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More Bond, More Free Running
March 23, 2007

Last week, I told you about my chat with Casino Royale director Martin Campbell and the work he and his team put into the film dazzling free running action sequence. Well, thanks to an enthusiastic and alert publicist who noted by own enthusiasm for the scene, I managed to wangle a few minutes on the phone

with Sébastien Foucan (pictured), the man who founded of the art of free running and who was tapped to portray Mollaka, the terrorist that Bond pursues in the furious Madagasgar free running foot chase.

“At the beginning, I had to show [the filmmakers] exactly what my discipline was,” Foucan told me regarding his involvement in Casino Royale. “We took time to understand each other and made some videos of chasing and jumping and running this way and that.”

The videos proved to be the basis of the extended sequence, which climaxes with a leap from one crane to another 200 feet above the ground.

“I was up on that crane for many, many hours and worked hard, but they would not let me do the bug jump from crane to crane,” said Foucan, who probably inspires insurance inspectors to bury their faces in their hands when they see the kind of stunts he performs. But I was up there with a very small wire tied to me for safety. It’s so small, but they say that it can hold the weight of a car. You have to trust people!”

Ultimately for Foucan, it wasn’t any of the individual movements or stunts that challenged him nearly as much as the patience and time that is required for the collaborative process that is the essence of filmmaking.

“You don’t go when you’re ready—you go when they’re ready,” Foucan said. “That was one of the most difficult things."

Posted by Laurence Lerman on March 23, 2007 | Comments (0)