This weekend Warner Bros will release "Getaway," a movie about a former race-car driver who is forced against the clock when his wife is kidnapped. The film includes a number of special effects and stunts including the destruction of numerous vehicles. Latinos Post recently spoke to Stunt Coordinator Charlie Picerni about his work on the film and the challenges of pulling off the stunts.
Latinos Post: How did you first get involved in this project?
Charlie Picerni: I got involved with it with the producers. Most of them I've [worked] with before. I've also worked with [Director] Courtney [Solomon] before. And they called gave me the script and I read and that is how I got involved.
LP: How were the stunts in this film different from other work that you've done before?
CP: Well the way they're different is we've done these same kind of stunts before but the way they're different is that there are so many of them and there is no CGI. It's all practical. So that's a difference there. The non-stop action, it was continuous action, everyday for 35 -40 days. There were no actors, it's like a big second unit.
LP: Was there ever any fear of injury?
CP: There is always that element of danger and you got explosives which are the most important things you got to watch out for. And also choreographing action on the shoot when you got a lot of people, that's another thing you got to look out for. It's all different kind of things to look for but explosions are very important because there is timing involved. Like there is a sequence with a car on the flat bed, the train sequence, and we blow up the cars on the opposite sides with a motorcycle going into them and blowing up. Well that's timing. The special effects men are on the side of the camera and he's watching the car blowing and we're going like 50 mph. We're going pretty fast, so he has to time that explosion, to being back in that car. Sometimes if you're off a little bit and its gets in front of the car; you have to be careful. In my experience most of the time when people get hurt; its explosions. You have to be very careful with that, same with pyrotechnics; it's a lot of timing involved. Even with gas bombs, they weren't propane, they were gas and gas burns hot. It's pretty intense.
LP: How long did it take you guys to set up each stunt?
CP: Well it depends on which stunt it was; like the train sequence was pretty involved so that was like probably 3 nights to shoot that. A lot of stuff was involved. And to set up a stunt, like the choreographing [of] a stunt on the street is long. A sequence with 25 stunt guns coming at the Shelby with two police cars chasing the Shelby, that takes a good hour and a half, two hours, to get everything set up with the stunt people and choreographing it and get the cameras in position and then rehearsing it at a slower speed and at half speed. And it takes a little time. It's more involved with the special effects because explosions take time to set the bombs and get the timing down right. It depends on what you're doing.
LP: What is the experience of working with Selena Gomez and Ethan Hawke? How much training did they get to do for some of the Stunts?
CP: I've been in this business for 50 years, no actor ever does their own stunts. They may do little things that comply with the movie but they never do their own stunts. You don't see Ethan Hawke driving a car through flames on a flatbed truck with explosions going off. But you will see Ethan Hawke driving a car around stunt people and doing some easy driving. It's not going to be heavy driving like a stunt man. It's the same thing like if I get a stunt man and say ok, you're going to be doing three pages of dialogue with an actor. It does not work. You have to train, you have to have preparation and you have to know what you're doing. So actors never do their own stunts. I don't care if it's Tom Cruise or anybody, they don't do their own stunts. When it comes to a stunt, the stunt man does it. If there is a stunt that is not too bad that an actor handle, then they do it. But its all prepared for them.
LP: Did they drive the cars?
CP: Yes they did. They drove the cars in some of the scenes. It wasn't what you would call stunt driving. I've gone back from Burt Reynolds and up. They will drive but never a stunt.
LP: Was there any training for the actors when they had to drive?
CP: Actually I was there for 35 or 40 nights and I did all of the action stuff and when I left that's when Selena and Ethan came in and I left them with the car rig that they were driving in and some of the Bulgarian stunt men who were very good. They handled some of the stuff around Ethan. They were doing some of the driving. I wasn't really there when Ethan came in. He saw all the film. We did all the action before and they watched it so they could get their motivation and what they are going to do and how they are going to handle it.
LP: So you guys did all the action sequences before the actors came in?
CP: Yes I was there before they came in. We did all the action. Like I said it was a big second unit. Which is the way to do it because I think it gets the actors to see the film and they can see what they are up against and they can react to that.
LP: Have you ever followed that process on other films?
CP: Yeah, we do that a lot.
LP: What was it like to work with director Courtney Solomon?
CP: Courtney was great because he had a great vision for what he wanted. We got along really great together. It was good. It was a lot of fun working with him.
LP: Which were your favorite stunts on set? Which were the hardest?
CP: Well the hardest one would be some of the ones when I'm choreographing the different sequences. Like on the train, with explosions and the Shelby going and the flatbed train going off, that's all prep that you really [have to] be careful with. Its all about timing. And then you got a completely different scene. It's on the street [and] it's a long run about four or five blocks. You got 25 stunt men in cars coming at the Shelby at 25 mph, the Shelby is going at least 50 mph [with] two cars chasing in and out against traffic. And at the end two police cars collide head on and crash in mid air. So that takes a lot of choreographing. So there are different elements. And I have worked on movies where a guy comes out of a helicopter at 240 feet with a cable. So it depends on what you're doing. There were difficult things choreographing the stunt vehicles in the cars and also the exploding stuff. Another night was motorcycles so each night was a different thing. Which is fun for me because [you are] doing different things [and] you got to make it interesting and do the same thing every time you lay out a car stunt. You got to mix it up a little bit.
LP: I read that you worked with your two sons Chuck and Steve. What was the experience of working with them?
CP: Correct. The only Americans there were myself, my two sons and then we had Bulgarian stunt people. The experience was great because they understand what I want and they come up with good ideas and gives some suggestions. In my explanation they're the top drivers around between Steven and Chuck. You can't go wrong. They're both excellent drivers. They understand my way of choreographing. They understand my motivation for telling the story, for what the car is doing, what the stunt is. We have good communication.