MiniWorld June 2019 93
“I had presumed that the English car giant would
want to assist our production in every way possible...”
The most audacious stunt in the film:
Julienne and his team make a death-
defying leap from one roof top to another.Left to right: Cameraman Douglas
Slocombe, Director Peter Collinson
and stunt co-ordinator Rémy
Julienne discuss the next stunt.Production manager Derek Kavanagh
remembered visiting Longbridge to
select the cars. “They just pointed out
the window and said, ‘Pick what you
want and let us know.’ They weren’t
in any way co-operative. We thought
they gave [them to us]. They didn’t.
We had to pay for them ultimately.”
Cameraman Douglas Slocombe
had hoped BMC would work with the
fi lmmakers to engineer a one-o car
that would enable them to perform
even greater stunts. “I thought they
could create a Mini for us that would
practically go up a wall, so I hit upon
crazy ideas. I thought they could put
a transverse engine in the back of our
Minis, so we had an engine in the front
and back that were linked somehow.
We would have enormous power, four-
wheel drive and really be able to do
extraordinary things with them. I felt it
was absolutely typical of a certain rather
mean and unadventurous attitude that
one found in so many of our industries
back at home. Whereas in America, and
certainly in Europe, you would »