RE: Film crew wrecks three Astons

RE: Film crew wrecks three Astons

Wednesday 21st June 2006

Film crew wrecks three Astons

Casino Royale crew flips £165,000 car


Aston Martin DBS
Aston Martin DBS
Hold on to your hat: we hear that three Aston Martin DBSs -- which aren't even on sale yet -- were smashed up in one afternoon by the film crew of Casino Royale, the 21st Bond film.

Fitted with pistons to flip them onto their roofs, the three £165,000 V12 cars were being filmed at the Millbrook Proving Ground near Bedford.

A source for the production crew said: "In the style of 007, our stunt driver walked away without a scratch."

Enough to make you weep?

Author
Discussion

PhantomPH

Original Poster:

4,043 posts

224 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
No there were not.

3 mules were flipped. Chances are they cost nowhere near £165k each.

Film budgets are high, but they are not mental. Most likely there are actually only 2 (at the most) fully finished DBS cars in the 007 'stable'. These are used for close and 'detail' shots. Every other car you see will be pared down to within an inch of it's life, before being trashed.

Think about it - you have to shoot a car rolling from a sensible distance...so why use a production-ready car? They use a mule with a DBS body on it. More often than not, they do not even have an engine in...and if they do, its not a hand-built full house production engine.

That story is total honk. I thought that when I read it in The Sun, as well.

P~

GrahamG

1,091 posts

266 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
You're right - they were mules

The film crew had two complete DBS's and several mules

I expect we'll have the disclaimer "No Aston Martin DBS's were harmed during the making of this film"

annodomini2

6,860 posts

250 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
They would be development prototypes and if they had finished testing with them, then why not as they would probably be scrapped anyway.

miketheman2k

38 posts

237 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
Why would we weep if we get a decent Bond film as a result?

PhantomPH

Original Poster:

4,043 posts

224 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
[redacted]

ubergreg

261 posts

230 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
PhantomPH said:
inject a little more life in the old girl


Dunno. Sounds like business as usual for Bond...

It's okay, I'll find my own way out.

scotty_917

1,034 posts

221 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
...maybe they should've given a spare AM clutch to the Le Mans boys then!

JapsEyeDesign

46 posts

221 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
PhantomPH said:
Was going to make a joke about the 'decent bond film' comment, but in reality I have slightly higher hopes for this one. Whatsischops is a very different actor to Brosnan and despite all the typical press about him being a wuss on set, this is supposedly a much 'darker' bond movie than of recent outings.

Sounds promising at this stage. A little 'darkness' is what the Bond genre needs to inject a little more life in the old girl - instead of just increasingly mental stunts and hope.

P~


But no 'Q' apparently. Thats a shame, if it loses it's quirks, won't it just be an 'another' film

sa_20v

4,108 posts

230 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
Yes, mule it will be (not sure why I'm talking like Yoda, but hey).

I saw the Z8 from one of the films (cut in half by helicopter) about two years ago (why save it?), nothing more than brake calipers, wheels and body-shell. Still a crying shame though, nothing turns me off more than a director deciding he has to trash a performance car for a mere film!

Hmm, the force is strong with you...

Horse_Apple

3,795 posts

241 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
Will Astons be offering the pistons as an extra on the real cars?

Surely this would be the ultimate rich man's extra. Talk about 'Look at the size of my wad'

ands8

10 posts

213 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
given that Aston's are now nothing but Ford's under the badge - who cares - smash em all up

Will Ferrari

114 posts

236 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
Was the Lamborghini Muira in the original "Italian Job" a mule or a real car?

The one that was thrown off the cliff?

r988

7,495 posts

228 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
You guys do realise the trailer/teaser is out already right? I have to say it doesn't look as cringeworthy as the other recent Bond films.

www.sonypictures.com/movies/casinoroyale/site/

beanbag

7,346 posts

240 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
I've got a friend who was the 2nd Unit Director of the previous bond movie and had the priviledge of going on set and seeing some of the filming.

Cars that are blown up are invariably kit-cars and usually don't have genuine parts inside them. For example, in the previous Bond movie, the Vanquish had an American V8 block instead of the Aston engine. I don't remember which one but they usually change them.

Additionally, the suspension is modified along with the brakes so the only standard part would be the shell and most of the interior. Even then, some of the panels are fibre glass to allow for the usual Bond gadgets and weaponary.

I've got some photos somewhere which I'll try and dig up if I remember.

markbrai888

10 posts

237 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
I think both the Vanquish and the Jag XK from the last film were basically just a Ford Explorer (i think....or the other big 4x4) chassis with the Aston/Jag body bolted on. The Aston V12 was swapped for a Ford V8 aswell (it might have been the same as the XK8, cant remember). Those were the cars used in the Ice driving scene and then as mentioned above there were a couple of "real" cars for the detail stuff.

jackass

135 posts

258 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
Will Ferrari said:
Was the Lamborghini Muira in the original "Italian Job" a mule or a real car?

The one that was thrown off the cliff?


It was a real shell but the engine (being the "most valuble part" was removed before it was crashed into the bulldozer and pushed down the mountain.

mk1fan

10,507 posts

224 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
According to the interview given to Radio Le Mans by an AM Executive the Bond crew have been given two full production models and three 'shells' to destroy as the stunts require.

The 'Vanish' used in Die Another Day had the V12 replaced with a V8 so that the bonnet mounted shotguns could be fitted.

[k]ar|

949 posts

245 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
I think it was a Ford small-block V8 that ended up being fitted to the Vanquish and Jag in Die Another Day. IIRC from the DVD extras, they didn't re-body an AWD chassis, but rather re-engineered the Aston & Jag to fit the smaller engine so they could stuff in AWD, automatic gearbox, the Q-gadgets, and flotation bags (in case the cars went through the ice).

From what I've seen on other DVDs and 'behind the scenes' documentaries, the fully-working and detailed cars used for close ups and beauty shots are called "hero" props. As mentioned earlier, the stunt cars are visually similar, but that's about the only thing they have in common with the hero car, and they end up being used for all sorts of things including stunts and having cameras and lights mounted all over them for car interior driving shots.

I think some bodyshells will probably be used for rigs and special effects, rather than being built into complete cars.

[k]



Edited by [k]ar| on Wednesday 21st June 19:25

dsf3g

46 posts

273 months

Wednesday 21st June 2006
quotequote all
[quote=[k]ar|]

From what I've seen on other DVDs and 'behind the scenes' documentaries, the fully-working and detailed cars used for close ups and beauty shots are called "hero" props. As mentioned earlier, the stunt cars are visually similar, but that's about the only thing they have in common with the hero car, and they end up being used for all sorts of things including stunts and having cameras and lights mounted all over them for car interior driving shots.
[k]


They filmed an episode of "The West Wing" near my workplace once, and I got to check out the presidential Limousines that they use on the show. Man, those things were ratty. The interior leather was all ripped and worn, and one of the cars was even missing some windshield moulding. Ick!

fatboy b

9,492 posts

215 months

Thursday 22nd June 2006
quotequote all
ands8 said:
given that Aston's are now nothing but Ford's under the badge - who cares - smash em all up

Twat