Days of Thunder
Short description
Days of Thunder follows Cole Trickle, a young driver with natural speed but little experience in stock car racing. Team owner Tim Daland and veteran crew chief Harry Hogge give him a shot in the sport, and he soon becomes a threat on the track. His rise puts him on a collision course with Rowdy Burns, the established star of the series, and their rivalry builds until both men are badly hurt in a serious crash. While recovering, Cole meets Dr. Claire Lewicki, and he later has to fight for his place in the team after a new driver is brought in.
The film is the fifth of sixteen features directed by Tony Scott, coming between Revenge and The Last Boy Scout. Tom Cruise stars as Cole and co-wrote the screenplay with Robert Towne; Robert Duvall plays Hogge, Nicole Kidman plays Claire, and Michael Rooker, Randy Quaid and Cary Elwes appear among a cast of forty credited performers, with eighty-seven credited crew members. Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson produced for Paramount.
Made for around 60 million dollars, it took about 158 million dollars worldwide, a solid return on a large production. On IMDb it holds 6.1 out of 10 from roughly 105,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.4 out of 10 from about 1,800 votes. A critics' score of 5.1 out of 10 from 68 reviews places it below both audience ratings, so the film has found more favour with viewers than with reviewers.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film specifically used footage shot at the 'Daytona 500' (a 500-mile NASCAR Cup Series auto race). At one point, cars driven by Bobby Hamilton (1957-2007) and Tommy Ellis were put on the track; their results were not counted towards the official standings, and they retired after 40 laps. At one point, Dale Earnhardt (1951-2001) even appeared on the track.
- Don Simpson, Jerry Bruckheimer, and occasionally Robert Towne often began shooting days with arguments with director Tony Scott (1944-2012) regarding the filming of a particular scene. The film crew simply sat idle during this time, but were paid for it – sometimes for 20 hours a day. Some members of the film's creative team later said they earned so much overtime that it would have been enough for a four-month vacation after filming.
- Filming took place from December 11, 1989, to May 7, 1990.
- It is claimed that, despite all the shooting delays and overtime, the filmmakers only discovered after completing filming that they had forgotten to shoot the scene of Cole Trickle's car, driven by Tom Cruise, crossing the finish line.
- Greg Saks, a "NASCAR" driver, became Tom Cruise's stunt driver. The actor wanted to drive himself, but the insurance company strictly forbade it. The "Chevrolet" cars were prepared for filming by members of Rick Hendrick's racing team, and some of these cars were subsequently used in actual races. 35 cars were wrecked during filming.
- Filming began before the script was fully completed. It often happened that certain scenes were written and added to the script directly on the day of filming. In one episode, for example, Tom Cruise had to read his lines from cards on the windshield, which even led to a minor car accident. Subsequently, Cruise used an earpiece through which he heard his lines and repeated them.
- The idea for the film came to Tom Cruise (who also became one of the screenwriters) when he and Paul Newman (1925-2008) were allowed to test drive one of Rick Hendrick's racing cars (he is the owner of the 'NASCAR Hendrick Motorsports' team, co-owner of 'JR Motorsports', founder of the 'Hendrick' automotive group, etc.). On the very first lap, Cruise reached a speed exceeding 290 km/h.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
