The Stunt Master

When the precursor of Lights, Motors, Action!, Moteurs... Action! Stunt Show Spectacular, opened at Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris, nothing like it had ever been done before. In order to bring the appropriate level of thrills, credibility and safety to the production, Disney's Imagineers partnered with legendary French stunt coordinator Rémy Julienne (photo below ©Le Post/Tony Frank). Since the 1960s, Julienne has created memorable stunts for films ranging from the original The Italian Job (1969) to The Da Vinci Code (2006).

Rémy is perhaps best known for his work on several of the James Bond films, including For Your Eyes Only, The Living Daylights and GoldenEye. It's no coincidence that the faux film shoot that's part of the show bears a striking resemblance to a 007 adventure. In fact, had it not been for a contentious relationship between Disney and Bond's home studio of MGM, the park may well have been able to boast a James Bond stunt show.

While the "film" being shot may be generic, the stunts performed are anything but. When the villain cars bump up on two wheels during the show, they're performing a balance routine pioneered in the 1971 Bond outing Diamonds Are Forever.

The prototype cars featured in the show are equipped with a unique gear system, based on a design by Rémy Julienne, allowing the driver to go into reverse regardless of the amount of revolutions per minute. This provides incredible maneuverability in performing stunts like the close encounters in the Ballet Chase.

At the conclusion of each show, the footage from "today's" sequences is edited together with previously shot scenes to give the audience a sense of what the finished film will look like when it all comes together. In that film, the "hero car" is actually driven by Rémy Julienne's nephew. In all, three generations of the Julienne family worked on the show, included Julienne's son Dominique.

The "finished film" that plays on screen as part of the finale of Lights, Motors, Action! is the same one originally shot for the Paris version. The sets for the two shows match almost exactly, although a close observer may be able to pick out some subtle differences.

One thing that's the same, though, whether you see the show in France or Florida, is the pure rush of adrenaline that comes from this high-octane production, one of the most thrillingly realistic stunt spectaculars ever staged.