Interview: Matt Mullins, Clive Owen’s stunt driver for “The Escape”

BMW has recently announced the revival of the famous BMW Films. BMW wants this to be the biggest and most action-packed movie from their production house. BMW Films made a series of eight short films in the past that features Clive Owen as the driver in an action packed storyline. Aside from having a larger production value, “The Escape“ will also have Neil Blomkamp as the director and Dakota Fanning in a co-starring role.

The story of the new film will involve Clive Owen driving an unknown BMW. The automaker prefers to not reveal the starring vehicle yet because according to them, the car has not yet made its world debut. That being said, it is likely to be the new 5 Series. Owen is a true-to-life BMW enthusiast and his driving skills are pretty good. A lot of the driving featured in the movie was done by him. However, an action packed movie like this required a professional. That’s where Matt Mullins enters the picture as the stunt driver of the film.

Matt Mullins may sound familiar to some of you. Yes, he is the Chief Instructor at BMW’s Performance Driving School, and he has been appearing in other BMW related videos in the past.

Mullins was very excited to be a part of the new film. He says: “It was a huge honor. This film series was really big. I remember the watching the first shorts in 2001, when the E39 M5 was the baddest sedan on the planet. I must’ve watched ‘Star,’ with Madonna, shot by Guy Ritchie, about 300 times, just to see that M5 sliding around. I always thought those films were so cool. Now, my daily driver is an E39 M5. [Laughs]”

The trailer revealed some serious driving action and Mullins says he really enjoyed taping these scenes. “There’s one scene where some other cars have to smash through a barricade, and I’m in the middle. There is very real car-to-car contact, and you can’t be positive everything will go according to plan.” said Mullins.

Thanks to Guy Norris, the stunt coordinator for “The Escape” who previously worked on Mad Max, the film will have some of the most extreme car chases every put on film.

Source: The Drive