Empire UK

culmination of a three-part sequence
that sees 007 pursue SPECTRE vehicles
carrying henchman Hinx (David Bautista)
and mysterious doctor Madeleine Swann
(Léa Seydoux) — also Mr. White’s daughter
— down a glacier through a frozen forest
and by now wingless through a barn. It’s
the ‘through’ part the locals are so keen
to witness. Any minute now the rigged
explosives will go off propelling the front
half of the Britten-Norman Islander into
the thinnest of air. At least that’s the plan.

T’S HARD TO IMAGINE THESE
second-unit crewmembers most
sporting campaign beards as ‘second’
to anyone. They’re the highly drilled
workhorses behind the latest stunt to
gild James Bond’s rich history of carefully
coordinated mayhem. In their 450-strong
ranks are franchise veterans. The film’s
affectionally dubbed “snow whisperer”
Stefan Zürcher for example has worked
on nine Bonds and nearly perished for the
cause on The Living Daylights when his
snowplough plunged through a frozen lake.
And one of today’s key men unflappable
stunt co-ordinator Gary Powell has kept
Bond safe(ish) since Casino Royale. “The
planning and logistics of a sequence like
this takes months” he points out. “Then
there’s getting permission to film in the
village because they’ve probably never
seen anything like this.”
At one point there were a thousand
crew members in situ as first and second
units converged. There’s “a lot of PR”
required to keep the locals mostly no-
nonsense farmers happy during the
shoot a production manager explains.
Soon they’ll be able to boast of joining
Bregenz (Quantum Of Solace) and
Weissensee (The Living Daylights) in
offering an Austrian home for Bond but
for now they’re probably just keen to know
why two modified Land Rover Defenders
and a Range Rover have been careering
down their slopes at 60mph. “There’s
always danger with everything we do”
says Powell pre-empting Empire’snext
question. “We’re on icy roads so anything
can happen but I’ve got three rally
champions driving. Good team there.”
Aboard the plane during its
earlier trajectory down the slopes was
Rob Hunt stuntman on two previous
Bonds and whisper it quietly one
Bourne. If light aircraft make seriously
uncomfortable toboggans he’s not
getting much sympathy from his boss.
“There’s not a lot of suspension when
you’re coming down the slopes” laughs
Powell “so his vision’s quite blurry at
the moment.” Hunt and his fellow
stunties originally had even more

derring to do up in these mountains.

The final chunk of the already lengthy

sequence originally due to end with

a skidoo chase through the village and

culminate with Bond and Hinx facing

off at a dam was truncated presumably

because at some point someone would

have needed to stop for a pee.

“Everyone’s done their homework

so when we get to the shooting day it

shouldn’t be a challenge” adds Powell

as the countdown to barnageddon

commences. If he speaks with the

reassurance of a man who’s seen it all

that’s because he has. This isn’t even his

first Bond-meets-light-aircraft gig. He

worked on Pierce Brosnan’s improbable

skydive into the cockpit of GoldenEye’s

Pilatus Porter. “It’s a little different having

a plane chasing three cars through the

woods” he says. The stunt co-ordinator

exudes professional pride in his 15-strong

team and appreciates his director’s

openness to new ideas. “Sam likes to be

proved wrong” he grins “which is good

because I’m more than happy to do that

for him — in the nicest possible way.”

The easy option here a classic Bond ski

chase was jettisoned in favour of “trying

to do something different”.

T’S DEFINITELY DIFFERENT.

Bond has been in a barn or two

before (famously with Pussy Galore

in Goldfinger and Tracy di Vicenzo

in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service)

but there’s no hay to roll in this time

just an imminent detonation and a trip

into the blue yonder. Second unit

director Alexander Witt on whose

shoulders all this ultimately rests has

nine cameras ready to capture it all.

Mendes will scrutinise the results on

remote playback later. “So far he’s been

happy no complaints” says Witt. “He

doesn’t send smileys back just ‘Move

on.’ It’s just for him to get a sense of

the shots we’re doing.”

Witt is calm as things prepare to

go all Michael Bay on us. And then it

happens. There’s a heart-jolting bang

and through a blizzard of logs and

splintering timber shoots the cabin

of that entirely Q -unapproved Bond

plane. It thumps to Earth and grinds

to a halt 100 yards further down the

slope. The locals whoop their approval.

Empire meanwhile glances around

half-expecting to spotPowell and Witt

engaged in a celebratory fist-bump

handshake or high five. But they’re

already onto the next set-up. They’re

losing the light.

ON SET OF SPECTRE CONTINUES ON PAGE 80.

“There’s

always d ng

with ev rything

we do.”

Gary Powell

Don’t ever pull

in front of Hinx

without indicating.