For many Bond fans, “Casino Royale” is not only considered one of the best films about the cult agent, but also made it into the Guinness Book of Records in 2006 – from which it has now been displaced by “The Fall Guy”, which has just been released in cinemas becomes…
Universal Pictures / Sony Pictures
Martin Campbell ushered in a new era with “James Bond 007 – Casino Royale” and, after the gentleman Pierce Brosnan, established a new, head-through-the-wall incarnation of the most famous spy in film history – with Daniel Craig, the There was a lot of skepticism in advance, but in the end his critics were silenced in no time. Today, for many, his first appearance as 007 is one of the most worth seeing Bond missions ever. And not only that. The film also set a new record in 2006.
“Casino Royale” burns itself into the memory with numerous outstanding action scenes, as well as with a very special stunt: in the scene in which James Bond crashes his Aston Martin, the luxury car rolls over a total of seven times – a world record at the time. So many “cannon rolls,” as the stunt is called in technical jargon, have never been done for a film before. For stuntman Adam Kirley, who was behind the wheel, this ultimately meant an entry in the Guinness Book of Records.
A full 18 years later, “The Fall Guy” has gone one better – and set a new record with eight and a half “Cannon Rolls”. That should even make action excess specialist Michael Bay jealous, but he does hold another car record:
Michael Bay leads the ultimate action ranking and destroys more cars in his films than any other director – the gap to second place is huge!
“The Fall Guy”: record with announcement
A few weeks ago it was revealed in a featurette that stuntman Logan Holladay had achieved the miracle of flipping his car eight and a half times – which should finally land him in the book of records after the release of “The Fall Guy”. In the action hit (where the record attempt is even discussed) the scene can be seen quite early on, when an explosive car chase is being filmed on the beach for the film-within-a-film blockbuster “Metalstorm”.
By the way, it’s no coincidence that Logan Holladay set a new record on the set of “The Fall Guy”. “The Fall Guy” is ultimately a love letter to the work of stuntmen and stuntwomen. While action star Jason Statham, among others, is calling for cinema’s “unsung heroes” to have their own Oscar category, it is almost a matter of honor that the former stuntman and now director of films such as “John Wick”, “Deadpool 2 “ and “Bullet Train” David Leitch is on the hunt for records with his new edition of “A Colt for All Cases”. Ultimately, he wants to erect a monument to those people who perform the most daring stunts in front of the camera every day. If ever there was an incentive to write oneself into the history books, it is now.
Holladay’s father was also a stuntman. While Logan Holladay has already worked as a stunt double on mega-franchises such as “Fast & Furious”, “Transformers” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, his father Steve Holladay has been practicing and working in perhaps the most dangerous profession in Hollywood since the early 80s for example in the Tom Cruise classics “Top Gun” and “Days of Thunder”, the 2000s sci-fi spectacles “Matrix Reloaded” and “Terminator 3” or “Iron Man” and “Need For Speed”.
Regarding his record, Holladay says: “I had a pretty good feeling that I broke the record because the revolutions just wouldn’t stop. “It was a surreal moment and I’m incredibly proud of what the team achieved,” said the stuntman, who, by the way, got the record from the very last car and therefore from the very last shot.
You can now find out for yourself whether the stunt is also convincing on the screen. “The Fall Guy” can be seen in German cinemas from today, April 30, 2024 – and we can definitely recommend the charming mix of action-packed love letter to the stunt industry and romantic comedy with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt.
This is an updated republication of an article that previously appeared on FILMSTARTS.