cameron diaz movies
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 Chapter 5 - Action! The Stunts and Special Effects
From its opening moments, Knight and Day features a continuous flow of imaginative action sequences that not only ratchet up the suspense but become an entree into Roy and June's hearts and minds. From a motorcycle doing wheelies through a running herd of Spanish bulls to a funny-yet-furious Smart Car chase through downtown Seville, nearly every frame of the film required extensive stunt choreography and special effects planning.
The film's most nail-biting sequences all came together with the creative assistance of stunt coordinator Gregg Smrz and second unit director Brian Smrz. "They're brilliant at action and were really helpful in planning and staging," says Mangold. "And frankly, there was no other way to do these sequences."
In Salzburg, Austria, one of the film's most harrowing escape sequences starts on an urban rooftop, where Roy is trapped, with no way out except to fly across a yawning abyss high above the city at night. "We had just 36 hours to rig, prepare and shoot that scene in the dark, on a rainy night, but it came off perfectly, which was very satisfying," says Gregg Smrz.
The sequence was designed not only for sheer suspense but as a way of getting inside Roy's character. Explains Mangold: "You really feel the loneliness of Roy up there on the roof with this whole web of law enforcement and spy organization swarming on the ground down below. It feels like has no place to run and no place to move - and then he takes a leap."
Cruise vividly recalls executing this sequence, without a harness, ending in a spectacular, controlled fall of more than 100 feet. "I remember I looked at the spot where I was supposed to jump off the roof, and I saw this big steel beam, where I was to land. And it had this thin, little pad on it. I glanced at it and then stunt man Casey O'Neil said, 'It's padded. But that's going to hurt.'"
Cruise took the leap anyway, nailing it. This, says Gregg Smrz, was typical, with Cruise committing 100 percent to each stunt, never using doubles, no matter the stakes. "He is so physically talented but all the things he did on this film gave me grey hair," Smrz laughs.
Mangold concurs that the skilled derring-do of his two lead actors was absolutely key to the production - if a little disconcerting. "You have to adjust as a director to seeing the stars of your movie seven stories in the air leaping from buildings," he laughs. "The saddest thing to me is that, in this age of CGI, many people won't believe that Tom and Cameron really did these things!"
Back in Boston, Diaz showed her own fearless streak as she took the wheel of a 1966 GTO in one of the film's wildest car chases. Says an impressed Smrz: "Cameron was extremely talented in the car. We tested her and she did such an awesome job - flooring it, steering into 180-degree turns -- that she did all the driving in the actual scene. She could do her own car chase movie."
That first Boston car chase set the tone with its maze-like kinetic complexity accompanied by rat-a-tat repartee. "You have cars in tunnels, people falling off of cars, people climbing onto cars, car rolls, car spins, cars riding other cars, collisions with semis, jumping from car-to-car - it's insane," summarizes Mangold. "And the fun part is that in the middle of it all, there's this constant banter going on between Roy and June just like a married couple who can't decide whether to turn right or left!"
In Spain, the film captures perhaps the ultimate contest of evasion: the infamous event known as el encierro, AKA the running of the bulls. A tradition begun in the 14th Century, bull runs today take place in numerous Spanish cities - including Cadiz, where the scene was shot -- as crowds try to outpace a pack of stampeding animals without getting trampled or gored. That might seem perilous enough, but the film scene introduced a host of new elements into the chaos: Cruise and Diaz riding on a hot-red, super-nimble Ducati Hypermotard S . . . ultimately chased by a pack of Smart Cars through bulls, scrambling runners and all.
Par for the course, Cruise and Diaz did the film's most perilous riding themselves. After the harrowing core of that scene was successfully shot, Diaz commented, "I wouldn't have wanted to be on the back of a motorcycle with anyone other than Tom at that moment. I think it's one of the best motorcycle sequences ever put on film. It's sexy, hot and fun, and probably some of the fastest action the streets of Seville have ever seen."
Recalls Cruise: "I remember walking down the road in Cadiz and there were thousands of people there and the adrenaline was really starting to hit because I knew in about 15 minutes I was going to be on the bike...with Cameron on the back...with live bulls...on slick stone. I knew it was going to be tricky, but I felt like I could get us through it. Suddenly, I see the guy going 'ole, ole, ole!' and we felt the ground start shaking. These bulls are coming right at us and I'm revving the engine and we're seeing all these different pro bull runners getting ping-ponged into the walls, and Cameron is hanging on so tight I could barely breathe. And I thought, with Cameron on the bike, there's no way I'm going down. I just kept thinking, 'Cameron, just hang on. JUST HANG ON!' And I remember, we were looking at each other--like 'Where's the CGI?!'"
Another catalytic scene starts the whole story in motion - the opening 727 plane sequence, which involved Cruise in meticulously choreographed hand-to-hand combat against 12 armed men in the most cramped of quarters. "We trained every day for 30 days with Tom to prepare for this scene," recalls Gregg Smrz. "It was a 75-move fight and Tom did every move himself."
The sequence brought out the best in the cast and crew's creativity, says Mangold. "Our goal was to have Tom Cruise as Roy use every single possible object found on a plane to disarm the people who are after him. We made lists - everything from seatbelts to oxygen masks to curtains, lavatory doors, overhead bins and seat cushions - and ultimately no stone was left unturned."
The plane crash that ensues in an Indiana cornfield (actually shot in Bridgewater, Massachusetts) was another production challenge. "The most elaborate effects we created on the film were for the plane crash," says special effects coordinator Michael Meinardus. "For that we built a 100-foot gimbal onto which we placed a real 727 fuselage, which could then be rolled 45 degrees from side to side to create turbulence."
From that point onwards in Knight and Day, nearly every form of vehicle comes into play - from the tiny Smart Cars adding a dash of irreverence to a French Connection-style chase through European avenues, to a 15-car Al-Andulus luxury train chugging through the Alps to an A-Star 350 Medevac helicopter to a next-generation Icon A5 seaplane with an amphibious hull.
Cruise enjoyed playing with the entire roster of vehicles, but had a special love of the motorcycle stunts, for which he was intimately involved in the planning. "Motorcycle stunts and chases in movies can be a lot of fun," he says. "Top Gun was the first time I had a motorcycle scene and that was followed by Days of Thunder and then the Mission: Impossible series. I had a lot of ideas for motorcycle stunts I really wanted to put in this film, stunts that I hadn't been able to put in my other movies, and Jim and I talked a lot about those - including having Cameron come from the back of the bike to the front. She was perfect for that move because she has the physical ability to do it and was up for it."
But the stunts were only one element in the mix of intrigue, courtship and twists that Cruise hopes add up to an on-screen partnership full of possibilities, romantic and otherwise. "To be able to entertain people on this kind of scale is exciting," he concludes. "I can't wait to have people sit down, watch this movie, and ultimately, just have a blast."
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