I just got back from a little event to promote the film Getaway, opening Labor Day. Here's what you need to know about the movie: it was inspired by the incredible, nearly plotless Claude Lelouch short, Rendezvous. Like Rendezvous, it uses no CGI or green screen, and the plot is pretty much worthless.
But it really doesn't matter, because this film is about driving cars in expensive, improbable ways. The lack of a genuine, worthwhile plot isn't my assessment — I haven't seen the movie yet — but is the refreshingly frank opinion of an anonymous person related to the movie and its promotion.
Apparently, the Shelby Super Snake that stars in the movie will have some actors inside of it, Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez. I haven't thought about Ethan Hawke since I rolled my eyes at his inability to say the word "fuck" while singing Violent Femmes in 199whatever's Reality Bites, and I'm still not sure if I even really know who Selena Gomez is.
The general plot is that Hawke is an ex-racing driver who's wife has been kidnapped, and in the sort of logic you only ever see in these inane movies, he has to drive like a loon to somehow save her, and the remote bad guy is watching with all kinds of cameras and cars and screaming and explosions and stuff happens.
Okay, so this molecule-thin plot does provide the means to lots of very intense stunt driving, and the all-real, no-CGI method used is pretty unusual and impressive. They went through 130 cars, one actual Super Snake (the other survived, and is shown here), and eight Mustangs made up to look like Super Snakes.
The director, Courtney Solomon, picked the Shelby for the lead role in the movie because he didn't want anything "too sleek" and he "loved the face of that car." The car has been reinforced and armored to withstand all the abuse, but everything seen on screen actually did happen.
I got to inspect the movie car, and it is satisfyingly beaten-up. There's also a set of Xbox controllers in the doors and a Kinect on the dash, which I thought may be for some remote-driving use, but turned out to be a now-cut minor plot point. So you may never even see the things being used in the movie. Still, interesting.
I can't really say I'm recommending this movie or not — it easily could be horrible. But, any car-chase based movie that shuns CGI and does all real car stunts, with many wrecks, explosions (often from Mountain Dew bottles filled with gas), and some impressive stunt driving is probably at least worth a peek. Even if you have to wear headphones to drown out the dialogue.
Everything You Need To Know About The New Film Getaway