Four crashes from the set of "2 Fast 2 Furious" prove that it's never the stunts you expect to go wrong that end up being dangerous
No matter how much you plan ahead, there’s always something that can go wrong when you’re working on a Hollywood stunt. Craig Lieberman, the technical advisor for “2 Fast 2 Furious,” talks about four stunts that wrong during the making of the movie.
In all three cases, it’s not the thing that you expect to go wrong that does. For instance, the final crash in which a Chevrolet Camaro flew into a yacht went off without a hitch. Other stunts that took up less screen time wound up being the ones that nearly ended in catastrophe.
Two of the errors occurred during the bridge jump scene. The first involved the scene in which a Nissan Skyline jumped over a Toyota Supra. However, the stunt didn’t go wrong in the way you might expect. Rather than the Skyline causing issues, it was the Supra whose driver carried too much speed into the jump, and wound up crashing into a sign. Although the full crash was included in the film, it wasn’t supposed to happen that way. Fortunately, no injuries occurred, but the Supra was worse for wear.
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Read: Get Paid $1,000 To Watch Every Fast & Furious Movie And Count The Accidents
Credit: Craig Lieberman via YouTube
The bridge stunt also posed a problem for the team while it shot the pink Honda S2000’s jump. Again, it wasn’t the car you might expect to be in danger that caused the problem. In fact, the roadster had no one in it, because it was being piloted via a remote control rig.
However, that wound up causing its own problem, as the Dodge Durango that was being used as a chase car to keep the S2000 within remote control range was the one that ended up crashing. It also ended up carrying too much speed onto the ramp, and its driver couldn’t stop in time to keep the SUV from sliding off the end of the jump. Fortunately, the film team was using an artificial ramp, rather than the draw bridge itself to film the stunt, meaning that the vehicle only fell a few feet, and no one was too badly hurt. They were even able to fix the Durango enough to return it to the rental agency.
Credit: Craig Lieberman via YouTube
The third accident occurred during the highway chase, in the audition scene. In it, a Corvette convertible crashes into a Mustang that has been run over by a semi. Although the crash was scripted, the rollover wasn’t, meaning that the stunt crew hadn’t installed a roll cage. Fortunately, a grab strap — which a stunt driver can grab in the of a rollover to pull themselves down below the level of the dash — had been installed, and wound up sparing the driver injury.
Credit: Craig Lieberman via YouTube
Finally, Lieberman says that the fourth stunt to go wrong on set was in the scene where many cars are scrambling away from a warehouse. In that case, a stunt driver went through the wrong door and fell off the dock, damaging an orange Mazda RX-7. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the accident, but the stunt driver wasn’t invited back on set.
While film crews do what they can to prevent injuries in the line of duty, it remains dangerous work, and this video is another reminder that when things go wrong, it’s usually not in the way that you predict.