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Academy Award Winner Robert Nagle · That Car Show

0:00
And the whole theater went dead silent, holding their breath.
0:03
And I was like, got it. Academy award-winning stunt
0:08
coordinator, driver and action writer Robert Nagle is the man
0:11
behind some of our favorite car movies including Ford versus
0:15
Ferrari, Baby Driver, Ferrari, Miami Vice, Mission Impossible,
0:20
and the Fast and Furious franchise.
0:22
He gives us a peek behind the Hollywood curtain and he's got
0:25
stories galore. They could definitely make a
0:27
movie about the man himself. It's that car show.
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1:52
Welcome back to that car show. I'm Lindsay and I'm here with
1:55
Ryan. And this week we have a very
1:58
special guest who I'm really excited to talk to, particularly
2:02
because as we logged in, we discovered that we're wearing
2:04
the same outfit, which is pretty amazing.
2:08
We have Robert Nagle with us. He's an Academy award-winning
2:11
stunt coordinator and driver. Hi, Robert.
2:13
Hi, good morning. Thank you for having me on.
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Thank you so much for joining us, and I appreciate that you
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got the memo and you wore the right shirt.
2:20
For those that are just listening, Robert was the stunt
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coordinator on Ford V Ferrari, and I am very lucky to have a
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version of one of the shirts that was made for the stunt
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crew. So Robert is wearing the real 1,
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and I am wearing one that was part of the official run.
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But yeah, we're wearing matching shirts today from Ford V
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Ferrari, so that's going to set the tone.
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We're obviously going to talk about that movie because it's
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very close to my heart. But Robert's work includes
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obviously Ford versus Ferrari and Ferrari as well.
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You've definitely seen his work as he's been the stunt driver
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and coordinator and action writer and director in more than
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100 films and television series, including Gran Turismo, Mission
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Impossible, Rogue Nation, 5 films in the Fast and Furious
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series. Which is another thing I'm very
3:09
curious to hear about because I love those.
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The Hangover, The Dark Knight Rises, Total Recall, Captain
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America, The Winter Soldier, Collateral, Miami Vice,
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Talladega Knights, The Ballad of Rookie Bobby and Drive, as well
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as Baby Driver I believe. Is that correct?
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Yes, baby drivers, we have the big ones.
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The movies you haven't been involved with right?
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Because your IMDb page is really mind boggling.
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It's amazing all you've been. Involved.
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Thank you. Now I'm very fortunate and been
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able to be involved with some really great projects.
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Well, I'm one of the other things that I find so
3:40
fascinating and I would love to hear about is that you have, in
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addition to being the stunt coordinator and driver and
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action writer, you've also trained a lot of the stars that
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were involved in these movies. And the list is pretty
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impressive. It includes obviously director
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Michael Mann, actors Christian Bale, Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx,
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Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maggie Grace and Stephen Graham.
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So you have had quite a life and I'm very excited to hear about
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it. One thing that I thought was so
4:09
interesting in prepping to chat with you, you were on our friend
4:12
Maurice Merrick's podcast Horsepower Heritage, and you
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mentioned that you had started in drag racing, but you had
4:20
gotten bored of it. And drag racing to me feels like
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the very opposite of of boring. So I was curious if you can talk
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about that experience and what it was that ultimately LED you
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to say. This isn't it for me and I'm
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bored. I'm moving on.
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I mean, ultimately it came down to, you know it, it served me
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well. I mean, I learned how to make
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horsepower. I learned how to get the
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horsepower to the ground, make a chassis, really hook up.
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The problem was you line up. You eventually get to the start
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line. You make a 10 second run. 3 or 4
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hours later you might be able to go again.
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Oh, OK. So it's sort of the process
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around it. Just thought, yeah.
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And after a while I was like, OK, this it just doesn't have,
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it's not grabbing my attention anymore.
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Maybe I have a touch of ADD and it just wasn't kicking it off
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the right way. But those 10 seconds must be
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absolutely amazing, right? It's just.
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I oddly enough I'm criticizing the car the whole time.
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Yeah, OK. Not doing this.
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Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Interesting, because you were building your drag cars, Is that
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correct? Yeah.
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So you're critiquing your own work the whole time?
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Yes, but I'm actually mad at the car.
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Like this should be doing this better, doing that better.
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And, you know, and obviously we're talking about just tiny
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little things. Right.
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But that's a good point. I mean, it would definitely take
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you out of the experience. And like you said, if if it's
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really just a few seconds in the car for hours and hours of
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waiting, that makes sense. And then there were times like
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the Friday night before I get home from work, I'm like, I want
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to try a different Cam, RIP the motor apart, put a new Cam in,
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degree it, put it back together, load it on a trailer the next
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morning and off we go. So did you ever have where you
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go? OK, it's a simple I'm going to
6:04
swap this out and then you end up you're up all night because
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something will work. I had it.
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Oddly enough I had it down to a science so I could I could swap
6:14
the Cam in probably an hour. Well, that helps.
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Yeah. So how did we get from there to
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here? I'm sure that was a journey.
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But it's you. Finally found where you probably
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should have been all along. I started studying race car
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engineering, which is an offshoot of mechanical
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engineering, and they had a road race car and I took it out and
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I'm like, this is effing awesome.
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I like this. We're out here for 45 minutes
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and it just from there just exploded.
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And road racing became my passion for driving and building
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cars equally. And taking what I've learned
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from drag racing to make horsepower get the chassis to
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hook up, I was able to put together some pretty quick cars.
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So what was the most surprising thing when you were studying
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race car engineering? Because coming from drag racing
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you, I would imagine you knew a fair amount that would have
7:07
translated, or at least you're familiar.
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So what was the thing that you went, oh, I didn't see that
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coming? It was more about chassis design
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that I learned the most, because I mean, in drag racing is a
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pretty simple chassis. You know, he's dealing with
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forward acceleration and a lot of this.
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I mean, I, I would, I was a voracious reader, so I would
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just read all kinds of stuff that pertain to what I wanted to
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learn. So probably just really chassis
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design for a road race car. It's probably the biggest, but
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it clicked very quickly with me. That makes sense.
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So one of the things when I was reading about all of the work
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that you've done, I've never heard of action writing and
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directing. And I know you've talked about
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that on a couple of the other podcasts that you've been on.
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Like can you explain what that is and what the process is like?
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And were you aware that that was an option when you've got into
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the movie business? Not really.
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It's just one of those things that progresses and evolves into
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that. And you know, there was a minor
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evolution and Baby Driver where myself and Darren Prescott, who
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was the second year director, we sat with Edgar Wright once a
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month for almost a year coming up with all different ideas for
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the action sequences. That then evolved to when I got
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hired for Ford Ferrari, James Mangold, the director, kind of
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looked at me and says I know nothing about cars, this is up
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to you. Really.
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So I literally, I literally wrote the action for all the
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races and then he came back to me.
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He goes, I need some cool dialogue, right?
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Some cool dialogue for this technical stuff.
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So it just it, it just became this unforeseen evolution.
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And he, you know, to his credit, he really encouraged me to
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continue to write. I mean, really loved what I'd
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given him. So that was, you know, that felt
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really good. No pressure, right?
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I mean, in a movie like that, you're going to have all the car
9:00
nerds picking every little thing apart, right?
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But yet that movie really is held up, you know, to such a,
9:05
you know, in high regard, right, as being just a movie that did
9:09
get everything right. It's just a good film, yeah.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and you can't say that
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about every car movie. I was thinking about it this
9:16
morning and I think it's one of the few movies like it's near
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and dear to my heart for a lot of reasons.
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Like I grew up in a Ford and Shelby family and I've driven at
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Willow Springs for a long time. And so there were a lot of
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elements of it that connected for me personally.
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But I think one of the pieces of high praise for that movie is
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that you don't, you don't have to be a car person to watch it
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and enjoy it and appreciate the story because you all did such a
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good job of telling the human side of it as well as the cars.
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Like there really is something for everybody in that movie.
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And you know, that's not always the case.
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So kudos. I appreciate you.
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No, thank you. I so appreciate hearing that.
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And to kind of build on what you just said and what I said prior
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when I did design the three races, Willow Springs, Daytona,
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which we shot at California Speedway and in Lamar, there's a
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progression in the storyline and they kind of mirror what's going
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on in the narrative. So when we're cutting back and
10:14
forth, it kind of feels natural and we don't really what I said,
10:18
get pulled out of the story. And that was important to me.
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And one doesn't live without the other.
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I mean, you can't help with coal action and ridiculous narrative.
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You can't have great narrative and action.
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That's just whatever. So I felt it really came
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together quite well. And then the build.
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Thank you. And Lindsay as funny as Fox
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slash Disney, because they they bought Fox, hired me to go
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around for the DVD release of Ford Ferrari.
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They flew me out to Daytona, Shelby Museum and whatnot.
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So I got to meet all these people that were just enamoured
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with the film. And the number one comment was
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from women. They would say, I went to this
11:05
movie and I roll with my husband, boyfriend, whatever,
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it's a car film. And then they'd go, Oh my God, I
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was on the edge of my seat this whole time.
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It was fantastic and then then he looked at me and go but why
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did you have to kill him? Oh my gosh.
11:21
Oh, no, That's like that joke. I mean, it was like the joke,
11:26
not joke when Titanic came out and the older couples in line
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ahead of the younger couple and the younger couple storms off.
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Well, what do you mean the boat sinks?
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Oh my gosh. What's the secret to to making
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racing on screen realistic? Because as we've alluded to,
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we've seen poor, you know, examples so often, and yet when
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you're involved, it seems to be done just right.
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What? What is it that's different?
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It's real racing action. I from my experience and years
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of being on a road course, showing story wise how it really
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works and then also knowing how to make that look dynamic
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because oddly enough sometimes you got to drive a car through a
12:10
different line for camera to make it look right.
12:14
OK, interesting. Interesting.
12:16
But it's all, it's having all these little pieces of, you
12:19
know, the competition and the pressure and and whatnot, but
12:23
not going over the top with it, you know?
12:24
Yeah. Yeah, OK.
12:25
I. Think keep it, keep it grounded
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in reality. For me, it was always keep it
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grounded in reality and it and I think it's served me well.
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That was another thing that caught my attention and your
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conversation with Maurice was the focus on authenticity
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because I know you and he discussed CGI and how that can,
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how that can be a resource if you use it intelligently and you
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like, I really thought it was real.
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I thought it was really interesting.
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Your point about if what your eye is looking at is real, then
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it gives you the freedom to play with the margins.
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But if the what you're focused on isn't real, again, like you
13:01
mentioned taking the viewer out of the story, I think there are
13:05
a few things that do that more quickly than when you're like,
13:08
is that an outline? And you start looking at the
13:10
green screen and then you realize you're not in the story
13:13
anymore. But one of the other things that
13:15
I thought was so interesting, I'd love to hear a little more
13:17
about because I love the way you described it was sometimes where
13:21
you have to maybe OverDrive the car to get the movement that you
13:24
want on the screen. And you described it as making
13:27
the cars act. And I loved that image.
13:30
And I wondered if you could sort of share a little bit more about
13:34
that and how you do that, like how you accomplish that safely.
13:37
And also, is that something that you anticipate?
13:41
Is it something where like when you start filming, you go, OK,
13:44
we need a little more because it's not translating the way we
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thought or just I would love to hear about that process.
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When I'm when I'm able to have my hands on that deep with it,
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I'll like try and set the cars up sort of bit softer suspension
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so that now you kind of see that body movement more when if it
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were set up for a proper race, it would barely move and it
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really wouldn't translate on the film.
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So if we can see that roll and you can see the dive and
14:11
breaking and it just, it adds that extra element of feel to
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it. Yeah, you get, it's a lot more
14:17
dynamic on the film and you get the visual interest.
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How, how does that change? Because like you said, that's
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not the ideal setup for the type of driving that you're doing.
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So how does that change your thought process and what you
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tell the actors and the stunt drivers or whoever is going to
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be driving? How do you adjust for that in
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the car? We're just yell action here we
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go. No, I mean, we, there's, I mean,
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obviously this all with every bit you see on camera is, you
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know, absolutely choreographed. But they get, everybody gets
14:53
seat time in their car before we do that so that they're
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accustomed to it. If there's something they don't
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like, we can make some changes because I do want to be able to
15:00
run the cars pretty much at their limit.
15:02
So when you are training stunt drivers and you've also trained
15:08
like the actual actors, how do you decide who's driving, like
15:13
when to have the actor drive and when to have a stunt driver or
15:16
precision driver step in and how do you, how do you figure that
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out? So rarely do we ever actually
15:24
have the actor driving in something that's that dynamic.
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I'll fool you and you'll think they're driving, but to to go
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back to the training aspect of it.
15:34
So my goal is to get them to understand what being a race car
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drive, you know, and you know, sticking with Ford, Ford being
15:40
what a race, what a race car driver is.
15:42
So with Christian, we went to was then Bob Bonder on school in
15:49
Arizona and we spent a week out there and just training and
15:54
training and training and the beautiful side piece.
15:58
And one of the reasons I took him there because I wanted him
16:00
to meet Bob Bondurant, who I didn't know at the time was a
16:03
very close friend to Ken Miles. Right.
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He was one of the drivers Shelby drivers.
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So we would spend 6-7 hours in the morning training.
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It would get too hot. So that's done.
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We then spend the next. Yeah.
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We then spend the next three to four hours just sitting and
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chatting with Bob about that era and everything.
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And it was so beautiful and so valuable for Christian.
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I mean, it was just fantastic. But anyway, going back to the
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training, the actual physical training, I, I, I need him at
16:40
this level of training, but he only needs to be here on camera
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because on the day there's so much going on, there's so much
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pressure. Now he's in the car with
16:50
absolute confidence and you will see it if he's not.
16:56
Oh, interesting. And then to build on that, so
16:59
then most of the racing sequences, there are times he
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did drive, there were times we had him pull into the pits, get
17:05
out of the car or get in the car and take off.
17:08
And I felt completely comfortable with that.
17:10
But the majority of the stuff he was on a rig that I Co invented
17:15
with Alfred, Alfred the biscuit rig.
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I want to hear all about that. And we can get into that.
17:21
But going back to the training, Christian knew what to do going
17:26
into a corner. The the eye movement, the hands,
17:30
what he should be doing so that it matches seamlessly and you
17:33
don't know he's not driving. And I fooled you all.
17:38
Right. Exactly.
17:39
Well, and again, that speaks to the flow of the movie.
17:43
Excuse me, my little recording buddy is having a moment again.
17:48
Everything flowed so seamlessly that you stay in the story
17:51
completely, which is what you were hearing from a lot of the
17:54
viewers too, it sounds like. Tell us about this biscuit rig
17:58
if you would rig. Yeah.
18:02
Where do I start beginning at the beginning, probably with the
18:06
name because that's the most curious.
18:09
Yes, question I get. So before we designed the one we
18:14
have today, Alan Alfred had built this rig for this littlest
18:19
movie called Seabiscuit. And it was this massive platform
18:23
that they mounted mechanical horses on that they could move
18:26
foreign aft along the camera, looking profile at the actors
18:30
with real horses in the background running around the
18:34
racetrack. And because of the size of this
18:37
thing, the crew affectionately named it the USS Seabiscuit.
18:43
That's amazing. And so it worked beautifully for
18:46
the film. It then went on to Aviator where
18:49
they used it to mount an aircraft fuselage on for Leo to
18:52
taxi around and for one of the crash sequences.
18:56
And while they were filming, a brush fire came through their
18:59
base camp, burnt everything to the ground, including his rig.
19:03
Just completely destroyed. It was about two years after
19:06
that he calls me and said, hey, I want to revisit this, let's
19:09
see how we can make it better. And so we built a smaller
19:13
version. I designed a steering system
19:15
that allows the driver's pod where we can move it anywhere
19:19
onto the platform so that wherever the director wants to
19:22
point the camera, you can't see ma driving it.
19:25
And we didn't know what to call it, so we just jokingly called
19:29
it the Biscuit Junior. But at the end of the day, it's
19:34
a better name than the Super Whammy Rig, you know, because of
19:38
the story that's attached to the name.
19:40
And what's funny is if I'm on set with it, I'll often get
19:44
somebody ask me why is it called a biscuit?
19:46
And I'll tell them the story. Somewhere in the middle of the
19:50
day or the end of the day, I'll see another crew member going,
19:52
hey, you know why it's called a biscuit?
19:54
And they'll tell the story. And it's like that.
19:57
I love that. Yeah, yeah.
19:59
Fun. So you've perfect.
20:01
Have you perfected? You're like, huh?
20:02
You don't say. So we just kept, we stuck with
20:04
the name. I mean, it's, it's appropriate.
20:06
So is there only one? Is there only one biscuit
20:08
junior? No, we have three.
20:10
We have 3. So can you talk about what the
20:13
differences are and like advantages, disadvantages, how
20:16
different scenarios? So the you've seen the one in
20:20
action on Baby Driver and Ford Ferrari, which is what I call
20:24
our sports car version. It's got an LS that's been born
20:28
and stroked to be as big as you can make.
20:30
An LS makes over 650 horsepower and we'll go 150 miles an hour
20:37
and when people look at it like there's no way.
20:39
There's things that and they're like, Oh my God, when I throttle
20:42
up. So it's really for the dynamic
20:45
stuff where we can slide it, spin it, do some really actiony
20:48
stuff where we used it on drive. And then we have another one
20:53
that we built after that which is a little bit bigger, more
20:57
heavy duty for higher loads. It's not as fast, which is fine.
21:02
And then we have a third one that the bed is actually modular
21:05
where we can add or subtract pieces to change the length and
21:08
width of the bed. And it was specifically designed
21:11
to help when they want to do mechanical horses like they did
21:14
on their original Sea Biscuit because it's a nice flat
21:16
surface. Then everybody come out there,
21:18
there, you know, gap to. And is that a request that you
21:21
get fairly often, like mechanical horses are involved?
21:25
Surprise. I mean, you'd be amazed.
21:27
Yeah, they use them a lot because really you're, you're
21:30
focused tight on the actor and all you see is like sort of part
21:34
of the horse's neck and mane kind of moving through frame and
21:38
it, it, it works. Well, and again, I think you
21:41
fooled us because I think I always just assume it's a real
21:43
horse. Yeah.
21:44
Yeah. What's it like sitting in A at a
21:47
premiere, seeing your work on the screen and taking in, you
21:50
know, the responses of the audience and all that?
21:52
I mean, it must be the most satisfying thing in the world.
21:54
It's pretty great to be honest, you know, and, and I am there to
21:57
kind of feel the environment and the atmosphere and response.
22:01
And so when you get these moments, you're like, yes, we
22:04
did it in the movie Ferrari at the end with this massive wreck,
22:11
I was waiting for it and my date was next to me and I'm watching
22:14
her because I I know it's coming.
22:16
She doesn't. And then it kicks off and this
22:18
car just tumbles through people. And she was just like, and the
22:23
whole theater went dead silent, holding their breath.
22:26
And I was like, got it. You've jumped up.
22:30
You're the only one in the theater cheering.
22:31
Damn. It.
22:33
I should have done that. Right.
22:36
It's OK guys. I was involved in the film Carry
22:38
On. Don't mind me.
22:40
Yeah. Right.
22:41
But that is, I was going to ask you about that scene because
22:44
it's such an iconic scene. And I believe that was, if not
22:49
the reason, a big part of the reason that they actually paused
22:52
the meal, Amelia. For no it is.
22:54
It is the reason. That's the reason.
22:57
And you did such a good job of conveying, like you just said,
23:01
the feeling of it in the film. And I had heard that too, that
23:06
like when people watched in the theaters and didn't know was
23:08
coming, that you could have heard a pin drop.
23:11
Talk about the process of putting that scene together and
23:13
knowing that it's going to be maybe more emotionally impactful
23:18
than some other crash scenes because of the spectators that
23:22
are involved in it. What was the process of putting
23:25
that together I mean? That that was a big back and
23:27
forth with Michael and myself and, you know, and obviously
23:30
he's dealing with the actors and the crowd and setting the
23:34
emotional scene for like all this family.
23:36
They're out here to watch the rock, you know, And then, you
23:40
know, it's my job to make a wreck.
23:43
And one of the things I conveyed to him, I said, Michael, you
23:47
know, understand when this car gets airborne from the driver's
23:50
perspective and even the audience, or not the audience,
23:52
but the people on the side of the road, it goes dead silent.
23:55
And he's like, I love that. So you get this.
24:00
And there's that moment of silence, and you don't know
24:02
what's. And I think that's what helped
24:04
draw it all together. Yeah, it was so powerful.
24:08
Thank you. Yeah.
24:10
Well, and I agree about the sound.
24:12
And again, I think that speaks to your skill because the
24:15
attention to detail like that, I think when you think about a car
24:19
crash, you don't necessarily think about like, OK, but what
24:21
what role does sound play in it? And yeah, the experience of
24:25
watching that scene when it goes silent, you're it's like makes
24:29
you snap to attention. You're like, wait, what?
24:31
Yeah, and and up to that. Like there was so much visceral
24:34
sound from the cars and what not so you up here and then Wham
24:39
nothing. Just.
24:40
Yeah. Well, and again, you talk about
24:43
people saying, like, why did Ken die at the end of the movie?
24:46
I think if you know the story, it changes your watching
24:50
experience or the viewing experience because you know it's
24:52
coming. And so with the scene with the
24:55
family, you know, you see the little boy run out.
24:57
And I had this like, no, don't go.
24:59
But it tells you how authentic the film is.
25:03
And yeah, I mean, it was a phenomenal scene.
25:06
Yeah. And, well, I mean, maybe it just
25:08
it helps memorialize, you know, those who lost their lives in
25:13
it. Yeah.
25:13
Yeah, so obviously preparation is the key, right to a good
25:18
result with anything. I'm really fascinated just with
25:20
the process of putting a movie together because it seems
25:23
overwhelming, right? Where do you start?
25:25
How do you organize? I mean, from what cars you need
25:27
to like, what it just seems, it seems overwhelming.
25:30
It seems like something that would be almost impossible to
25:32
wrap your head around. Where do you start?
25:34
Do you sketch it out? Do you do spread sheets?
25:36
I mean, what's what are the logistics behind what you do?
25:40
I write a lot. Yeah, yeah.
25:42
I'll go through the script and break down the action scenes and
25:46
kind of start picking it apart. How can I make it better?
25:48
How can I make it more interesting?
25:51
And I'll overwrite the scene and then start and then start
25:53
condensing that back down and something that's usable.
25:56
But I try and be very, very detailed and my writing when I
25:59
do that because I want somebody to read it and really feel what
26:03
I'm trying to convey. Yeah.
26:05
So was that a part of your process anyway before you were
26:09
officially an action writer and and director?
26:12
Like, were you already writing things out for yourself?
26:15
Yeah, that was my most methodology.
26:17
Yeah, that it makes sense and just kind of fell together.
26:20
Yeah. So I have to ask, you know,
26:24
other movies that have done it right, have done what you do
26:28
right? And, and Ronan comes to mind,
26:29
right? That's the one we always point
26:31
to. Are you a fan of Ronan?
26:32
Is that on your list? Early, early in my career, that
26:37
was my target to beat. It was always been my favorite
26:40
car chase. They did it so well.
26:43
Frankenheimer killed it. I mean, just so beautifully
26:47
done. And you feel like, you know
26:50
where I've always strived. I want that feeling.
26:52
You're in the car. I want you to feel that
26:54
jeopardy. I want you to feel all that.
26:56
And he absolutely nailed it. And early on, I would get that
27:00
question that you just asked. And they said what about Bullet
27:03
or what about this? And I yeah, but Ronan's way more
27:06
dynamic. It it really, it really is.
27:08
I remember seeing that movie in the theaters and I didn't know
27:11
what I was getting into. I think it just went with the
27:12
buddy or whatever. I had to go see a movie, you
27:14
know, and just being so thrilled that it was a car movie, right?
27:18
You know, there's other things too.
27:19
And then seeing that scene and just being completely blown
27:21
away, right. And the the cars like car
27:24
casting is such a part of I think what you do too, right?
27:28
And they nailed that as well, which I think was a big, a big
27:30
part of it. So glad to hear that.
27:32
That's a favorite of yours as well.
27:33
Yeah, no, it's definitely top of the list.
27:35
And Speaking of car casting, originally Baby Driver, the
27:39
opening scene was a Honda Civic. Really.
27:42
And I was like, Edgar, there's a better option here.
27:47
Uh huh. Enter Subaru WRX.
27:51
Yeah, and there was so much buzz around that amongst enthusiasts,
27:55
right? Like, I mean, people picked up
27:56
on that, right. And and and that's and that's
27:59
it. And, you know, bad car casting,
28:01
like anything else will take you out of a of a movie.
28:03
You know, Wes Anderson is a guy who I think always does it
28:06
right. You know, you know, the the 300
28:09
TE Mercedes wagon for the the teacher in Rushmore, whatever.
28:13
It's just like, you know, that that car like that represents so
28:15
much. But if you know, if you know,
28:16
you know, and, and yeah, it's I, I think an unsung sort of aspect
28:21
of, of, of what you do is getting that car casting right.
28:25
So cool. Thank you.
28:27
So Robert, that Ryan's question ties in with something I was
28:30
going to ask you and this is your work is included as
28:34
possible answers, but what are your top favorite, top five
28:38
favorite car movies? I mean, obviously mine suddenly,
28:45
right? And the list is full.
28:47
We're done. Next question.
28:49
Next, even though I was involved with it, I still find it a fun
28:53
movie. And it was, it was Talladega
28:55
Nights was just so, you know, the, the whole premise of it was
28:59
just hilarious. And I thought it was pulled off
29:01
so well. Yeah.
29:02
And that's, that's a tough sort of proposition when you think
29:06
about it, because you've got car.
29:07
People are going to watch it because it's a car movie.
29:10
But it was so absurd by design. And to have it, to have it
29:14
succeed and have them enjoy it, even though it's like poking fun
29:18
at the culture, I think that tells you the level of the film
29:21
it is. I mean, I thought it was so
29:22
funny. Yeah, and I was just, I was just
29:25
a hired gun driver, if you will, for that film.
29:28
But when I'd heard the premise of the story, I was like, Oh my
29:31
God, this is brilliant. Yeah, I mean, and some of the
29:35
lines in that movie, I quote them constantly.
29:38
Like, still today. You hear them somewhere, yeah.
29:41
Yeah, I mean, think about like Shake and Bake has, you know,
29:44
it's a like permanent part of the culture, you know, in the
29:48
zeitgeist. Like it's.
29:50
Jacked up a Mountain Dew? I'm going to come at you like a
29:52
spider monkey. Or like dear, you know, what is
29:56
it 8 LB nine ounce baby Jesus like?
29:59
Yeah, what was that crew like to work with?
30:01
Because that must have just been everyday, must have just been a
30:02
blast. Well, I mean, we're, we're off
30:05
doing all the action, so I wasn't.
30:06
Involved with a. Lot of that we're out wrecking
30:09
cars, yeah, which was so point. Yes, yeah, yeah.
30:15
So talk a little bit about that because, and I was thinking
30:19
that's when I was watching the Ferrari sequence.
30:22
You've got a car flying through the air and I know you've talked
30:24
about this, like the pressure that that adds when you're
30:27
crashing something. You have maybe 2 takes.
30:30
Like what is that? Like you had what?
30:33
Yeah. And that one, I figured that's
30:37
a, that's a one shot deal. But so talk about like what
30:40
considerations you take into account when you're planning and
30:45
driver safety and can you share what that's like?
30:47
I get drivers all day long, that's that's fine.
30:51
We have more. It's fun.
30:53
Yeah, next, bring the next guy. In have to do those guys.
30:57
So this crash was very obviously very crucial.
31:02
I spent weeks digging through report after report of the
31:06
actual crash to figure out how it actually went down because
31:11
some of the stuff made no sense physics wise what they thought
31:14
the car did. So I, I won't go into a lot of
31:18
detail, but I'll just say because of the speed of the car,
31:21
it did something that they weren't used to seeing.
31:24
And the fact he didn't have cameras all over the road
31:26
course, nobody really understood it.
31:29
And that is the car got sideways and it's a wing and it went
31:33
airborne. That's what happened.
31:37
And we've seen it with NASCAR. So in the early days, before all
31:40
the flaps and everything that they've added, you know, the car
31:43
goes sideways 150 miles an hour plus it's in the air.
31:49
And so, but it was also, you know, me building the timeline
31:53
from where the car landed to where the first contact happened
31:59
and just kind of playing that back and breaking that down into
32:02
microseconds. This happened here, this
32:04
happened here, this happened there.
32:06
And then stitching that together for my partner, which is the
32:10
physical crash and then handing off the CG, which I have no
32:15
control over. So it's, it's a bit of a
32:19
marriage. I wasn't 100% happy with the CG
32:24
but the the physical crash was spot on.
32:27
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you a film guy?
32:31
A digital guy? Like traditionalist?
32:33
Like what's Where do you sit with technology?
32:38
They both have their merit. I mean there's, I mean film just
32:41
has a nice feel to it. Digital is kind of you you can
32:48
you have less constraints. So I think maybe you have to be
32:53
far more disciplined with film. So I think digital, not to
32:58
offshoot it too much, but I think digital has made some
33:00
people lazy. Interesting.
33:02
I was going to say, you don't have the constraint and so is it
33:06
the economics of it because you're using?
33:08
The it's, it's just the discipline, you know, actual
33:10
film you have to be very disciplined in, in planning
33:13
everything because it all revolved around the mag can only
33:16
run for so long now you got to stop and reload the mag.
33:19
That's all built into IT versus digital.
33:22
Just keep rolling, yeah? Right.
33:25
Yeah, it's an endless resource. But yeah, it forces you.
33:27
With film, you have to be, you have to be efficient.
33:32
So it's kind of nice to to show up on a set and see film mags on
33:35
a back. Of the camera, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
33:37
Speaking of that, I think Paul Thomas Anderson, is he a film
33:40
guy? All film.
33:43
He's great. Yeah, and you were licorice
33:44
pizza, if I'm not mistaken to come.
33:47
To a Yeah, he's only on him for a couple.
33:48
Yeah, just a couple days, but yeah, his latest one I was there
33:51
for, gosh, almost a month. It was such a such a delight to
33:57
work with. That's awesome.
33:58
I mean, you hear of you hear about him being this, this
34:00
auteur, you know, and, and the kinds of movies he does.
34:03
So to hear that, that, that he's a a nice guy, it's always good
34:07
to hear too. Yeah.
34:08
Absolutely a. Neat movie.
34:10
Yeah, Boogie Nights is still one of my favorite.
34:13
So great although. Right.
34:14
Isn't that like the the greatest movie?
34:16
And I was going to say it's not a car movie, but it is because
34:18
you talk about the car casting and the Z car, right.
34:20
And I mean, just so well done. So well done.
34:24
So how has Hollywood changed in your career?
34:27
You know when talk about racing has changed.
34:30
Next question, Yeah. I mean, what were the it's the
34:33
glory days for you or what? Where do we sit now?
34:38
I don't know what I would call it.
34:40
Glory days. It's just right now it's, it's,
34:44
it's going through a massive transition that nobody knows
34:46
where it's headed. It's, it's really sad.
34:49
There's so many people being put out of work.
34:51
I've only worked a handful of days in the last four months.
34:55
Really. And is that because things are
34:57
being filmed in different countries or?
35:00
Just it's, it's a myriad of reasons.
35:02
It's not just one. Where do you think it'll go?
35:06
What's what's your your take? I mean, Hollywood is this thing,
35:10
you know, it's the state of mind.
35:11
It's, there's so much more to it than just making movies, right?
35:14
It's. It is, but it's it's taken on
35:18
this odd life. I don't know where it's going.
35:20
I don't think anybody knows because when it's busy, it's
35:25
just it's this mad schedule of, you know, are you available this
35:29
day, available that day? And it goes on and on and on
35:33
versus now I'm like, is my phone even working?
35:37
Wow. Yeah, that's a big change, yeah.
35:39
Yeah. Yeah, sounds like watch this
35:41
space and fingers crossed. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
35:45
It's just strange days for sure. But I'm not 100% sure.
35:48
But I think you may be our only Academy Award winner that's been
35:52
on the show, which is very, very cool.
35:55
How did winning an Oscar change things for you?
35:59
Didn't change much. I mean, I still have, you know,
36:02
go to Starbucks. Still cost me $5 for a cup of
36:04
coffee. So you know.
36:05
Whip that out and get. There's no automatic Academy
36:10
Award winners Your coffee. Of three, yeah, that's.
36:14
Amazing. I mean, it's a it's a nice, it's
36:16
a nice feather in the cap for sure.
36:17
And it looks, looks great on a resume.
36:19
I don't know that it's actually gained me anything other than
36:22
I'm that guy. Oh, you want one of those?
36:24
Yeah. Yeah.
36:25
What was it like? I'm assuming you went to the
36:28
awards ceremony? Yeah, so we had a different
36:30
awards. It's because it's technical
36:31
achievement award. It was, you know, beautifully
36:35
well done and Margot Robbie was the one that gave me my award.
36:39
Oh my gosh. And she's so, so sweet.
36:42
And to this day, she shows up on set and she sees that she's
36:47
going to be on the biscuit rig because it was about the biscuit
36:49
rig. She's just like, Oh my God, I
36:51
can't wait, right? And then, you know, we'll get
36:53
together and talk a little bit and off we go.
36:55
But yeah, it's really cool. I love that.
36:59
Well, and you talk about car casting and it makes me think of
37:03
like, even, you know, the Wolf of Wall Street was not a car
37:07
movie per SE, but they had that very iconic scene with the car
37:11
and obviously she wasn't driving it.
37:13
But again, it's like that's that's such a, you know, moment
37:16
in in time and it's sighted so often in the culture, especially
37:21
in the car community, you know, so iconic.
37:25
But so can you talk about like car casting kind of is an art to
37:30
me and like you said your influence with Baby Driver, what
37:33
is that like? And do you, is that pretty
37:36
standard that you get to be involved and make suggestions or
37:40
like how does that all work? It, you know, honestly, it
37:43
really depends on what level I'm brought in creatively to help
37:47
out. And that runs the whole
37:49
spectrum. Also, you have some directors
37:53
that are open to that input. You have some directors that
37:55
aren't so open to the input. So it's, it's, it's, it's a bit
37:59
of a, a balancing game. Yeah, depends on the team, I
38:03
would think. Talk a little bit more about
38:04
Baby Driver. It's just really a feast for the
38:07
eyes. The story really hooks you in,
38:10
which is again another. I think it's a hallmark of a
38:13
good car movie when the story is just as engaging as the action.
38:17
You know, I think you really feel for the characters, but
38:20
some of those action sequences are second to none, like the
38:24
driving sequences. Can you talk about what that was
38:27
like to be involved, like what it felt like to see the finished
38:29
film? I love it.
38:30
I would love to hear all the stories.
38:34
So my involvement part of it. So I was running first year,
38:37
first and second unit, coordinating both along with
38:40
driving the biscuit rig. So I kind of had my hands full.
38:45
But it, it speaks to the, the detailed planning that Darren
38:49
Prescott and I did leading up to going to camera so that we knew
38:54
pretty much what we were shooting every day, every hour,
38:57
every minute, and just bang, bang, bang, getting the shots
39:00
crossed off. And then Jeremy Fry, who was the
39:05
double for Ansel, he, you know, worked with Ansel to get some of
39:10
those sequences for him. But he, you know, really worked
39:12
hard to get it, get the cars to work that way.
39:14
He needed him to work so that we showed up on the day we get
39:17
exactly what we needed and he nailed it.
39:20
You've made a career to cars and driving all that.
39:21
You're obviously an enthusiast. Do you get out for drives still?
39:24
Is that still a thrill for you? What do you drive?
39:26
What's in your garage? Tell me about the enthusiast
39:29
side of Robert Nagle. So I'll do track day every now
39:32
and again. I can't get in a race car
39:35
because I can't do it for fun. Like that's competitive switch
39:39
comes on. Yeah.
39:41
So I'm I have to have long talks with myself before I do that.
39:46
But let me let me throw the question back to you.
39:48
What do you think my daily driver is?
39:50
So OK, I'm going to get, I'm going to break this down.
39:53
I see a lot of camera cars that are Porsche Cayennes, right?
39:56
That seems to be very popular. Was it boom car or camera car?
39:59
Whatever the term, we call them on cars.
40:01
OK, OK, so I'm thinking you are a Porsche guy.
40:04
I just, I'm looking at you, I I see you behind the wheel of a
40:06
Porsche and I may be way off here.
40:11
I'm going to say you drive a 9/11 turbo.
40:16
Lindsay, you have any any any guesses?
40:19
Yeah, I'm going to go totally the opposite direction.
40:22
The first thing that popped into my head was an F-150.
40:28
I'm just thinking, I don't know, like daily and with everything
40:32
that you do for work, I can see that practical you go in that
40:35
direction. So, all right, so what's the
40:37
real answer? So let me just, I'll work into
40:40
it. So I am a huge Porsche fan.
40:42
One of my favorite cars I've ever driven was a GT3 around
40:45
Willow Springs. And I was just blown away how
40:47
great that car worked. I mean, just was glued to the
40:51
track. And yes.
40:55
And the Cayennes are very, very popular for armed cars.
40:58
They've driven plenty of those. I do drive a German car, but
41:03
it's not a Porsche. OK.
41:05
It's an Audi S8. Oh.
41:08
That's Speaking of her own, right?
41:11
That tracks just perfectly. Robert and I love that she drive
41:14
an S8. And I love the fact that most
41:17
people don't even know what the car is.
41:20
It's just as big. Beautiful 4 door sedan that is a
41:23
rocket. Right.
41:25
Yeah, Yeah. Oh I love.
41:26
It yeah, it's a, it's a if you know, you know, but it's kind of
41:30
along the lines of the what was it?
41:32
The Holden S S where people are like nice Impala, You're like,
41:36
watch this. And then the best thing you
41:39
could have answered with I'm. Gonna that's amazing.
41:42
Thank you drive. So I I might upset some of your
41:45
fans, but I actively hunt Corvettes with it.
41:48
OK. Nice as one could.
41:53
Yeah, yeah. Are you in?
41:55
So you're in LA, obviously. Are you an Angelus Crest guy?
41:58
Like where do you go for a fun? I I ripped on the on the street.
42:02
I don't really do that. Yeah, OK.
42:04
Just yeah, just there's that's, yeah, yeah, that's on the track
42:08
for that. So the other car I have is
42:12
basically a one of one dark horse, one of the early ones.
42:17
Really. Yeah, well, what makes it a one
42:20
of one? I'm not 100% sure but I know
42:24
it's at least one of 20 so I'm I.
42:28
Could tell you that I'd have to kill.
42:30
You, yeah. I'm very fortunate to be brought
42:32
into Ford's VIP program. So when these cars come out,
42:35
they just send me a an e-mail slash menu.
42:39
They're like, do you want one? And then I can go through and
42:42
click off all the options I want.
42:44
Apparently the options I put together, a dealership can't get
42:47
it that way. And it did.
42:49
It was almost a year to get the car built.
42:52
So break the car down. What's the?
42:54
Space, I mean, it's got it's got the competition suspension, the
42:58
wheels and tires. The wheels are carbon fiber and
43:00
that's my understanding they only produce 2 or they only
43:03
produce 20 with the carbon fiber wheels.
43:06
The color combo, like one of the options is to take the strike,
43:09
run it all the way over the car and it's painted instead of
43:12
vinyl and that having seen some of the vinyl ones, like why that
43:17
looks horrible. Yeah, who thought that was a
43:20
good idea? Come on.
43:21
Yeah, it's a great card. Ford killed it with this
43:23
chassis. Absolutely killed it.
43:26
Yeah, that's, I think Dan had one right, right.
43:28
Yeah, that's right, he went on and out about it.
43:30
I mean, in fact, it comes with a drift break.
43:32
Come on. Does it really?
43:35
Yes, because you've had Mustangs before this one, correct?
43:40
Oh yeah, I've had a lot of Mustangs.
43:42
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So for the let's throw a bone to
43:45
the Ford people. So which Mustangs have you had?
43:48
That A65-A67, a 69 Cobra Jet, A70 Mach One.
43:56
From there we can now get in the Fox bodies.
44:01
I had a couple, you know, mid 80s.
44:05
My first real road race car was a 93 Cobra R body that gotten
44:11
from Ford and we turned into a race car and then from there to
44:16
SN95 Cobras that we built into race cars.
44:21
Wow. And so where, I don't know how
44:24
often you get to the track, but do you have a favorite track
44:26
either in Southern California or in the US?
44:30
Anyone I don't have to pay for? I like that answer.
44:34
Yeah, yeah. That's.
44:36
Anyway, that hands me keys and says take my car out.
44:38
That's around the track. I want to see what it can do.
44:41
Let's go. Yeah, no, I mean there's.
44:44
Go ahead. Sorry, there's.
44:45
I mean, you know, obviously the iconic tracks, I love Laguna
44:47
Seca, some of the tracks out on the East Coast, you know,
44:50
they're just, yeah. But they're all fun, yeah?
44:53
Yeah, right. You mentioned fox bodies, and I
44:56
like that Fox bodies are kind of having a moment now.
45:00
And I think back to high school and I thought the coolest thing
45:03
in the world that that wasn't German was a, was a, was an
45:07
LX5-O manual, like cloth C It's kind of like that CHP spec, like
45:12
I just thought that was cool. Yeah.
45:13
Yeah, yeah, you have a little Knox.
45:14
Back on one Yeah right. Yeah, they're just there's
45:16
there's something about there. They're just pure the tires
45:18
stick out a little bit. And any reason someone like me,
45:22
you know, midlife crisis kind of guy wouldn't want a fox body LX5
45:26
Point O or they're pretty great. I can't think, especially now
45:31
with everything that you can get aftermarket wise, like they're
45:33
fun, they're just fun cars. Yeah, yeah.
45:36
Yeah, they are. OK, well, you're not talking me
45:38
out of it. So no.
45:40
I tried, you know, sorry, not sorry.
45:43
Lindsay's our resident Ford person on the show, but I'm
45:46
coming around. I'm coming.
45:47
Around, yeah, yeah, you'll see the light I'm working.
45:50
Right on. Yeah.
45:51
So I had a a GT350 are one of the newer ones and nice boy,
45:57
those were just intoxicating. And yeah, Ryan, you need to
46:00
drive one of those actually that will that will fully convert
46:03
you. Yeah.
46:04
Yeah, right on, right on. So just as someone who drives,
46:08
you know, regular roads, freeways in California, all
46:10
that, what are some mistakes you see even those of us who think
46:13
we're pretty good drivers make? Like what are things you see
46:16
again and again? How much time do we have we.
46:19
Get all the time in the world. The stage is going.
46:24
But I think people are getting. Worse I I swear.
46:27
People, no you're not. Worse.
46:28
Oh yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
46:30
I would agree with that. They drive around with their
46:32
high beams on, you know, they tell, OK, they can't move out of
46:35
the left lane. But you, yeah, you, you take
46:37
this one. My biggest pet peeve is just
46:40
parking your car in the number one lane in the you know, which
46:43
is the fast lane. When I say parking, you know
46:45
you're going under the speed limit, won't move over.
46:48
It's like, and then you get other cars clustered around them
46:52
and next thing you know, it's like, yeah, that lose my mind.
46:55
That's the thing I wish they would enforce.
46:57
You know, speeding is not the issue, right?
46:59
I mean, it's those people because in your passing, you
47:01
know, all this. I mean, it's just it drives me
47:03
up the wall here in Colorado. The big thing is Canyon
47:05
etiquette and you're obviously out with a group of friends and
47:08
you want to have a spirited Dr. and there's someone with a
47:10
Nebraska license plate or whatever that's sitting doing 10
47:13
under and there are places to pull out, you know, and they and
47:16
they don't. But it's, I, I think it all
47:17
comes down to just sort of, I don't know, situational
47:20
awareness and just respect for your fellow driver.
47:24
Like it's just, we're getting away from that, You know, in my
47:27
own lifetime, it's changed so much and it drives me up the
47:30
wall. I'm glad.
47:30
You know, situational awareness is such a proper term for that.
47:34
Absolutely. Yeah.
47:36
Yeah. I think you get so many people
47:37
who just don't pay attention. Yeah.
47:40
And I'm sure the phones have played into this, you know?
47:43
Certainly hasn't helped. Large part is.
47:45
Yeah. Well, and I think it's, I think
47:47
it people, car people or people that enjoy driving, your
47:52
awareness is heightened. And so the contrast is even
47:54
bigger. We've got somebody that's
47:56
completely unaware. You're maybe more aware than the
47:58
average person. And, you know, like I find
48:01
myself constantly managing like the traffic behind me, in front
48:05
of me, on the side you're watching behind, you know, and.
48:08
Constantly scanning it's that's that's a proper situational
48:11
awareness. Right.
48:12
Like that's the ideal situation. Yeah.
48:15
I mean, and the number of times you can't, it's like it's, it's
48:17
always striking to me when you see somebody in the rearview
48:20
mirror and you can already tell they're, you know, half a mile
48:23
behind you and you can already tell it's an issue and you're
48:25
going to need to manage that. Yeah, usually they're in an
48:28
Altima, but that's a whole other.
48:33
It's I missed a question before. I wanted to ask you the people
48:36
that you worked with and I don't want to say, hey, who you know,
48:39
who did you like? Who didn't you not you know, who
48:40
did you not like, but who surprised you as being a shoe?
48:43
Like? Have there ever been any actors,
48:45
you know, that just you're like, oh man, that that guy or.
48:48
Gal. Really.
48:50
Drive. No, that's actually a great
48:52
question and that can expand on it a little bit.
48:55
Christian Bale was phenomenal. He really, he really got it and
48:59
was very enthusiastic about it. But I and I think a lot of that
49:03
skill set came from he would, he used to track motorcycles.
49:08
Oh. OK.
49:08
Oh, that's right. So and I find the guys that are
49:12
competent on bikes, on a track translate into a car because
49:16
they understand balance and weight, weight transfer and all
49:19
of that. It just clicks with them.
49:22
He was phenomenal on Ferrari. Patrick Dempsey.
49:27
I let him do all of his own driving.
49:29
No kidding. He was amazing and he's actually
49:32
one of the few actors that has ever been listed as a stunt
49:35
performer. Really.
49:37
Really. He's listed?
49:39
No, he used to race Porsches. I think he got back.
49:41
Into it, Yeah, yeah. He's getting back into it now.
49:44
He. Yeah, very, very competent
49:46
driver. Yeah, right.
49:47
On OK. He was involved in, it's called
49:51
the Heart of Racing now, but it was Team Seattle and they were
49:55
affiliated with the driving school at Pacific Raceways up
49:57
here, which is where I drive in Seattle.
50:00
And so I actually had the opportunity to travel, like with
50:03
the team when it was Patrick Dempsey and Joe Foster and Donna
50:07
and Donna Kitch to Daytona for the 24 Hours a couple times.
50:11
Nice, yeah. Yeah.
50:12
So yeah, he's he's the real deal.
50:15
Yeah, supposed to be a hell of a nice guy too, so.
50:17
Oh, he's fantastic. Yeah.
50:18
Just, you know, he he just became one of the guys, you
50:20
know, Here we go. Yeah, right on, right.
50:22
On. Well, I love, I think it was on.
50:24
Was it? I think it was with Maurice when
50:27
you were talking about it and you said he would come to, you
50:29
know, when you were prepping the cars or whatever and he just
50:31
looked like a kid in a candy store.
50:32
Yeah, yeah. No, he he was literally like,
50:34
are we testing today? Are we testing?
50:36
I want to go out and test. Let's go test.
50:38
That's nice. Nice.
50:39
That's amazing. Are you a car week guy at all?
50:42
Do you or do you go to Luft or do you, I mean?
50:45
Find the time. I've been to car week, I've been
50:46
to car week. It just, it seems like my
50:48
schedule gets full, or it's my schedule's actually so
50:52
unpredictable because of film. I was supposed to go this year
50:56
and I couldn't make it. I went the year prior.
51:00
It was, you know, fantastic. Yeah.
51:03
Good friend of mine got me tickets for Quail, so to see all
51:06
of that was just spectacular. I'm hoping to do it again next
51:09
year. Well, if you're there, we all
51:12
have to meet up in person. 100%, yeah.
51:16
That car show team is A and a car week.
51:19
It's under our, it's under our skin.
51:21
You know, we just, we just, yeah.
51:22
I, my first time was a couple years ago and it was, it just
51:27
blew my mind, you know, it's, it's, it's like finding your
51:30
tribe or whatever. And, you know, Carwick's got a
51:32
lot of, lot of grief lately for just kind of getting, you know,
51:35
having gotten too big for its britches or whatever.
51:37
But I don't know. I love it.
51:39
I'm a fan. Everyone's there.
51:41
It's yeah, yeah. You know, no.
51:44
No. Of its own, yeah.
51:46
No, Yeah. It is.
51:48
I know. Well, so you mentioned having
51:51
the opportunity for Christian to spend time with Bob Bondurant,
51:54
which is, I mean, that's not something you can manufacture
51:58
obviously. That's no, no, I never saw that
52:00
coming to the extent that it did.
52:02
Well, and for Bob to still be alive and just Christian, to be
52:05
able to basically pick his brain and hear the stories.
52:08
And really, I can't, I can't imagine how valuable that would
52:11
be as an actor to really be able to just steep in the real
52:15
stories from somebody that lived it.
52:17
That feels like it would be such a gift.
52:19
And I was going to ask you because there are a lot of
52:22
reasons that the film is very special to me.
52:24
And, you know, I connected with it.
52:25
But one of the things when I first watched it, I kept going
52:29
like, wait, I know that person. Like I know that person, you
52:33
know, like Alex Gurney driving as Dan, That's amazing.
52:37
Like Alex went to high school with a family friend of mine.
52:40
So I was like, wait, I know. And I'm like, and it was, I know
52:45
his, I know who that is. And knowing that it was the
52:48
real, that it was a Gurney driving as Dan Gurney was just
52:52
amazing. And then Derek Hill was involved
52:56
and, you know, he's the son of Phil Hill, who was integral to
52:58
the whole story. I don't know if there's been
53:02
another movie like that where you've been able to have the
53:04
people that lived it or the children of the people whose
53:06
story you're telling are in the project.
53:08
What was that like? And there's more to it.
53:11
Yeah. So tell me more.
53:13
I want to hear all of it. Yeah.
53:15
So we'll start with Alex. I was connected to Alex through
53:18
a friend of mine. I reached out to him, thought
53:21
it, you know, would you be interested?
53:22
And he says, yeah. So I had him send me a headshot.
53:26
And when you look at him and his father, he's like a spitting
53:29
image. And I went to, I went to
53:32
Mangold. I said, can we please cast him
53:33
as his father? His father passed six months
53:36
ago. This would be so fitting.
53:37
He said, I'll have him read. Absolutely.
53:40
And a couple days later, yeah. And so a couple days later,
53:44
Mango let me know that they cast him for it.
53:47
And the hair on my arms stood up.
53:48
I was like, that is so beautiful.
53:51
And I love that I could do that. And Derek Hill was so valuable
53:57
in in his information and and help.
53:59
And so the other, there's another one, Jeff Bucknam, his
54:04
father, Ronnie. Ronnie Bucknam drove the gold
54:07
GT40 the finished third. Right.
54:10
When that car showed up on set, Jeff broke down emotionally and
54:17
we just made fun of him for the rest of the film.
54:19
So. As one does now.
54:21
I'm so glad you mentioned that. I knew I was like, there's
54:23
there's one other guy that I'm blanking on and that's it was
54:26
Jeff. So and, and I actually put him
54:28
in the car. Unfortunately, we had already
54:30
cast Tanner Faust as Ronnie Bucknam before I got connected
54:34
with Jeff. But what I did in the final
54:36
sequence, when it crosses the start finish line, Jeff is
54:39
actually driving the car on camera.
54:41
That's amazing. That's cool.
54:44
Well, our shirts. Actually have a little Easter
54:48
egg because the shirts are in what would have been the correct
54:52
winning order. Can you talk a little bit about
54:54
that? So yeah, I did.
54:56
We, you know, Sean, who designed this and owns Johnson Motors, we
55:02
talked about it and I said I want the Ken Miles car in front.
55:06
That's the proper order. And he agreed that that's how it
55:11
should be portrayed. And it's I, I love that very few
55:15
people have picked up on that. So thank you, of course.
55:19
Well, that was, you know, my, my dad is a huge Shelby fan.
55:25
And that was a story. Honestly, I heard that story
55:28
throughout my life because we would go to these events and we,
55:30
we would, when Carol was still alive, we got to meet him.
55:33
We got to meet Bob. My dad actually was had the
55:36
chance to become friends with them.
55:37
And I think those were the stories of his kind of teenage
55:41
years and early 20s and becoming a budding car guy.
55:44
So it really stuck in his head. So then to meet those people in
55:48
real life is amazing, but just the the unfixable injustice of
55:53
the way that was handled is just one of those things that's in
55:55
our world lore of just like what?
55:58
And like even this many years on, it's still just like man,
56:01
like that is so frustrating. So it's really nice to have it
56:06
corrected on the shirts at least.
56:09
Thank you. I love, I like said, I just love
56:11
that you you picked that up. So what did your father think of
56:16
the film? Oh, he loved it.
56:19
We, I mean, and I think probably between like Tori's probably
56:22
watched it 100 times. I think.
56:26
I think my family and I are probably like close seconds to
56:28
that. But I mean, like he and I have
56:31
marvelled about. It's one of those films where I
56:34
have yet to get sick of it because there was so much detail
56:37
and the story is so involved, even outside of the cars, that
56:42
there's like, I noticed something new every time.
56:45
And I think it's like with anything, once you've seen
56:47
something a few times and you sort of understand the main
56:49
story, it frees you up to sort of look in the background and
56:51
just like all of the little touches that you all put so much
56:56
effort into, just. It's such a rich viewing
56:59
experience that, yeah, I mean, definitely my favorite movie.
57:04
Thank you for that. That means, that means the world
57:06
to me. Thank you.
57:07
Yeah, of course. I appreciate all of your hard
57:09
work. It definitely fade off well.
57:12
So for those that don't know the story of the what we're talking
57:15
about with the cars and the order, can you quickly share
57:19
like what we're saying what we're talking about?
57:21
Yeah, I mean, you know, Ken Miles was obviously leading the
57:24
race at the end and he was asked, ordered to slow down
57:34
because they wanted A123 finish. Photo finish of the three cars
57:39
crossing the start finish line. And ultimately the officials
57:44
came back and said because the number 5 black GT40 started
57:51
further back, they said he covered more ground than Ken's
57:55
car, therefore he was in first place.
57:58
They wouldn't, they wouldn't agree to a photo finish of, you
58:02
know, everybody crossing at the same moment.
58:08
Right. So Ken had been awarded cursed
58:10
and then it was taken away from. Yeah, yeah.
58:13
Yeah, as far as he knew, he'd won.
58:14
I mean, right. And then they, I think, and I
58:19
don't know if this is correct, but I think there was some like,
58:21
well, we'll get him again next year and then unfortunately.
58:24
He well, I think that was the intention.
58:25
Yeah, I think that was the intention.
58:28
And unfortunately he he died testing the next the next year's
58:32
car. Yeah.
58:35
So that was, yeah, very, very sad.
58:38
So I think it's really beautiful that you did the tribute the way
58:41
you did on the shirt. Thank you for that.
58:45
Robert, one of the neat things about doing this is we get to
58:46
meet people like you who are really, you know, top of their
58:49
game, but really people who are living their best lives, people
58:51
who are doing exactly what they were born to do, you know, and
58:54
your passion is evident. And, and it's just been a real
58:57
honor to talk with you. I it's been a great viewing to
58:59
do now. Yeah, it's much enough to do.
59:03
I know well before we let you go, I would love to hear like a
59:06
story or two from Fast and Furious.
59:08
I know that has been like those are some of my favorite car
59:13
movies. Probably my favorite is when we
59:18
did fast five with with the the scene with the safe and just
59:24
literally crushing cars left and right.
59:27
I think we destroyed like 300 cars, but that sequence, but I
59:33
thought it was so visually was a great story point because you
59:39
got this. Yeah, it's time that's tumbling.
59:41
Most of the time to slide it around and just sending cars was
59:45
it's like a childhood dream, like let's just wreck
59:47
everything. You just get to go in and break
59:50
everything and you're being told to do it.
59:52
Yeah, that's fantastic. So where do?
59:54
You get the cars like you know you're going to just ruin them,
59:58
but they have to look good to start.
1:00:01
Where do you get the cars you're going to destroy?
1:00:03
So they put up no parking signs. If you leave your car there,
1:00:05
you're down. They're like, this is great, we
1:00:08
don't have to pay for any of them.
1:00:10
You. Know I'm not, I wasn't involved
1:00:13
at that level. You know, you got guys that run
1:00:15
the picture card department. That's their thing.
1:00:18
I don't, I'm not sure where they sourced them.
1:00:19
I think a lot of them came out of junk yards and then we just
1:00:23
crushed them. Made it official.
1:00:25
Yeah. Did you ever think the franchise
1:00:27
would would be the thing that it is?
1:00:30
It's this cultural phenomenon. There's a certain generation,
1:00:33
especially where this is this is like sacred, right?
1:00:35
The the the franchise. It's did it feel like it when
1:00:38
you were making it? I mean, is it?
1:00:40
It it did when I feel like 5 brought it back because it was
1:00:45
so well done. And I think you know that like I
1:00:47
said, that action sequence with the safe and that's when I was
1:00:51
like, OK, I can get behind this. Yeah, yeah.
1:00:54
This is a real thing, yeah. Yeah.
1:00:56
That's awesome. Well, there, those are other
1:00:59
movies that I rewatch regularly. They're just so fun, you know?
1:01:04
It's just, it's such. A No, you have.
1:01:05
Yeah. You just have to go along for
1:01:06
the ride, pun intended. Yeah, exactly.
1:01:08
Yeah, love it. Love it.
1:01:11
Yeah, Well, Robert, this has really been a treat.
1:01:14
I mean, I could probably talk to you all day and ask for more and
1:01:16
more stories, so. Anytime.
1:01:18
Hopefully you'll come back, but we really.
1:01:20
Would love to, yeah. Sharing like kind of a peek
1:01:24
behind the curtain into an area of movies, especially about
1:01:28
really life that most of us never get to experience or hear
1:01:31
about. It's been fascinating.
1:01:33
And I think our audience is really going to enjoy the kind
1:01:36
of sneak peek, you know, tidbits that you've shared before we let
1:01:41
you go. Where can people find you on
1:01:43
social media? So you can find me on Instagram
1:01:45
RP Nagle very simple check it out.
1:01:50
I'll share it with you guys so when this goes up, you can tag
1:01:52
me in that. That's really it.
1:01:55
Instagram's really my my thing for for work.
1:01:58
I do post a lot of behind the scenes stuff when it's
1:02:00
appropriate and it seems, yeah, it seems to be well received so.
1:02:05
Yeah, yeah, I can. I can attest you're a good
1:02:08
follow for sure. So RP Nagle on Instagram, Thank
1:02:12
you so much for joining us. And for those of us at that car
1:02:16
show, remember, always be driving.
1:02:19
And we'll see you next week. Thank you so so much, it's
1:02:22
wonderful.