Movie stunt firm works on Skyfall
Bickers Action, a father and son business, has been involved in many major Hollywood films. Including the lastest Bond film Pictured: Son, Paul Bickers who is now the manager
A Coddenham stunt engineering firm has played a crucial role in James Bond’s latest blockbuster, Skyfall.
Paul Bickers, 45, runs Bickers Action, a company specialising in stunt engineering work, preparing vehicle mounted camera rigs used to film car and motorbike action sequences.
The business was set up in 1976 by Paul’s father Dave, 74, a former motor cycle scrambler who worked as stunt rider in Escape to Athena, starring Roger Moore.
But it was on another Roger Moore film, 007’s 13th outing, Octopussy, that kick-started the company’s long running association with the Bond franchise.
Since then, the company has provided equipment for many of Bond’s adventures including Never Say Never Again, Goldeneye and The World is not Enough.
And Paul said business was booming as more and more movies were being filmed in the UK.
He said: “Four years ago most of our work came from TV.
“But recently our business has doubled in size mainly down to big movies being filmed here in Britain.
“It has been an exciting experience working on Skyfall. We worked with Daniel Craig in Turkey during a motorbike scene and some scenes in London. He was towed on one of our quad bikes with a camera attached to the front.
“I haven’t seen the movie yet, I probably only watch about three films a year – and if I do I usually skip to the making of documentary.”
But Paul said one of the most exciting stunts he had worked on was guiding a rocket powered mini down a ski jump as part of BBC’s Top Gear.
He said: “It was probably not the most technical job but it was pretty scary working on a big ski ramp. But it worked great – the mini flew down the ski jump and landed perfectly at the bottom.”
Paul is currently working on movies including Fast and Furious 6 and Red 2 with Bruce Willis and Catherine Zeta Jones.
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