Corridor Digital is a production company based out of Los Angeles, California, with a focus on short films with wild visual effects. In one of their most popular video series, the group invites Hollywood stuntmen, visual effects artists, and directors on to review the best and worst Hollywood has to offer. In this video, the group brings on stunt driver David Patterson to discuss what movies get right and wrong about stunt driving.
One of the first movies to ever employ true stunt driving was “Bullitt” starring Steve McQueen. McQueen and the rest of the cast actually went out to tracks and learned how to stunt drive. This gave the production much more freedom in shooting the film, as they didn’t have to fake the driving. It wasn’t all perfect, though, as the video points out that at one point the main car crashes into a parked car on the street and the film then tried to cut around it.
The video also goes over the “Fast and Furious” franchise, and how it has evolved over the years. They focus on a lot of the issues with the earliest films, namely their lack of realism or continuity. However, as the movies evolved and grew larger budgets, they evolved. While the movies abandoned their racing roots, their new action-adventure/heist styles actually led to much more impressive driving than the earlier films ever showcased.
The video also showcases some of the more realistic depictions of racing and stunt driving. Namely, the Ryan Gosling film “Drive” was heralded for how well it portrayed getaway driving, and how stunt driving really works.
In the end, driving in movies does not necessarily have to be the most accurate to be good, nor the most outlandish. Each movie is different, and filmmakers have different needs from drivers. Whether it be the more subdued, grounded style found in “Drive”, or the high-octane insanity of the “Fast and the Furious” franchise, stunt driving is certainly no easy task.
