250 replies to this topic

[agentjamesbond007]

According to this other article, the most seriously injured stuntman is Greek, his colleague is Italian, and they were in one of the Alfa Romeos, that hit a lorry before being thrown against a wall.

How sad! They keep having accidents with the aston martin. Is it the car or the person they hired?

[MkB]

This accident didn't involve an Aston Martin, but an Alfa Rom

[deth]

will the stoppage of filming effect the release date perhaps?

[Professor Dent]

will the stoppage of filming effect the release date perhaps?

Since it was second unit work, hopefully they can get it back on track & it won't have an impact on the release date. I'd hate to see them change the chase scene around or just re-write it. These guys are professionals & accidents do happen. Glad to see they are ok, though - we can always replace the cars.

[Captain Tightpants]

will the stoppage of filming effect the release date perhaps?

Not likely. Films always budget some extra time for shooting in case something goes wrong, be it accients, bad weather, legal issues, cost blowouts, re-casting or characters, re-shooting scenes and so on. The filming of Quantum of Solace is due to finish some time in June (I think), but the release isn't until October/November, so there's more than enough time to wrap things up and still completethe post-production process.

And if the release date is delayed, maybe we'll get something closer to a worldwide release ...

[Captain Tightpants]

There's a picture here of the crash scene:
http://www.thesun.co...icle1084359.ece

Pardon the double-post, but something has just occured to me. Someone suggested that footage of the accident may be used in the final cut with all the people on the scene edited out in post-production. But judging by the picture of the accident, I'd say this is very unikely as everything has come to a complete stand-still.

[The Dove]

I saw some extra tidbits in the Telegraph article over at MI6.co.uk. Apparently the same two stunt drivers were injured the previous Saturday, but not seriously. Apparently stunt co-ordinator Gary Powell was not happy with how the sequence turned out on Saturday and ordered it to be re-shot yesterday (Wednesday) which is when the serious crash happened. How scary!!

I find myself looking back at the previous Bond films and the various tragic accidents and events:

From Russia With Love : A helicopter crashes into the sea with director Terrence Young and crew aboard. Fortunately they all escaped with minor injuries.
Pedro Armindariz sadly takes his own life after checking into the hospital with cancer.

You Only Live Twice: Airiel cameraman Johnny Jordan suffers a serious leg injury while filming the gyrocopter vs SPECTRE helicopter battle.

For Your Eyes Only: Bernard Lee passes away before he can film his scenes as M. As a result Tanner is written in as Bond's boss this time. And I've also heard that while filming the skiing down the bobsled sequence, the sled overturned and killed one of the men.

Octopussy: Stuntman Martin Grace is badly injured during the sequence where Bond is holding on to the moving train.

Licence to Kill: All the spooky incidents that took place at Rumarosa while they were filming the climax with the tanker trucks.. i.e. the telephone repairman getting hit by the rocket, Timothy Dalton's truck nearly going over the cliff ect..

and now with these latest accidents on the Quantum of Solace set, it really brings into perspective how dangerous it is filming a Bond movie, no matter how many safety precautions they take!!

[Mr Teddy Bear]

Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't see how getting cancer or dying of natural causes can be linked to the dangers involved with filming.

[HildebrandRarity]

You forgot the stunt driver (Bob Simmons? Martin Grace?) being dragged along in the burning Count Lippe assassination shoot at Silverstone for Thunderball. That one could have been pretty horrible.

[Shrublands]

You forgot the stunt driver (Bob Simmons? Martin Grace?) being dragged along in the burning Count Lippe assassination shoot at Silverstone for Thunderball. That one could have been pretty horrible.

That was Bob Simmons

And the spike of glass that went into the stuntman

[marktmurphy]

There's a picture here of the crash scene:
http://www.thesun.co...icle1084359.ece

Pardon the double-post, but something has just occured to me. Someone suggested that footage of the accident may be used in the final cut with all the people on the scene edited out in post-production. But judging by the picture of the accident, I'd say this is very unikely as everything has come to a complete stand-still.

Well, plus the fact that involves two of the Alfa Romeos which are playing the same car! It might be a little hard to explain how the villain's car crashes into itself.

[Captain Tightpants]

There's a picture here of the crash scene:
http://www.thesun.co...icle1084359.ece

Pardon the double-post, but something has just occured to me. Someone suggested that footage of the accident may be used in the final cut with all the people on the scene edited out in post-production. But judging by the picture of the accident, I'd say this is very unikely as everything has come to a complete stand-still.

Well, plus the fact that involves two of the Alfa Romeos which are playing the same car! It might be a little hard to explain how the villain's car crashes into itself.

Well, the Alfa 159 is commonly used as a police vehicle in Italy, and while it's usually painted light blue with POLICIA on the sides, they could always be used as undercover cars, so I figured that may have been the case. I could see Quantum using cars similar to police cars for operations in different countries so that they'd blend in ...

[Simon]

will the stoppage of filming effect the release date perhaps?

Yes, undoubtedly. (Guessing you meant 'Affect')

I heard from a source close to the production that they will be moving the date to November 2009.

[Captain Tightpants]

According to today's Metro it is actually the third crash and about the half dozenth incident. Rumour has it that QoS is jinxed, whereas I just think they may not have the best stunt drivers!!

o, that's the tabloids making stuff up.

[Matt_13]

will the stoppage of filming effect the release date perhaps?

Yes, undoubtedly. (Guessing you meant 'Affect')

I heard from a source close to the production that they will be moving the date to November 2009.

Holding release for an entire year? That seems like a bit much to me.

[MkB]

According to today's Metro it is actually the third crash and about the half dozenth incident. Rumour has it that QoS is jinxed, whereas I just think they may not have the best stunt drivers!!

o, that's the tabloids making stuff up.

The jinx rumour is certainly a typical tabloid stuff, but it is true that it's the third crash of the week (references in this post):
- the Aston Martin skidding and falling into the Lake on Saturday (this one not during filming)
- a first crash with an Alfa on Tuesday, this one with no serious consequences
- the final crash on Wedneday, and two stuntmen ending up in hospital.

But really, I don't think the stuntman can be blamed personally here. They are great professionals, working with Gary Powell. Those guys have received professional awards, and are very experienced (look at Aris Comninos' file at IMDB).

[HildebrandRarity]

According to today's Metro it is actually the third crash and about the half dozenth incident. Rumour has it that QoS is jinxed, whereas I just think they may not have the best stunt drivers!!

That is pure and utter BS. You have to considered the fact that those roads are basically one-and-a-half lanes wide and are surrounded by guardrails, cement walls, armco barriers, mountain rock and alpine trees...and that they're as twisty and undulating as hell. You're not meant to go "at breakneck speed" (production description) on those roads.

Plus the Aston that crashed into the lake was driven by an company engineer and NOT a stunt driver!

You need to look objectively before suggesting they're using a stunt team that doesn't know what it's doing.

[HildebrandRarity]

will the stoppage of filming effect the release date perhaps?

Yes, undoubtedly. (Guessing you meant 'Affect')

I heard from a source close to the production that they will be moving the date to November 2009.

Holding release for an entire year? That seems like a bit much to me.

Do we have an emoticom for extreme hilarity? :# :@ Simon, you're 'da bomb!

[Simon]

will the stoppage of filming effect the release date perhaps?

Yes, undoubtedly. (Guessing you meant 'Affect')

I heard from a source close to the production that they will be moving the date to November 2009.

Holding release for an entire year? That seems like a bit much to me.

Well, they were going to not release it all at one point.

[marktmurphy]

BBC says the driver is stable:

http://news.bbc.co.u...ent/7366939.stm

[The Dove]

You forgot the stunt driver (Bob Simmons? Martin Grace?) being dragged along in the burning Count Lippe assassination shoot at Silverstone for Thunderball. That one could have been pretty horrible.

Thanks.. I knew I'd forget something.

[DamnCoffee]

What about the stuntman in Octopussy, he got pretty badly injured on the side of the train.

[Qwerty]

Now on the CBn main page...

Stuntman Involved In 'Quantum' Car Crash In Stable Condition

Plus a look at the site of the accident

[marktmurphy]

It's worth saying that of the two Alfas involved, the most smashed up one we see on that BBC page doesn't appear to be the one the stuntmen were in- I think that's the car with the dummies, as MkB described.

[HildebrandRarity]

Yes. They shouldn't let dummies on the road.

Questions:

So, if we assume that the Alfa with the dummies which crashed first into the truck was in the script, then are we to assume that the second Alfa driven by the stunt team was actually a 'camera car' getting close-ups of the "crash"?

OR is it that:

The first Alfa with the dummies was intended to "crash" into the truck, but the second Alfa with the stunt drivers were NOT driving behind to film the "crash" but were ALSO part of the sequence?

If the second is the case, then can we assume that the Alfas are police cars...but if the first is the case then can we assume that the Alfa is actually a car associated with Mr White's group/Quantum group?

[MkB]

Question:

So the Alfa with the dummies crashed into the truck. This, probably, was in the script (?). If so, then the second Alfa driven by the stunt team was a camera car...getting close-ups of the "crash" being shot by the second unit?

This is how I understand it:
- Two Alfas were involved in the scene (and in the chase)
- One of them, with the dummies, was planned to crash into the lorry
- The second was supposed to continue the chase, but unfortunately got involved in the crash
IMO, the main camera car is the Mercedes SUV we saw on some pics:


Anyway, I don't think we can really draw conclusions at this point: the Alfas can be either undercover Italian police cars, or belong to Mr White's group (and possibly pretending to be Italian police cars)

[HildebrandRarity]

Ok good. As you can see, I re-phrased my original question/questions (several times) with edit after edit.

But the main point is that the Alfas, based on your answer, are POLICE cars in the movies.

That's what I wanted to get out of my question because I was not completely sure whether they were using Alfas (more than one Alfa, ) as police cars for the movie...or using an Alfa (one Alfa, even though the production brought five of them to Lake Garda) as the "villian's car" in the PTS.

Now you've cleared up things for me.

Any one know what the villian's car will be in the PTS? Or do the villians just call the police and never actually engage in a chase of Bond's Aston with Mr White in it?

[YOLT]

So are they going to continue or the shooting has finished ? Will the Italian goverment let them continue ?

[marktmurphy]

Yes. They shouldn't let dummies on the road.

Questions:

So, if we assume that the Alfa with the dummies which crashed first into the truck was in the script, then are we to assume that the second Alfa driven by the stunt team was actually a 'camera car' getting close-ups of the "crash"?

OR is it that:

The first Alfa with the dummies was intended to "crash" into the truck, but the second Alfa with the stunt drivers were NOT driving behind to film the "crash" but were ALSO part of the sequence?

If the second is the case, then can we assume that the Alfas are police cars...but if the first is the case then can we assume that the Alfa is actually a car associated with Mr White's group/Quantum group?

I'd guess that they're both supposed to be the same car- the stuntman car was perhaps waiting off camera and got mixed up. Shame we can't see the numberplates on both cars to see if they're 'playing' the same one onscreen.

[MkB]

A "spy" video from the press conference last weekend:


The last couple of minutes are filmed from a car on the roads where QoS was filmed. Wow.