My first James Bond film. Probably the most exciting job offer as it had been one
of my ambitions to appear in a Bond movie. I was called for this job at the end
of March 1997, about 3 months after the film had began shooting. Under the direction of veteran stunt coordinator and 2nd Unit Director Vic Armstrong, I played a crew member of the H.M.S. Devonshire at work in the engine room. The Baddies stealth ship sends a sea drill through the hull of the ship which sweeps the crew away in a heavy burst of water. This was achieved by using ‘tip tanks’. A tip tank is a piece of stunt equipment that simulates a ‘burst of water’. On this occasion the tanks (which look a little like open garbage skips full of water) were stacked to a height of about 30ft. The top tank tips, which quickly floods the one below, which tips and so on...until you have gallons of water bursting on to the set. The set of the engine room was built on the empty paddock tank at Pinewood Studios. The end result was very convincing. I was then invited to play a German baddie for the memorable BMW chase sequence through the multi storey car park in Hamburg (see 3 photos above). I am one of 3 baddies who get out of a car to fire at Bond. He responds by activating a mini rocket launcher hidden in his sun roof. We run out of the way as our car is blown backwards in a fireball, on to parked cars. He darts past us and we empty our pistols into the back his car. When he can’t escape on the ground floor, he returns to Level 3 where I am waiting for him with a huge anti tank rocket launcher!! I fire, the rocket passes through the car windscreen, out of the rear window and blows up my fellow partners in crime behind, I am left to dive clear as Bond hurtles toward me to make his escape. The sequence took the best part of 3 weeks to film, once again under the watchful eye of veteran stuntman and 2nd unit director, Vic Armstrong. What a great time I had, you could sense that the end result would be brilliant, and it certainly got a thumbs up from Bond fans the world over. |
As you can see in the stills above, my next scene put me up against James Bond himself!
Bond has infiltrated the Stealth ship and began planting mines when he is
attacked by a guard (played by stuntman Tom Lucy) whom he quickly disposes of
in the cold South China Seas. He then notices the sliding door beside him activate
and quickly stabs the unsuspecting guard in the chest. That poor guard was
played by me! Having stabbed me, Bond removes my helmet and places his backpack
on me. Holding me out in the path of the evil Stamper, he fires the machine gun
so I look like James Bond! Stamper fires back as Bond pushes me out. I am shot to pieces and splash in to the
water to join my colleague at the bottom of the South China Seas. They believe they have shot James Bond. For this sequence we did not have to fly to the South China Seas (unfortunately) but drive to Pinewood Studios, England where we were met by stunt coordinator, Dickey Beer. The paddock tank, used empty for the earlier sinking of the Devonshire, had now been filled to capacity and had become the South China Seas for a week or two. Over a dozen powerful power boat motors were cranked up before each take to simulate the turbulence of a ship traveling through water. The water was more turbulent than it looked and I have to confess to being more than a little surprised when I went under! It was filmed at about 3am and when I opened my eyes I couldn’t see a thing, just bubbles going in all directions. For the first take I surfaced 20ft away under a R.I.B (rigid inflatable boat). Luckily I swam another 20ft underwater and escaped. When I surfaced, the rescue divers were just about to go in to save me! This was the 1st opportunity I had to work with Pierce Brosnan whom I found, much to my suprise, to be a really nice guy. It’s the little things that count and the fact that he could remember my name after so many weeks apart on such a hectic film impressed me. It was whilst filming this sequence that Dickey Beer noticed that I would make a good double for Pierce and invited me to double for James Bond for the following 3 weeks of underwater filming. I was ecstatic. A true high point. Unfortunately, Dickey Beer had to return to Hamburg for some pick up shots and left someone else in charge that I wish he hadn’t. To cut a very long story short, I only doubled Pierce Brosnan briefly as this ‘new guy’ ensured my contract for the following week was not renewed. This also applied to the other 2 underwater stunt performers that Dickey Beer had employed. We were still suprised however, when the new guy replaced us with his friends - and even his cousin!! I was paid for doubling Pierce Brosnan for 1 week and then returned to 2nd unit where I was killed once again by Bond as well as blown up 3 times as the movie reached its explosive finale. |
