Interview Chris Corbould 007’s special effects guru

Interview

You might not know Chris Corbould by name, but you certainly know his work. With more than four decades of special effects experience under his belt, Corbould has left his mark on the likes of The Who’s Tommy (his first industry gig), Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy (where he helped develop the Tumbler, among other things), and the James Bond franchise, including the latest installment, No Time to Die (his 15th Bond film to date).

As the movie’s special effects and action vehicle supervisor, Corbould and his team were responsible for bringing the action sequences to life on the big screen. We spoke with Corbould, who shared his thoughts on No Time to Die, the new Land Rover Defender, and his past Bond work.

How was it working with the new Land Rover Defender? It was an interesting exercise because Jaguar Land Rover really had to pull out all the stops to

007’s Vehicle E ects Guru

They’re built really well and handled the terrain fantastically. When we do the filming, we actually have to disable a lot of the safety things to get it to work. Otherwise, we would probably never be able to do what we wanted to in the film if the safety features were all on. So we had to work with Jaguar Land Rover and turn certain safety features off just so we could achieve what we wanted to.

get the vehicles ready for our shooting schedule. I think we had eight Defenders in the end. There was a pretty brutal shoot in the field that really put the Defenders through their paces, going down the steep hills and through rivers and through bogs and jumping.

E A G M I E R I W / D N A L S R A M E K I M

What specific modifications were done

to the vehicles? We got involved with the stunt requirements, which were the roll cages, the hydraulic hand brakes that you have to put in, the fire extinguishers, the small fuel tanks.

How did the Defenders fare through

filming? Oh, they were actually amazing.

Which Bond film was the most challenging

for you? There’s no such thing as an easy Bond film, but a particularly challenging one was the chase on the ice lake in Die Another Day. When we first got into production, I immediately talked with the second-unit director and said, “Look, I think we both agree that we need the fourwheel-drive versions of [these cars]. ”

I went down to the Aston Martin factory and said, “We would love to use Vanquish; can we have the four-wheeldrive versions?” And they said, “You could if we had one. ” And it was the same story at Jaguar. They had no four-wheeldrive version of the XKR. So we ended up adapting four Aston Martin Vanquishes and four Jaguar XKRs—modified the front ends—and made our own four-wheeldrive cars.

What’s one of the stranger moments in

your career? The tank chase in GoldenEye originally started off as a bike chase. And I got called into the producer’s office one day with the director, and they asked me, “Chris, how can we improve this bike chase?” And I said, “Well, how can you? Get rid of it. Put him in something else. He’s in a military park. Why can’t he get in a tank?” That whole sequence spurred from that one conversation.

Has your job affected your own car-buying

habits? Not at all, really. I’ve got three tractors at home, and I’ve got a pickup, and I’ve got a Brabus Smart car. I love my tractors. I know that sounds really weird, but when I’ve had a really hard day at work, to go out on the tractor on a lovely summer’s evening and drive around and do stuff—that’s my world. Greg Fink

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T E N O T O . H P D A W / N O D A W S E V E S T

Rest in peace, John Lamm

But first, a correction:

On page 42 of our December 2020 issue (SUV of the Year), we mistakenly published a photo of the Audi SQ7’s interior instead of the BMW X6’s. Apologies to Audi for mistaking its interior for the Bimmer’s. BMW—you’re welcome.

Reactions to Car of the Year

Starting in 2009, your COTY winners have included everything from a Nissan GT-R to a Tesla Model S to the Corvette. And since that time, I have owned or leased nothing but new Mercedes-Benz E-Classes. I am on my fifth, a 2020 E 350 4Matic. Having owned several brands before and having other brands in the family now, I couldn’t agree more with your assessment that “this is a car I could happily drive every day for years on end. ” Throughout these years, BMW owners told me my Benzes were just not engaging enough. Audi owners said they had better interiors. Lexus drivers ranted how they have infinitely more standard features. My answer was always the same: The E-Class isn’t the best at just one thing—rather, it’s great at everything. Glad you guys agree.

Asya Domashitsky

Brooklyn, New York Just got the 2021 COTY issue in the mail (yep, still doing that), and at first my reaction was, “Really? This super plain-looking Benz won?” Mercedes-Benz, in my honest opinion, has not exactly been a leader in advancing design, safety, or performance. It does all those things well, but it’s conservative in its approach. Again, just my opinion. Who was Mercedes up against?

So I bit, thumbed through the pages, and then I saw it. I saw what would have led me to give a nod to the E-Class for COTY. No, it most definitely was not the E 450 sedan cover car. I gazed my eyes on the Mercedes-AMG E 63 wagon. That’s what you should have led with. Wagons are awesome, and Mercedes has the ace up its sleeve in that it’s the only one with three rows [on the E 450 All-Terrain—Ed.]. I’m not sure why others don’t add such an awesome feature.

Is this wagon perfection? No, but it’s pretty close. The only shortcoming (other than the price of entry) is the lack of a manual transmission. Then it would be one of the most perfect vehicles on the road. Come on, who wouldn’t want a 603-hp, 11-second station wagon?

Finally, the Car That Most Looks Like a Beaver Award goes to the BMW 4 Series. Really, someone approved that design?

Ray Polakowski

Metuchen, New Jersey Any explanation of the acceleration difference between the Cadillac CT4 and the CT4-V? The less powerful engine is quicker to 60 mph and to the quarter mile. Perhaps the AWD provides a better launch, but you would think by the end of the quarter mile the CT4-V would at least close the gap. Unless you are a regular track user, is the V worth the extra money?

John E. Greene

Via Email The difference really boils down to the AWD car’s better launch. Despite the CT4-V being slower in a straight line, we all vastly preferred the way it drove. We’d spend the money on the V upgrade. —Ed.

Everyone’s a critic

In this time of isolation, I feel I need to reach out to my fellow car enthusiasts and vent some thoughts on Car of the Year.

Porsche Taycan: great rear fenders, lovely roofline, unfortunately ruined by tears-of-a-clown headlights and the stubby front end. BMW 4 Series: The bucktoothed grille is just plain hideous. Ugliest car on the market. BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe: Jakey likey. Gorgeous inside and out. Genesis (model not important): It looks like those anonymized cars they use in tire and floormat ads. The rear end seems like a throwback to Lincolns of the early ’90s. Polestar 2: It looks like a chunky, high-riding Dodge Avenger. Not exactly worthy of Thor’s hammer.

Elsewhere in the issue, the Maserati MC20 has me carefully reviewing my list of get-rich-quick schemes (again).

There! I feel better now. Don’t you? Thanks for another great issue!

Jake Murdock

Salt Lake City, Utah

Reader on location

This month’s reader on location is airline pilot Larry Wolf of Wyoming, Ohio—one of the many essential workers keeping the world going as we battle the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s what he had to say from a recent layover in Australia: “I’d love to send you a beautiful picture of your magazine in front of the Sydney Opera House or on

Bondi Beach, but I’m quarantined in the hotel. I flew the jet in today and leave tomorrow and get a police escort from my room to the bus to the airport. Such is the world in the crazy times of COVID for airline pilots. Glad I had your magazine to read cover to cover in my hotel room. ” Thanks for all that you do, Larry!

Rest in Peace, John Lamm

It was with a great deal of sadness that I learned of the untimely passing of John Lamm. When I was the technical editor of MotorTrend in 1973 and ’74, I had the distinct pleasure of working with John for an entire year. John left MotorTrend in late 1974 to go to Road & Track. I left about the same time to go to law school, after doing a review of a 1974 911 Carrera. We had to borrow the 911 from Beverly Hills Porsche-Audi because the factory had none available for our review, and after, I reached the conclusion that I had to have a job where I could own one of those. To this day, I consider John to be one of the top automotive photographers in the world, as well as a truly nice guy.

I would regularly curse John when he made me get up at 5 in the morning to shoot photos on Mulholland Drive or some other exotic locale because of his insistence on getting the early morning light.

I well remember attending the long lead previews with John in 1974, at GM’s Milford Proving Ground and Chrysler’s Chelsea Proving Ground, where he would shoot from early morning until 10 a.m., and then from 3 p.m. until he lost the sun, because his oft-repeated adage was that only mad dogs, Englishmen, and bad photographers go out in the noonday sun. He was a stickler for perfect lighting, and he worked diligently when he found it, as is evidenced by his photos.

John will be greatly missed, but fortunately, he left a legacy of fabulous photographs, as well as his articles traveling the world with his good friend Phil Hill. I would suggest that MT should honor John by printing a collection of his photos.

John R. Fuchs

Pacific Palisades, California