'No Time To Die' Motorcycle Stunt Sprayed Street With 8,400 Gallons Of Coca-Cola, Presumably Shaken, Not Stirred
Even though Tom Cruise and the Mission: Impossible franchise have become known for their death-defying practical stunts, Daniel Craig and the James Bond franchise have staged their fair share of cinematic mayhem. In fact, one particular No Time to Die stunt during the film's production in Matera, Italy required a city street to be sprayed with 8,400 gallons of Coca-Cola, and it's not even an egregious piece of production placement where James Bond crashes into a Coca-Cola truck.
Total Film Magazine (via IndieWire) learned that Daniel Craig and stunt coordinator Lee Morrison (who have collaborated on all the 007 movies since Casino Royale) came up with a stunt that required a rather unorthodox safety precaution. In the movie, there's a motorcycle jump where James Bond uses the vehicle to ramp up the side of an archway onto a cobblestone street. You can see the stunt in question towards the end of the most recently released trailer (starting around 2:05).
Because cobblestone streets can be slippery, especially when trying to land a motorcycle on them, the street had to be sprayed with 8,440 gallons of Coca-Cola in order to make the street sticky enough to assist the stuntman in the landing and attempt to prevent any accidents.
Morrison explained: "I spent nearly €60,000 spraying Coca-Cola around Matera. I've been spraying Coca-Cola on slippery surfaces for a very long time...[It] makes things look very clean after it washes off." For those wondering, €60,000 translates to $70,691 worth of Coca-Cola. That sounds like a considerably expense, but with an overall budget of $250 million, it's just a drop in the bucket.
Honestly, I wish there was some kind of practical explanation for Coca-Cola being sprayed on the Italian street. But then again, you probably won't even be able to notice that there's Coca-Cola on the streets because it'll be dry and sticky. Even in some footage of the stunt being performed, captured by residents in Matera, it doesn't even look like the streets have been sprayed with anything.
Will Coca-Cola be thanked with some nice product placement? The James Bond franchise has seen plenty of brand partnerships with rather shameless appearances in the movies, so it wouldn't be surprising. But unfortunately, we'll be waiting until April 2, 2021 before we find out, since that's what No Time to Die is now slated to arrive in theaters thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. Maybe we'll get some James-Bond themed Coca-Cola jelly beans for Easter weekend.