James Bond’s special effects supervisor talks stunts and car chases

Chris: “I was at school and I’d just done my exams when I got a call from my uncle, who was a special effects guy at the time.

“Once I started I had this yearning to be an engineer, so I was put with a very talented research and development engineer and I became an unofficial apprentice.

For this film there was a yearning to bring back the DB5 in a full backing mode rather than just a cameo role where it disappears off into the sunset.

So we settled on having two original cars that would be for close ups, and then Aston would build eight specialised stunt cars, of which two would have a driving pod on the roof for Mark Higgins to drive whilst Daniel and Léa were in the car.

Chris: “I’ve obviously got a soft spot for the DB5 because I’ve worked with it so many times, but I’ve also got a soft spot for the V8 Vantage which I worked with over 30 years ago in The Living Daylights.

Cary liked the idea of the Maserati Quattroporte on the bridge and the older Land Cruiser battling against the new Defenders in No Time To Die.

I know the film didn’t do great, but the whole thing was shot from inside the car on a handheld camera with Blake Lively driving and all this other action going on around it, which I thought had a certain energy to it that you don’t often see.

“The danger with car chases is that they go on for too long.

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