This report which M just inadvertantly forwarded to GEEK HEADQUARTERS and Father Geek's inbox is quite detailed. Some of you may not want to read further. Some should be WARNED in no uncertain terms that danger awaits those who's quest for Bond 19 knowledge compels them to read on... BE YE WARNED!!!
The first of their inquiries over the Internet was whether Bentz Boats of Lewiston was interested in building some stunt boats for a movie...
A James Bond movie...
Fifteen boats...
Within the next three weeks.
Actually, only four of the boats had to be finished that quickly, Steve J. Nightingale, general manager at Bentz said Friday. They had another six weeks to do the remaining 11. The stunt director for Bond Movie No. 19, "The World Is Not Enough," was in Canada when the first contact was made on a Friday. He and his assistant were headed for Orlando, Fla., the next day. On Monday, they were in Lewiston.
Bentz Boats makes mostly big boats that can be found all over the world running rough water with heavy payloads of people and supplies. Nightingale called in Doug N. Riddle of Riddles Marine and River Supply in Lewiston, who builds and races sprint boats, the 12- to 14-foot jet-powered craft that can run in inches of water and turn on the proverbial dime.
"Doug got two or three boats for us to demo," Nightingale said, "but a video did it. They saw that video and their mouths dropped open and they decided that was what they wanted."
That was about the time the three men found out who they were dealing with -- Simon Crane of EON Productions, the stunt coordinator for "Titanic." And "Saving Private Ryan." Not to mention "Braveheart," the "Alien" movies and a couple of other 007 adventure flicks, "GoldenEye" and "Tomorrow Never Dies."
They were just nice, friendly people, Nightingale said. Except when it came to discussing deadlines. "They made it very clear to us that price wasn't the most important thing in this business dealing, but if you told them it was going to be ready at a certain time, it better be ready at that time."
They said an hour of down time cost them $35,000, said Darell Bentz, president of the company. The men agreed it was an opportunity they couldn't afford to pass up.
"But how in the world are we going to do it?" Nightingale asked. "I don't know, man," Riddle responded. They came up with a price. "We didn't think there was a chance they would take it, but they did," Nightingale said.
On top of that, Crane offered both men jobs on the set. Nightingale declined, staying behind to complete construction. Riddle went to London, returning last week from his second two-week stint of teaching four stunt drivers about the boats and keeping them running.
"They got the best in the industry," Nightingale said. "For what they need, Doug's the specialist."
Riddle declined to say how much he's being paid, but it's peanuts compared to what the others there are getting, he said, appearing unconcerned. "I probably would have gone for half the money just to get to go." When he left England last week, Riddle said, the stuntmen were trying to figure out how to make the sprint boats do a barrel roll, land on their bottoms, and keep going.
The boats are fantastic little craft, but he's not sure they're that good. He was asked if he wanted to do some driving. "After seeing what they want done, I said no." "That's saying quite a bit," Bentz added, given some of Riddle's own exploits.
Pierce Brosnan, star of the last two James Bond movies as well as this one, doesn't do much of the driving, and won't do any of the stunts, Riddle said.
One boat was almost destroyed in practice runs on a small lake where a ramp and landing area were built of gravel, dirt, tires and cardboard boxes covered with plastic sheeting. "Sometimes it lands upside down, just skidding on its roll bar," Riddle said.
The boats' design was modified for the stunts. The delta pad on the bottom was widened to increase stability and add some weight for the jumps and flips, bracing was beefed up to handle the bumps, the engine was covered and the cockpit reduced to a single seat.
Only six of the 15 boats are fully operational -- meaning they have motors, instrumentation, and that kind of stuff. The others are essentially identical hulls to be tested, blown up and crashed.
In one scene, a boat is placed on a huge framework with an air cannon. The boat is pulled back and shot through the air. Riddle says he doesn't know what happens next.
The script actually calls for only one boat, not a whole fleet, and it's piloted by the good guy -- Bond. The scene is about 10 minutes long. The movie boat will be barely recognizable as the silvery metal craft leaving the Lewiston boat yard. Special effects at Pinewoods Studio in London is putting on a new superstructure outfitted with missiles, rocket launchers and other weaponry.
Nightingale and Riddle borrowed some of the best boat builders they could from other manufacturers in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley and put everyone on 14- to 16-hour shifts, seven days a week, to make delivery on time. The first four boats went out on schedule, loaded into special crates and trucked to Seattle, where they were put on a cargo plane and flown to London at a cost of $25,000 just for the freight.
The last four will go out Monday, only they will go by truck and rail to Montreal, then on a seven-day cruise to England, to the River Thames in downtown London. The boat builders decline to discuss too many details. "We're bound to secrecy," Nightingale said.
The truth, Riddle said, is that he's read a lot of the script but can't tell much about the plot because there's so much action. Again, according to an Internet site, the plot may deal with Bond's attempts to protect the daughter of a murdered tycoon while trying to defuse a nuclear bomb in the Millennium Dome in London on New Year's Eve 1999 while the dome is filled with politicians, stars and the world's most important people. It also may include a three-mile chase on the Thames.
It is scheduled to be released in November. The daughter is played by Sophie Marceau ("Braveheart"), the arch villain and recurring nemesis Valentin Zukovsky by Robbie Coltrane ("GoldenEye"), the new "Bond girl" by Denise Richards ("Starship Troopers"). Others, according to Riddle and the 'Net, are Dame Judi Dench back as M and Samantha Bond as Moneypenny.
Riddle, however, hasn't done a lot of hobnobbing with stars. "You stand around all day, or a lot of it, and you think the day is over and you have to work half the night to get ready for the next day." There's a lot of pressure on people to get things done right. The sprint boats have exceeded all expectations, he said. But the big Fiberglas boat used in a chase scene is constantly breaking down and failing to meet the schedule.
Other scenes will use a new Year 2000 model BMW being assembled in the film crew's special effects shop with materials supplied by BMW, and a snowmobile with an airboat fan mounted on the back plus a parasail that gives it flying capability.
They all have guns and missiles and other weapons attached in various locations. "It's totally way out action," Riddle said. The movie could be a boost for sprint boating as a sport, the trio hopes. "A lot of people don't realize what the little boat will do," Nightingale said. "They don't think it can do this."
They've had a few second thoughts about the unwise attempting some of the movie stunts, but consider it's probably not likely. "James Bond movies are a little bit surreal," Bentz said. And some of the things in the movie, like the barrel roll, "that's not quite suicide, but it's getting up there."
The One Eye Browed Man
