Beyond actors, directors or screenwriters, the film industry has a large number of professionals who make everything we see on screen possible. “People are not aware of the work behind a film,” says Jordi Nebot, who went from being an audiovisual producer to becoming a film conducting specialist; also called stunt drivers.
Acrobats and precision drivers, they are the ones in charge of action scenes on wheels, such as police chases, exploding buses or dangerous motorcycle races. “In the cinema everything must be done to the millimeter,” they point out from the TyreAction website, a company founded by Nebot to provide stage vehicles and specialists for films, television, advertisements or video clips.
“We just made Iron Hand (Lluís Quílez, 2024) and its various chases,” says Nebot, who currently works as coordinator of action scenes with vehicles. “We have to adapt the specialist to the physical form of the performer, in this case Jaime Llorente or Chino Darín, so that the viewer believes that it is the actor who performs those maneuvers.” Likewise, from TyreAction they have also worked on The Body on Fire, Bird Box or My Solitude Has Wings, they have collaborated during the filming in Barcelona of Who is Erin Carter? and have provided stage vehicles to international productions such as Terminator. We spoke with Jordi Nebot to get closer to one of the most interesting and least known professions in the industry.
Why did you choose this profession?
Before this, I was already dedicated to audiovisual production. The thing is that he had always been involved in the world of motors and racing. Let’s say that I had a busy youth and, in the absence of companies that managed this sector correctly, I decided that I had what it took to do it myself, so I took the plunge. I have been making it more and more professional and right now we must be the number one company in Spain.
In addition to TyreAction, you have founded a school of specialists. What is the training of a good stunt driver in Spain?
We are not the usual specialist who jumps off a balcony. We specialize in driving and no one else in Spain teaches this. I started the training of stunt drivers, which is their nomenclature, by creating a school just to teach this type of profession: driving cars and motorcycles in movies.
There are many road safety courses, but not on the maneuvers that a script requires. These courses serve to teach you how not to let your car go, but we teach how to let it go and, once it is gone, how to control it. That’s what they can ask for in a movie.
What type of training do new driving specialists receive?
The main thing is to control the car 100%, that you feel it and that it is part of you. Once this tune is established, we teach slightly more aggressive maneuvers. There is a spectacular one called “The Smuggler”, which consists of going backwards, skidding and, while skidding, turning; and, without braking, you go forward and escape. It is called that because it is used a lot when you are a thief and they come to arrest you.
Then, we also learn how to skid park or put the car on two wheels. We have to be versatile because they can ask us for anything. Making a movie about El Vaquilla with a 124 on the ground is not the same as making Fast
As a stuntman, what is your experience filming stunt scenes?
Wonderful. This experience has made me very serious and focused, but I enjoy it like a little child. For anyone who likes cars and movies, it is their dream job.
And the action, and the risk…
Yes Yes. The truth is that you have to have things very clear. People call us a little crazy because we do what we do, but it’s the other way around. We have control over the vehicle and know-how that others do not have. Any driver you may encounter on the road is much more dangerous than being with us on a shoot doing a chase at 120 km/h through the city. In a film nothing is casual and everything is much more controlled.
What is the craziest scene you have ever had to shoot?
I would say one of Three meters above the sky (Fernando González Molina, 2010). There is a moment in which Mario Casas gets angry with the girl, takes her motorcycle and speeds off furiously. The fact is that he goes without a helmet. So I had to put the bike at about 160 km/h, without a helmet, through the Rondas de Barcelona. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever done.
Furthermore, it is a film in which Hache’s (Mario Casas) motorcycle has a great weight.
Yes, this was one of the first roles I did when I started. Mario Casas, evidently, did not do everything we saw when he was on a motorcycle. He recorded himself when he arrived, at the end, when he took off his helmet, but the rest of the time we were two specialists; among them, me. We did all the races and actions in the movie.
You currently work as a vehicle stunt coordinator, right?
Yes. I’m old enough, I have children and I’ve gone down three gears. Although, in reality, I have never stopped being a specialist. I do it occasionally, if an actor matches my characteristics and there is no one else. You can’t dedicate yourself every day to being a specialist. Unfortunately, the film industry in Spain is more limited than that of the United States.
Now I coordinate, plan security and choreography. In addition to coordinating the specialists, I have vehicles that carry the cameras and I synchronize the entire chase so that the director has the images he is looking for with the maximum possible security and action.
What aspects should you take into account to coordinate all these elements?
Safety is what matters. The director always asks us for more and I am a bit of a firewall because I know the reality of vehicles and the damage they can do. A two-ton trailer can kill someone if it is not properly controlled.
And how do you take care of your own safety inside the car?
This comes from experience. When we have accidents, controlled by us, the car’s own safety systems can cause harm. I mean the seat belt or the airbag. That’s why we disconnect them.
Then, we have to see what kind of accident we are going to have. A head-on collision is not the same as overturning the car. Depending on the demands of the script, we prepare the vehicle more or less or install certain safety systems, such as bars if the car is going to roll over. What is clear is that the medical health systems, the firefighters, must always be there.
Is there any film in which you would have liked to participate as a specialist?
Really if. I have the regret of not having done Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015). One of the actions of that film had to come to be filmed in Spain and they approached me about it, but due to political agreements, they finally went to work in Casablanca (Morocco). I would have liked it even more than Fast
Would you say that it is a profession with sufficient visibility within the film industry?
Within the industry, yes. We are an essential figure because without the vehicles they would not be able to roll sometimes. Furthermore, we make good friendships with the actors because, in the end, we are their right hand; and, without saying it directly, we are protecting them.
However, outside the industry this is not the case. Sometimes I explain to people what I do and they have no idea. Although they do know who is in charge of the sound or the cameraman, the stunt coordinator is a figure that stays there, they do not know what he is. Many times, they are not aware of all the work behind a film.
