Motor Trend: Behind the Scenes: "The Italian Job"

In the upcoming remake of the classic film, "The Italian Job" opening May 30, the beloved Mini Cooper stars as an accomplice in a multi-million dollar gold heist that's not so much about getting the money as it is about getting even.

The nimble hot hatch plays among an all-star cast that includes Mark Wahlberg as mastermind thief Charlie Croker; Charlize Theron as Stella, the beautiful nerves-of-steel safecracker; Seth Green as computer genius Lyle; Jason Statham as Handsome Rob, the wheelman; and Edward Norton as Steve, the not-so-creative inside guy. A team of Minis take on the role of armored cars/getaway vehicles; while the little cars might not seem the most obvious choice for carting off 1800 pounds of gold, these thieves saw them as the perfect escape cars, especially when plans lead to tapping into Los Angeles' traffic control system, manipulating signals, and creating one of the biggest traffic jams in L.A. history.

In a nod to the original 1969 Paramount film, Stella's own car is a classic Mini, and she drives it with the same precision and speed she uses when opening safes. The film's modern-day chase scenes take a fleet of three late-model Mini Cooper S's through bumper-to-bumper traffic, on city sidewalks, down stairs into Los Angeles's own metro system, and through underground sewer systems in a race with armored cars, motorcycles, and even helicopters.

City street and freeway scenes were shot only on weekends, and used an assortment of 3000 picture vehicles choreographed to create an accurate depiction of Los Angeles traffic. Creating that jam took a bit of organization, including shutting down two blocks of landmark Hollywood Boulevard in front of Mann's Chinese Theatre and the Kodak Theatre.

"We literally controlled those streets for a week," says producer Donald De Line. "We had 300 cars and several armored trucks on the ground, helicopters flying low overhead, and motorcycles and Minis driving over the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame sidewalk." In all, second unit shooting, which included virtually all the stunts, spanned 40 days.

Director F. Gary Gray remembers the experience well. "Nothing like this has ever been done before," Gray says. "The shoot affected traffic from the south of Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley. I even got calls from friends on their way home from work, blaming me for getting stuck." That's easy to believe, based simply on its authentic look in the film. Can you say "Gridlock"?