Ever Wonder How They Did That?

SPEED Debuts New Reality Show that Offers Insight

(ARA) - Remember how in "Die Hard with a Vengence" Bruce Willis repeatedly crashed his commandeered Mercedes-Benz, but it kept on going? Or how about the fabulous shots of Richard Gere behind the wheel of that rare Dusenberg "J" limousine in "The Cotton Club?"

As you were watching those scenes, you may have thought to yourself, "How in the world did they get those shots?" Both scenes were the result movie magic meticulously planned by Gino Lucci and Columbo Saggese, stars of the new SPEED reality series, "Shooting Cars."

Set in New York where their production company, Picture Cars East is based, the show follows Gino, Columbo and their crew as they get cars, trucks, taxis, buses and other vehicles ready for the big screen. The show is the brainchild of Michael Tadross, Jr., a producer at the company Gino and Columbo started up 20 years ago.

"One day as we were chatting, Michael said, 'I have an idea for a reality show. Would you like to show the rest of the world what you do?' I said sure why not and next thing you know, filming was underway," says Lucci.

"Shooting Cars" takes viewers behind the scenes as the crew does everything necessary to get the cars they've been hired to provide ready for a scene, and the process is a lot more involved than you may think. "We take the script, which is the vision of the writer, and make it happen," says Lucci.

If, for example, the script calls for a chase in which the hero's car gets all dented up weaving in and out of traffic, then flies through the air across a ravine to escape the bad guys, it may take 5, 6 or more different cars to get the shots needed. "For each one of the cars involved, we have to build a cage around the driver to protect them, put padding inside, install a special seat, and do specialized suspension work. Then as the scene develops, recreate the blemishes left on the vehicle in the previous shot so it all matches up," says Lucci.

And sometimes the movie's director throws a curve ball at them. "For the movie, 'The Devil Wears Prada,' we had an instance where the film crew just couldn't get the shot of Meryl Streep they wanted through conventional means, which would be removal of the windshield, so we actually ended up sawing a car in half for them," says Lucci.

So far, five episodes of "Shooting Cars" have been completed. More are in the works. To catch the next episode, log on to www.speedtv.com for show times.

Courtesy of ARA Content

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