Aaron Paul on 'Breaking Bad' Sequel & Crashing Cars in NEED FOR SPEED
- Details
- Category: Interviews
- Published: Monday, 10 March 2014 09:51
- Written by Ethan Falk
Aaron Paul talks Breaking Bad sequel and driving some of the most expensive cars in the world and crashing them for his new film NEED FOR SPEED.
On March 14th, be prepared to see some of the worlds most valuable classic and exotic cars get destroyed in some gear grinding races and breathtaking stunts. Based on the 4 billion dollar video game franchise, the upcoming Need For Speed movie will make you car enthusiasts cringe considering the film was shot using absolutely no CGI! In fact, a beautiful 68’ Gran Torino even sacrificed its life for the film. Not to worry though, most of these cars survived the abuse since they were in the experienced hands of director Scott Waugh (Act of Valor) and his good friend/stunt coordinator, Lance Gilbert (Titanic), who treated these vehicles less like machines and more like works of art. Cinemovie got the chance to sit down and chat with the NEED FOR SPEED stunt guys and leading man Aaron Paul (two-time Emmy winner for Breaking Bad). Aaron also gave us the scoop on the highly anticipated sequel to Breaking Bad, "Better Call Saul."
After his monumental role as Jessie Pinkman on AMC’s Breaking Bad, Paul was thrilled to make his transition to film while following in the footsteps of greats like Steve McQueen and Gene Hackman. Paul jumped on board this project as the final season of Breaking Bad was wrapping. In fact, the day after shooting ended for the show, he began training for Need for Speed. Since the actor had to do a lot of his own driving sequences, he took a three-day stunt course at a track outside of L.A. Paul also knew he had to gain 30-35 pounds to play the role of Tobey Marshall, so he was determined to relinquish the emaciated and tormented Jessie Pinkman from his psyche and embark on a new leg of his career.
“I was doing such heavy stuff for so long. After Breaking Bad I wanted to jump into something that was lighter and fun. It was a blast.”
The film’s director Scott Waugh and stunt coordinator Lance Gilbert both come from a long lineage of stunt performers. The two of them have been involved in stunts their whole lives so they wanted to pay homage to the classic car movies like Bullit and The French Connection. They felt that the best way to achieve this would be to practically execute all stunts using absolutely no CG.
“I feel like its become a lost art form in cinema," said Waugh. "We all now relying on computer generated effects to do things that I don’t even understand why we’re doing anymore”.
Once Ford Motors caught word of the movie, they set out to design a car that would be the film’s hero car. They brought to life a special Need for Speed edition Mustang based on the 2013 Shelby GT500. In addition to the Mustang, some of the other muscle cars built and restored for the film are the ’68 Chevy Camero, a ’66 Pontiac GTO, and the ’69 Gran Torino, which was the favorite among both Paul and Waugh. The two are still play-fighting over who gets to keep the Torino. As far as the super-cars in the movie are concerned, the team used high-end kit cars designed like the originals to execute the dangerous stunts. Waugh rationalized why he kept the multi-million dollar super cars out of harms way.
“They’re like art pieces to me. The Elemento…..There’s only three in the world. Why would you wreck one for a movie and only have two left?”
Aaron Paul concluded the interview by giving us some quality information about Better Call Saul, the highly anticipated sequel to arguably one of the best shows of all time.
“Better Call Saul has gotten a straight pickup instantly for 24 episodes. They're shooting in Albuquerque on the same stages they shot Breaking Bad on. Will Jessie Pinkman be in it?
"I hope so. I definitely would love to do it. Vince and I have talked about it. If that’s going to be a little cameo or something more, I don’t know. It will definitely be in his lighter days. It will be nice to play that not so tortured.”
NEED FOR SPEED races to theaters March 14th.