Simon Crane

Simon Crane (* 1960 in Twickenham, Middlesex, England) is a British stuntman, stunt co-ordinator and second unit director.

Crane was originally a law student, but not liking it, he dropped out after two years 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 stuntmen fast enough, he became an instructor in three more sports, including hanggliding. [ [http://movies.ign.com/articles/300/300315p1.html Spence D. (6 June, 2001). Interview with Tomb Raider Stunt Coordinator Simon Crane. "movies.ign.com"] (retrieved October 1, 2008)]

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 co-ordinated 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 co-ordinator, Crane was allowed to act as second unit stunt co-ordinator 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 the costliest aerial stunt ever performed. Crane was paid $1 million to perform the aerial transfer scene, where he crossed between two planes at an altitude of 4,572 m (15,000 ft).

In 1995 he became the overall stunt co-ordinator 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 co-ordinated stunts for the Academy-Award winning films "Titanic" (in which he happened to play fourth officer Joseph Boxhall, and only had one line) and "Saving Private Ryan", Crane returned to handle the stunts for "The World Is Not Enough", with Vic Armstrong as second unit director.

Reference

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186426/ profile on IMDB]
* [http://movies.ign.com/articles/300/300315p1.html Interview with "Tomb Raider" Stunt Coordinator Simon Crane on "movies.ign.com"]