Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior Filming Locations
The Cannonball Stunt
Stuntman Guy Norris (left) prepares for the stunt, and Guy Norris later
on, after the stunt.
The Cannonball Stunt was designed to be one of the most
spectacular stunts for Mad Max 2, and it most certainly turned out that way. The set up
for the stunt is the mayhem following Max shooting the driver in the red XA Falcon pursuer, and the subsequent
crash of a buggy, followed by a biker ploughing into that buggy.
The landing site is prepared
The stunt concept itself is fairly simple, although obviously also very dangerous,
and requiring very precise timing. Guy Norris has to ride directly at the crashed buggy,
and then leave the bike only a fraction of a second before impact, sailing through the
air, like being shot out of a cannon, to land safely in the boxes.
Guy Norris leaving the bike
Unfortunately for Guy Norris, the stunt did not go exactly according to plan. He
mis-timed his leap from the bike, leaving a fraction of a second too late, the bike having
already impacted with the buggy. Unfortunately this sent him tumbling end over end,
instead of flying straight as was supposed to happen.
Guy Norris being attended to by George Miller (far right)
and stunt co-ordinator Max Aspin (far left)
On top of this, the impact itself broke Guy's leg. To make matters worse, this same
leg had already been broken before, and already had a metal pin inserted - the force of
the impact actually bent this pin too.
Guy Norris being stretchered away
As soon as the severity of the accident was determined, Guy Norris was obviously
stretchered off to hospital to be attended to. Unfortunatley this meant missing the
remainder of filming, but it was perhaps a small price to pay for giving us one of the
most spectacular stunts ever seen on screen.
To the hospital driver...
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