Shameless plug for Baby Driver movie

you guys are really too kind! I am very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to work on this (and some other) really cool projects.

I have done quite a few interviews about this project but i really was looking forward to sharing with you guys here. I love following the projects here and feel like I'm getting to know some of you guys, but I need to take some more initiative and share more about some of the stuff that I'm working on. (even though my family gets most of my free time and my projects haven't been terribly impressive lately).

I figured you guys would really appreciate the prep, work, rehearsal - basically the entire process - of what it takes to put some of this stuff together.

Flea - yes, you saw right :) he was one of the bad guys with a smaller part. very nice guy.

I think a J-turn or bootlegger is just a reverse 180. throwing a drift out of it is a little extra. I have no reason to think I was the first to do it, but I had not seen it when I started playing around with it a few years ago. We used it in Drive but it just didn't seem to really be noticed. (i doubled Ryan driving the mustang up until just after the drift when me and my buddy switched spots and he repeated the drift and I crashed the Chrysler 300. That was the most difficult thing I've ever had to do with multiple buttons, a difficult approach, etc)

When I drive backwards, I prefer to look over my shoulder. But sometimes (such as in this case) we can't. The director wanted the characters looking (or at least facing) each other. so because every turn I did was clockwise, I just used my left mirror and lined myself up that way. I am not a huge fan of the rear view cameras and don't use them often. who knows - I'm going to practice more at speed with them and see if they're not a better option. :)

I am really honored by the kind words here and that so many of you guys are going to go see it. I love my job and enjoy sharing some of the things/details here that not many other people are interested in but make a difference to me.

Feel free to check out my instagram page - I don't post much there but there is a handful of stuff from this and other shows. @jfryjfry

I haven't even seen it yet and it may be my favorite movie this year, just from the descriptions here! It's really cool to hear the inside stuff about how that's done. Thanks for talking about it.

Really hope I can get out and see this while it's still in theaters... unfortunately the next week and a half are going to be crazy with SWMBO's dance company's show- and I imagine if I can convince her to get away to see a movie that this won't be at the top of her list.

What I REALLY wish was that the local drive-in were showing this & Cars 3- THAT would be awesome.

Looking forward to hearing more and glad JG is putting it together. Haven't seen the movie yet, but don't mind spoilers.

In reply to jfryjfry:

I always throw a drift out of my reverse 180's unless I'm in something fwd

That's very cool that you are sharing this stuff with us. Thanks.

I did some work for the stunt driver from Dirty Marry Crazy Larry. He told someone cool stories too.

Jeremy, I hope you don't mind me linking to your IMDB page! You have been in some impressive stuff:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0296758/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr202

So did you get to ride the bat pod? Was it as difficult to ride as I've heard?

I love that your reverse 180 did not include a stop. As soon as I see one if those, I always check to see if the driver knew what he was doing, or if he stopped. Good job! I can't wait to see it.

First and only truly successful reverse 180 I did was in a Plymouth Reliant. My hooligan cousin was egging me on and it was glorious. Spun around, shifted into drive as I was sliding, and kept on the gas. I should probably do that again... it's been over 20 years.

dculberson wrote: Jeremy, I hope you don't mind me linking to your IMDB page! You have been in some impressive stuff: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0296758/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr202 So did you get to ride the bat pod? Was it as difficult to ride as I've heard?

Woah dude you're pretty much what I dreamed of being when I grew up. The filmography list is really impressive.

Please tell me you did the TVR scene in Swordfish. That was a formative moment in my interest in weird cars.

A buddy and I are going to see it on Monday.

This is why I love this forum. Thanks for posting details here jfryjfry!

dculberson wrote: Jeremy, I hope you don't mind me linking to your IMDB page! You have been in some impressive stuff: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0296758/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr202

Did you notice this on the IMDB site?

Did You Know? Trivia: Has won numerous awards for wooden duck carvings.

That's quite a contrast to Jeremy's day job. He's a multi-talented guy.

Keith Tanner wrote:

jfryjfry wrote: so i ended up doing the reverse 180 drift (in a lot of trailers where the car sneaks right by camera) with the stock awd car. It was a bummer but ended up looking pretty good.

Is that what I'm calling the bootlegger turn? Start in reverse, flip it around then keep sliding around a right hand corner? That is a spectacular piece of work, sir. Every Jackie Chan movie has that one move where you have to pause it and rewind and go "really"? That's the moment for me in Baby Driver. Usually the cars lose a lot of momentum doing that.

The 270 bootlegger in an Evo into a parking spot in "Who Am I" was one of the best I've ever seen.

I'm looking forward to this movie, thanks for sharing Jfryjfry

dculberson wrote: First and only truly successful reverse 180 I did was in a Plymouth Reliant. My hooligan cousin was egging me on and it was glorious. Spun around, shifted into drive as I was sliding, and kept on the gas. I should probably do that again... it's been over 20 years.

I also did my first (of many) J turns in a K car (mine was a plymouth sundance). with an automatic its pretty easy to bump it to drive and get the wheels turned half way through the slide, i could see it being a little trickier in a manual to do quickly

Something I just realized - and I'll have to watch for it next time I see the movie - is that I think it almost completely avoided the whole "shift gears and you go faster!" trope that's so popular in the F&F franchise. It could even be argued that the one instance was a matter of dropping into a lower gear for more torque. That alone makes it a better car movie than most.

edizzle89 wrote:

dculberson wrote: First and only truly successful reverse 180 I did was in a Plymouth Reliant. My hooligan cousin was egging me on and it was glorious. Spun around, shifted into drive as I was sliding, and kept on the gas. I should probably do that again... it's been over 20 years.

I also did my first (of many) J turns in a K car (mine was a plymouth sundance). with an automatic its pretty easy to bump it to drive and get the wheels turned half way through the slide, i could see it being a little trickier in a manual to do quickly

I did mine in a GMC Safari minivan

Every time I drive the Civic to work I swing it around with the e brake, throw into reverse for a couple hundred feet, do a reverse 180 then slide it around the back of the building. I'm a child.

It took me this far into the thread to realize that a "reverse 180" = "Bustin out a Rockford."

Thank you Enterprise and Hertz for training us all how to execute reverse 180s. Thank you jrfyjrfy for sharing your insight.

Can't wait to see the movie.

My reverse 180 training was in a 1977 Thunderbird. Later, when I had a 1984 Thunderbird, I discovered that, if I turned the wheel all the way the other way and punched it in drive after the reverse 180, it would keep rotating. There was a department store nearby, and I linked together about six 360° spins, whipping the wheel from one side to the other, shifting from reverse to drive and back to reverse, and popping on and off the gas. It was probably the most awesome thing I've ever done in a car, and nobody saw it.

By the way, it was snowing. :)

In reply to Nick (Bo) Comstock:

You're gonna need to post a vid of that!

ArsTechnica has their review up.

ArsTechnica said: It's not quite a true petrolhead movie—not like Steve McQueen's Le Mans—but it's one that probably deserves a place in the pantheon alongside such fare as Ronin or Bullitt.

That's some really high praise.

dculberson wrote: First and only truly successful reverse 180 I did was in a Plymouth Reliant. My hooligan cousin was egging me on and it was glorious. Spun around, shifted into drive as I was sliding, and kept on the gas. I should probably do that again... it's been over 20 years.

The one and only reverse 180 I did was driven by pure anger and adrenaline, and I pulled it off so perfectly (and survived the ensuing encounter) that I've been terrified to try it again.

I was driving down my street in the E46 and met a car coming the other way at a stop sign near my house. As we were pulling toward each other across the intersection, somebody threw a huge McDonalds bag full of trash out the left rear window. I blew my horn but they of course flipped me off and kept going.

Immediately I saw way too much red. Kicked open my door, reached down and grabbed the bag, slammed it into reverse, and popped the clutch. Redline in reverse and I was still losing them, so with adrenaline and my subconscious doing all the work, I managed to execute a perfect snap 180 without hitting anything or anybody.

Caught up with them at the next stop sign and blocked them. Got out and yelled "PEOPLE BERKING LIVE HERE, ASSHOLE" and set the bag down in the middle of their hood.

Then before I got my ass beat I took off and drove a very random route for a very long while before hiding my car in the garage and thanking the fates that nothing about the whole incident went as badly as it should have.

I'd love to do some of this sometime. No need to answer now, maybe save it for the interview. How'd you get into this? Are you a contractor or direct hire? What do you do for insurance or can you even get insurance?

My wife and I are planning on going to see this next week with friends. Can't wait!

Thanks!

Saw it tonight.

Speaking as someone with a LOT of experience and exposure to films, that may be one of the best movies I've ever seen. Edgar Wright is a freaking genius!

The layers and detail he employed from beginning to end were incredible. Soundtrack, cinematography, script, editing, character development, everything.

He treats his audience like they are intelligent, and doesn't spoon feed them unnecessary details. It's like he is telling 50 stories at once, all woven together as one without a shred of excess crap.

He tells more stories through the reflections in the glass and paint finishes than most directors can tell in a 2 hour script.

Masterful.

And sure, the driving was brilliant, but it is NOT the movie. It's one small layer in an intricately woven fabric. Completely necessary, yet not overpowering.

He controls the rhythms of everything wonderfully- lights, negative space, gunshots, music. He understands you can't do a movie about sound without understanding how to appropriately use silence. Or a scene about intense energy without using deep feelings to balance. Baby's world becomes the viewer's, because of terrific directing.

Thanks, jfryjfry. Your efforts (and others) are greatly appreciated.

It's really cool to be a part of something that is so well-received; and it is not by any design of my own. I just happened to get the call and, as SVreX described, it isn't the driving that makes the movie good.

I contrast it with The Last Stand that I did that also had some cool driving that no one ever saw. Ever. Because flop.

A lot of the shows I've done I didn't do much, especially those early on in my career such as Swordfish (unfortunately no, no TVR action for me. ) And I didn't drive the batmobile as I had just met that coordinator and he had his guys picked out. I sat in it, however, and the visibility is along the lines of an Abrams.

Comstock - video or it never happened!

So for class today, let's talk reverse 180's. :) Not much feel involved, unlike many of the other moves. The more speed the better. I prefer to look over my shoulder as I find it easier to control. I also move the seat closer to the wheel when I am looking backwards so I don't have to stretch as much to shift. When you're up to speed, you jump off the gas and crank the wheel. I like to do it at the same time or thereabouts. in a front wheel drive you can stay on the throttle a little bit longer. In a stick, you need to depress the clutch at this point. At 90, drop it into drive or grab a gear (I usually take 2nd as the synchros are usually better than first and easier to get into gear). as you are almost all the way around, steer back to straight and get on the gas. For style points, in a rwd, get on the gas at the right time and you can hang the back end out a bit. Easy peasy.

In John Wick 2, there is a cool shot of a reverse 180 in the mustang after the motorcycle crash. There is a hd 1080 video on youtube (i think from lionsgate) that shows the entire opening sequence which is the car chase we did.

In reply to jfryjfry:

BTW, my compliment was not an idle bystander.

I've been involved in making a few feature films, been the Special Effects Coordinator on one, and have a close family member who is the President of FX Network. I'm certainly not of your caliper, but I am a little knowledgeable of the industry.

My comments were sincere. Great job.