Bond stunt co-ordinator Lee Morrison explains how one of the hottest sequences in the new film came together
“IT WAS ACTUALLY DANIEL WHO THOUGHT IT WOULD BE GOOD TO get a motorbike jump into the film, to enable Bond to cover ground quickly and get him into a certain part of the city.
“Everything we do with Bond has to have a good reason; we never put a stunt in for the sake of it. The big thing for me is that it’s credible. We can jump bikes 200ft, we can do backflips and all sorts of tricks, but Bond is famous for doing something for real and doing it with a certain style. You’ve got to put yourself into his mindset – he’s riding at speed, there’s only one way out, what would he do? Would he do a backflip? No, he wouldn’t.
“I found three locations, worked out the dynamics and the formula of how we could achieve it, where it would fit, then presented it to Daniel, the producers Barbara [Broccoli] and Michael [G. Wilson], and obviously Cary [Fukunaga, director]. It came down to doing a jump into the Piazza Duomo, so I had to work with the Italian authorities. That took time.
“Once everyone had signed off on the concept, I had to make it work. We needed to build a buttress wall, but it had to look like it would be there for real. So my first call was to the production designer, Mark Tildesley, and then to art director Chris Lowe.
“Paul Edmondson was the guy on the bike, and he’s one of the best riders the UK has ever produced, a four-times enduro champion. As well as having great bike skills, you have to be smart, and you have to be honest with yourself and with the stunt co-ordinator. When I’m designing something, I try to incorporate all the elements – how many chances do we have to shoot it, where it’ll look best, how do we shoot it, what happens if it goes wrong...
“The bike was flat-out in second, just shifting up to third gear, at around 50mph. The ramp had a 65° angle at take-off and we were jumping 55ft up into the square. The wind conditions played a huge factor, given how steep the take-off was and how far we were jumping. We weren’t going in a straight line, we were shifting left at the top. Normally you’d steer in the direction you want to land, but because it was so steep you can’t have much input because it would shove you into the wall. Paul had to get it inch perfect.
“Alex Witt was shooting it, he’s one of the best second unit action directors in the world. He’ll make sure everything’s right and when you get the nod from him... you go.”