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Remy and the Red Cooper
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Remy
Julienne
In 1958 Frenchman Remy Julienne became
the French Motorcross Champion. In his
homeland his driving skills were recognised
as some of the best and his charismatic
driving led him to become France's most
respected stunt drivers. Eventually he
set up his own stunt driving company 'Remy
Julienne L'Equipe', a self contained team
of highly skilled drivers and mechanics.
His break onto the international stage
came when he was asked to complete the
stunt work on The Italian Job, since then
Remy Julienne L'Equipe hasn't looked back.
Half a dozen Bond films and other similar
action movies have benefited from his
stunt work and the impressive portfolio
continues to grow. Today he still takes
part in stunts, but with his two sons,
Michel and Dominic, the Julienne genius
has a safe future.
Much of Remy's success is down to the
spade-work that he puts in before even
getting near a car. Everything has to
be precise, every ramp and angle calculated,
and his over-riding concern is always
safety, which is why the movie world respect
him so much. This attention to detail
enables his team to complete unbelievable
and insane stunts, all in a safe environment.
Putting
the most talented stunt driving team and
one of the lightest, best handling cars
together was always going to result in
something spectacular, but what Remy and
his team did with the Mini Coopers in
The Italian Job was above and beyond what
anyone expected.
Remy got on incredibly well with the production
team and everyone liked him. Director
Peter Collinson and Producer Michael Deeley
respected Remy totally and together the
three of them devised the Mini Cooper
chase scene together with Doug Slocombe,
Director of Photography. After an accident
early on in the filming, which didn't
involve Remy or any of his team, the decision
was made that Remy would be in total charge
of the stunt driving. Remy would often
put forward inspired ideas that the production
team initially had thought impossible
and eventually Remy Julienne L'Equipe
had doubled the amount of stunts that
they were initially contracted to do.
Remy and his team proved addictive to
watch, even when most of the acting cast
weren't needed they would all turn up
on location to watch the Coopers do their
thing, oh and they got free lunch!
Wedding Guests
The wedding sequence on the steps of the
Gran di Dio Church was a tricky one to
set up. It appears to be a pretty straight
forward bit of stunt driving, but because
the Coopers had to negotiate the steps
at an angle, a fairly high speed needed
be maintained as Remy feared that they
would roll over if the speed dropped too
low. Because of this speed, the wedding
party had to be perfectly placed to avoid
any accidents - especially as the Coopers
couldn't simply perform an emergency stop.
Each time the take was done the Mini's
were suffering damage to the sills, so
it needed to be in the can within a few
takes.
Church steps
were... |
...tough on
the Coopers |
Remy L'Equipe
defies gravity again |
The
60 footer
Deeley, Collinson and Slocombe consulted
with Remy to see if there were any stunts
that he would like to put forward that
weren't already in the schedule. Remy
had many suggestions that were taken onboard,
but there was one which caused a few shaking
heads. Remy had suggested that his team
do a large rooftop jump between two buildings.
The production team's reaction was a straight
forward 'No', but Remy persisted and had
great faith that it would work. His confidence
paid off and the production team gave
in, insisting that test runs were done
on flat ground to see if the Coopers could
make the distance. With tests successfully
complete Deeley and Collinson gave Remy
the go ahead.
They knew that even with the unbelievable
helpfulness of the Turin Police, even
they would not allow a stunt that that
had so many 'what if's' to be performed
on or over public streets. What the whole
crew needed was a private property and
Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli
offered his help yet again and let the
crew use the Fiat factory and it's grounds.
Producer Michael Deeley was a worried
man. Even though the stunt was being performed
on private property, in Italian law he
was still solely responsible if anything
went wrong, so apparently he had a car
waiting outside and a plane waiting at
the airport. He figured that he could
argue his case from the UK if it went
pear shaped - which was entirely possible,
especially on top of a 50 foot building.
Even the 2nd unit filmed the stunt in
monochrome for insurance purposes.
Remy takes
off at 70mph... |
...and clears
the 60ft gap |
The jump had to be massive, the gap was
60ft, and even though the 'landing' building
was 12ft lower that the take off, the
possibility of one or all the Coopers
hitting the side of the building and plummeting
50ft was one that kept everyone involved
on edge. Remy figured that his team had
to 'leave' the building at 50mph and suggested
that the three Coopers do the jump all
together in a triangle formation instead
of one by one which was originally planned.
This was agreed to, even though it made
the stunt more dangerous. The tension
before the jump got higher and higher,
as everyone was held up by the overcast
weather. Production crew members were
feeling physically sick with anxiety.
One Italian cameraman has a nervous breakdown
and ran off, only to be discovered several
hour later!!
As it was a weekend a large crowd of over
600 onlookers had gathered, most of them
Fiat workers and their families, which
added to everyone's nerves. Deeley had
made sure that there were no journalists
in the Fiat grounds, just in case it all
went Pete Tong. There was a great atmosphere
within the crowd, especially as the ground
level had been littered with parasols,
chairs and tables by Disley jones and
his crew to give the factory grounds a
street cafe feel, even the rooftops were
dressed up with washing lines to give
a street rooftop appearance.
With everyone ready, the weather clearing
and a truck full of polystyrene placed
between the two buildings 50ft below,
it was all go. Many of the onlookers touched
Virgin Mary's and Crosses hanging around
their necks then Remy in the red Cooper
put his foot down, closely followed by
the white and blue Coopers. They left
the roof at just under 70mph and on landing
one Cooper broke it's suspension and one
it's engine - in the film you can see
the smoking engine as it hits the landing.
When it was all over, the crew, lead by
Peter Collinson ran up the exterior stairs
to congratulate Remy and his drivers with
every pocket crammed with a bottle of
bubbly! The stunt was an amazing success,
but the enormity of the jump isn't fully
justified in the film as the action was
caught by a single camera at car level
and at a shallow angle. The production
crew also knew this, but they weren't
willing to do it all again - I'm not surprised!
Flying...
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Rare photo
shows distance |
...hard landing |
Cooper
in a barrel roll
The 'in the sewer' scene was filmed near
Coventry in Stoke Aldermoor, where several
miles of the Birmingham-Coventry sewer
was being constructed. The camera car
was a Mini Moke that preceded the Coopers
and was driven by one of Remy's team.
Remy was excited about the scene as he
wanted to complete a 360 barrel roll,
essentially getting the Cooper upside
down on the ceiling of the sewer. Remy
tried three times, but the slippery algae
caused problems and the Mini ended up
on it's roof three times. The car was
so badly damaged that a forth attempt
was ruled out. John Aldred, the sound
mixer claims that Remy did complete a
barrel roll on one rehearsal, but the
cameras weren't rolling and it was the
only stunt in the finished film to defeat
Remy.
360 Barrel
role sadly
not filmed... |
..in the Coventry-Birmingham
sewer |
Get the wheels
in line! |
Get the wheels
in line, get the wheels in line with it
The 60ft rooftop jump was impressive,
but by no means was it the most dangerous,
that honour fell to the sequences of getting
the Coopers into the back of the coach.
Luckily the crew had miles of yet to be
opened motorway just outside Turin to
play with, although his didn't relax the
production crew one bit. They were really
worried about this stunt, expressing that
the Mini's tyres could blow inside the
coach. Remy and his crew were pretty calm
about it as usual and wanted to carry
out the sequence at 75mph with the bus
sitting at 50mph. The production's engineers
still weren't happy and it all got a little
heated until Remy said that he would pull
out and go home. Again the production
asked Remy to do some tests which were
performed perfectly and the stunt was
given the green light. Funnily enough,
no-one wanted to be the guy hanging out
the back of the coach waving the Coopers
in, so Peter Collinson agreed to do it,
and it's his waving hand you can see in
the final cut. With the area behind the
bus drivers seat reinforced, it was all
go. Remy and his crew did superbly, they
even went in red, white and blue. The
bus driver was also happy, even though
he had been moved forward a few inches!!!
Now they had to get the Mini's out!! this
was done with the aid of a huge pressure
cannon. What they threw out were regular
Mini's dressed up like Coopers, but even
they only a few thousand miles on the
clock. The blue Mini, which was thrown
out first has a camera in it looking out
of it's rear window, this shot is in the
final cut and if you look carefully you
can see that the paint around the inside
of the window is red, also some of the
glass has been removed. After the sequence
was successfully in the can, the crew
had to retrieve the smashed up Mini's
that littered the St. Bernard Valley!!
- There's probably still bits of them
lying around somewhere!
Trailing the
coach... |
..red lines
up |
...two to
go |
All in...
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...red out...
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..white...
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...and blue
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Balancing trick...
Phillip Wrestler and 2nd unit crew were
handed the worrying task of filming the
40ft long Harrington Legionnaire skidding
out of control and left resting above
a 2000ft drop. After studying maps a location
was decided on and the scene had the go
ahead. Unfortunately it took over two
weeks to get the footage due to bad weather,
and on one day filming was halted due
to Italians wanting to pass by the balancing
coach to get to a local beauty spot! Special
effects crew member Ken Morris placed
a greased metal plate on the road to help
Fred Toms, the driver, get the back end
of the coach out and do a proper slide.
Unfortunately the greased plates didn't
really work, so some clever editing was
needed to get the same effect. The scene
required the coach to skid and demolish
the roadside wall, leaving the coach hanging
2000ft above a lake in the valley below.
Luckily for Morris, the Legionnaire was
front heavy, as it had two axles at the
front which helped with the entire stunt.
The coach was secured by lengths of cable
to stop it disappearing down the mountain.
It was still an important prop as final
filming of the lads in the back still
had to be done back in the UK. Ariel filming
for the end credits required a helicopter
and on the rehearsal the downdraft from
the chopper started to push the Legionnaire's
back-end downwards - this was not good
as any addition strain on the cabling
wasn't welcome. Morris and the first assistant
had to leg it to the front of the Legionnaire
, grab the bumper and pull the front end
down!!!
Norman Warwick
(2nd Unit Director of
Photography) |
18ft of the
coach in thin air |
Legionnaire
had to demolish a small wall |
With
all the action successfully in the can,
the crew headed back to the UK for the
final filming in the back of the Legionnaire.
Apparently the bottled beer they were
drinking in that final scene was real,
and over the shoot the lads got pretty
merry - a fitting ending to the filming
of a great film!
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