsing roof onto the balcony. Then he proceedes across the balconies. I rehearsed it at Pinewood with all the measurements and then we went to replicate it on location. That is also the stuntman’s job. Sometimes in the studios with tape measure you can design the scale of what they want to have on set and check if they can make it. At first the jump would be too big for Daniel so we had to modify that. That was a very elongated process as well. This is making movie and that is why it works. When you do rehearse to get it right then you can replicate it on location.

In ‘Skyfall’ we could also see you drowning as James Bond in title sequence.

Yes. I couldn’t believe it because James Bond title sequence is so iconic. That was the sinking hole.

How was it filmed?

It was amazing. It was filmed at Pinewood studio in 007 Stage – underwater. I was in the underwater tank dressed in Bond suit. There were also two Bond girls and their job was to grab off my body.

Kai Martin on the set of 'Skyfall'
– Kai Martin in the underwater tank at Pinewood Studios. Photo courtesy of Kai Martin.

How long did you have to stay under water?

In that particular sequence maybe 10-15 seconds. It was just sinking, holding my breath and the girls grabbed me. We also did the underwater fight under the ice. That was Ben Wright and myself. It was specifically hard because it was underwater. You loose the air rapidly and it is very difficult to communicate. That was another part I did in that film.

Did you rehearse that fight without the water at first?

We knew the choreography, we knew the moves but obviously when we added the element of water that could change it. If you want to hold someone very close it is very difficult to do under water. You have to put so much effort to your moves to get that kind of energy that is necessary. That was quite challenging to work on.

‘Spectre’ was your only 007 film so far in which you were not James Bond double.

Yes. That is correct. I was asked to be Bond double, but unfortunately in that particular time I just couldn’t make it. I was very fortunate to get call back to play the helicopter pilot.

Kai Martin on the set of 'Spectre'
– Kai Martin as helicopter pilot with Daniel Craig’s stunt double Andy Lister (in the middle) and Alessandro Cremona’s stunt double Rob Cooper. Photo courtesy of Kai Martin.

In this film we could see your face. Actually Chuck Aaron was your double.  I guess that fighting in a helicopter mounted on special rig in Pinewood Studios was not as challenging as your previous stunts.

It was the least challenging as oppose to underwater fight, flying on ropes or being on cranes. But it was on a gimble that changed a lot. We had to be careful because it was easy to get bumped, but it was pretty straight forward in comparison.

Kai Martin on the set of 'Spectre'
– Kai Martin sitting on the helicopter mockup at Pinewood Studios. Photo courtesy of Kai Martin.

You were also in ‘No Time to Die’, but I guess we should not talk about it now, before the premiere.

Yes, that would be best. I’m personally very proud that I’ve done all five of Daniel’s films. I was almost in every opening sequence and every trailer. I’m sure that ‘No Time to Die’ will be a great films. For me personally it is like the end of an era. As it is for lots of people, obviously for Daniel. We’ve done that journey from 2005 to 2020. Even once we’ve done one Bond film we were very aware that there was probably going to be the next. That is why it is even more unique. I was very, very happy that I was in all of them.

May 9th 2020

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Aston Martin DBS Superleggera in ‘No Time To Die’

07 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by Piotr Zając in Aston Martin DBS Superleggera, No Time to Die

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Tags

Aston Martin, Aston Martin DBS Superleggera, No Time to Die

On the Global James Bond Day on October 5th 2019, Aston Martin confirmed 4 cars that would appear in new 007 movie. Aston Martin DBS Superleggera is one of them.

There is some time left until the premiere of ‘No Time To Die’ scheduled for April 2020, but right now I am inviting you to take a look at some of my photos of that amazing car.

Buildings reflected in rear window of Aston Martin DBS Superleggera

5.2 V12 twin-turbo engine provides 715bhp. Torque – 900Nm, highest value of all Aston Martin road cars in the history.

Carbon-ceramic brakes: 410mm at the front and 360mm at the rear.

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Les Ambassadeurs Club in London - filming location known from "Dr. No". This is th eplace when Sean Connery said "Bond, James Bond" for the first time. The interior of teh Club was recreated in Pinewood Studios, but the exterior was filmed on location. Copyright Piotr Zajac @piotrzajacphoto
Portrait of Samantha Bond who has played Miss Moneypenny in 'GoldenEye', 'Tomorrow Never Dies', 'The World Is Not Enough' and 'Die Another Day'. I've thaken that portrait in February 2023 in Hotel Corinthia London. Thank you @corinthialondon for the opportunity to organize a portrait session in the hotel. Copyright Piotr Zajac @piotrzajacphoto
MI6 Headquarters and Vauxhall Bridge in London by night. Copyright Piotr Zajac @piotrzajacphoto
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The bondlocations.wordpress.com blog is an unofficial information resource and in no way associated or linked with the official James Bond production companies. All the views expressed on this website are those of the author and does not reflect the views of anyone connected to the official James Bond production companies or anyone else. James Bond related trademarks are trademarks of Danjaq, LLC and United Artists Corporation. All rights reserved.
All images copyright Piotr Zajac, unless otherwise stated.

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