Simon Crane

Simon Crane (born 1960) is a British stuntman, stunt coordinator, second unit director and film director.

Biography

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Born in Twickenham, Middlesex, England. Crane was originally a law student, but not liking it, he dropped out after one year and worked as an acrobat in a circus for three years. To fulfill English requirements for stuntmen to achieve instructor level in six sports, Crane became an instructor in gymnastics, parachuting, scuba diving, high diving, karate, and fencing. When he could not obtain a union card as a stuntman fast enough, he became an instructor in three more sports, including hang gliding.[1] His father, Dr. John Crane, was the doctor for Arsenal F.C. and the England national football team.

Career

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Crane's first major work came in the 1985 Bond film A View to a Kill. In 1987 he became Timothy Dalton's stunt double in The Living Daylights. He also played the character of Che Che in a reenactment of the "gatecrasher" fight scene from On Her Majesty's Secret Service traditionally used to test the fighting skills of actors up for the part of James Bond. Vic Armstrong coordinated the fight. Actors believed to have tested opposite Crane in the screen tests include Mark Greenstreet, Sam Neill and Pierce Brosnan.

After spending five years as the apprentice to an experienced stunt coordinator, Crane was allowed to act as second unit stunt coordinator on Licence to Kill. In 1993, Crane performed the dangerous-looking aerial transfer for the film Cliffhanger, for which he earned an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for being part of the most expensive stunt ever performed. It cost $1 million to have Simon Crane descending on a rope between two planes at an altitude of 4,572 m (15,000 ft).

In 1995 he became the overall stunt coordinator for GoldenEye – the opening bungee jump was voted the greatest film stunt ever in a poll for Sky Movies. After a four-year break from the Bond franchise, during which he coordinated stunts for the Academy Award-winning films Titanic (in which he happened to play fourth officer Joseph Boxhall, and had two lines) and Saving Private Ryan, Crane returned to handle the stunts for The World Is Not Enough, with Vic Armstrong as second unit director.

Crane also took the role of stunt coordinator in Will Smith's Hancock (2008). He was to make his directorial début directing a film adaptation of the popular video game, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men but departed from the project.[2] Crane directed the 3-D supernatural thriller The Peak,[3] which was based on a screenplay from Neal Marshall Stevens[4] and Crane worked with Will Smith again as second unit director and stunt coordinator on Men in Black 3.

Filmography

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Year Title Stunts Second unit director Director
1990 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Yes No Kevin Reynolds
1994 Frankenstein Yes Yes Kenneth Branagh
1995 Braveheart Yes No Mel Gibson
GoldenEye Yes No Martin Campbell
1996 101 Dalmatians Yes No Stephen Herek
1997 Titanic Yes No James Cameron
1998 Saving Private Ryan Yes No Steven Spielberg
1999 The Mummy Yes No Stephen Sommers
The World Is Not Enough Yes No Michael Apted
2000 Vertical Limit Yes Yes Martin Campbell
2001 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Yes Yes Simon West
2002 Enough Yes Yes Michael Apted
2003 Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines Yes Yes Jonathan Mostow
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life Yes Yes Jan De Bont
Beyond Borders Yes Yes Martin Campbell
2004 Troy Yes Yes Wolfgang Petersen
2005 Mr. & Mrs. Smith Yes Yes Doug Liman
2006 X-Men: The Last Stand Yes Yes Brett Ratner
2007 Stardust Yes Yes Matthew Vaughn
2008 Quantum of Solace No Yes Marc Forster
Jumper Yes Yes Doug Liman
Bedtime Stories No Yes Adam Shankman
Hancock Yes Yes Peter Berg
2009 Surrogates No Yes Jonathan Mostow
2011 Your Highness Yes Yes David Gordon Green
In the Land of Blood and Honey Yes Yes Angelina Jolie
2012 Men in Black 3 Yes Yes Barry Sonnenfeld
2013 World War Z Yes Yes Marc Forster
2014 Maleficent Yes Yes Robert Stromberg
Edge of Tomorrow Yes Yes Doug Liman
2016 Jason Bourne No Yes Paul Greengrass
The Huntsman: Winter's War No Yes Cedric Nicolas-Troyan
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Yes Yes Gareth Edwards
2018 Robin Hood Yes No Otto Bathurst
2019 Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw Yes Yes David Leitch
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil Yes Yes Joachim Rønning
2020 Dolittle Yes Yes Stephen Gaghan
2021 Chaos Walking Yes Yes Doug Liman
Infinite Yes Yes Antoine Fuqua

Actor:

References

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  1. ^ Spence D. (June 6, 2001). "Interview with Tomb Raider Stunt Coordinator Simon Crane". IGN. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  2. ^ "Report: Kane & Lynch Movie Loses Director".
  3. ^ "Horror Vet Takes Us to 'The Peak' of Terror in 3D".
  4. ^ "Horror at Its Peak in 3D".
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