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James Bond "Quantum of Solace" Stunt Coordinator Gary Powell - Car Crashes - Celebrity Drive

Below is the Motor Trend magazine article James Bond, The Stig, and the Aston DBS read the article, browse photos from the article, or search related articles in the Automotive.com Enthusiast Central.
James Bond, The Stig, and the Aston DBS
James Bond Quantum Of Solace Daniel Craig

James Bond, The Stig, and the Aston DBS


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Olga Kurylenko who plays Camille, drives the eco-friendly Ford Ka as well as a classic Volkwagen Beetle. Range Rover and Jaguar get screen time, as well as what are supposed be hydrogen-powered Ford Edge SUVs used by the mysterious Greene Planet organization in the movie.

Powell is a polite British man, but bring up the well-publicized crashes during the filming of "Quantum of Solace" and he vehemently wants to straighten out the media mistruths. In addition to the stunt DBSs, the film also had some publicity DBSs, one of which ended up in Lake Garda in Italy (it has since been purchased by a collector). Powell said that accident had nothing to do with the car chase scene.

"That car has nothing to do with the filming of James Bond," Powell says. "It was there to do publicity. It was being driven from one place to another and unfortunately it ended up in the lake and the press being the press glorified it and added a bit to it and it was totally untrue."

Then there were the Alfa Romeo crashes. "Unfortunately, the press get there and they see these crashes," Powell says. "Crashes are part of the film. The cars are supposed to bloody crash. Every time they see a crash, they say, 'Ooh, the car's had a crash, quick, they've had an accident.' The car's supposed to crash, that's the whole idea of the freaking car chase."

Powell says the report of an Alfa Romeo balancing on a cliff was also incorrect. "It hit a wall, it certainly wasn't balancing on any cliff," Powell says. "That was part of the chase but unfortunately someone got hurt."

He is referring to the accident with stuntman Aris Comninos in an Alfa Romeo, which was part of the car chase. "Unfortunately, a stunt guy got hurt, not through any person's fault. It was a very small mechanical failure that caused Aris to have an accident. Everyone's done what they were supposed to do. It was supposed to be a crash scene, so the devastation everyone sees in the photograph was supposed to be there."

Powell says every precaution was taken. "We try to make it as safe as possible, but unfortunately accidents happen just like a billion dollar space shuttle blows up because of a two dollar ringlet. If the job weren't dangerous we wouldn't have a job."

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DBS Stats

Price Range
$269,000
MPG
12 city /24 highway
Transmission
6-Speed Manual
Engine
5.9L V12