The Bullitt Page

"Sheryl Crow as Frank BULLITT"

© David Kunz, Wolfgang Kohrn 2002

1. David Kunz is indeed 6'6" tall vs her 5'2". But who wants to know how tall he is looking at this scenario with Sheryl Crow?

David had another great day with his BULLITT replica, when he was called for a video of Sheryl Crow. I guess there are only few, who would not have liked to replace David at this film set on Sunday, 19th. of May 2002. Read on for his report:



1. Stunt double Jennifer Caputo for Sheryl Crow in "stunt car" ('67 Mustang w/ roll cage, etc.). Camera and operator are seen in back seat.


2. Interior of stunt car showing dual controls.


3. S.C. getting ready for downhill shots with stuntman in passenger seat.


4. Me giving Sheryl a run-through before she drives my car for the low-speed lip sync shots.

"Hi guys, spent my whole Sunday on the set of Sheryl Crow's video for her latest song, 'Steve McQueen'. It's on her new album, and seems to be the next single. They have her riding a motorcyle like in "The Great Escape"; driving a GT-40 (?) at Willow Springs raceway to simulate "LeMans"; and the best part, being chased by NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr in a Bullitt Mustang.
The production company slapped together a car starting with a red '67 fastback, gutting the interior and welding in a cage and other reinforcements. There were duplicate controls on the right side where a stunt driver handled the car while Sheryl "rode" in the driver's seat. There were also some shots where a top female stunt driver (wearing a blonde wig) did some drive-by shots while another stunt driver (doubling for Earnhardt) wheeled the '69 Camaro (a phony Yenko 427). By Earnhardt's contract, he cannot be seen driving anything but a Chevrolet, otherwise they would have used a Charger.
My replica was hired for the day to be the "beauty car," as the "stunt car" was pretty rough, even from several feet away. They did ask in advance if Sheryl could drive my car at low speeds, which I agreed to. Before that happened, the stunt coordinator asked if I would be able to do some medium-speed driving shots with Earnhardt chasing me down a long hill near the area of Los Angeles where Dodger stadium is located. I agreed, and with a camera pointed over Dale's shoulder we weaved our way down the hill, snaking around some old cars driven by other stunt drivers. And yes, we zoomed past a green VW! Don't know if you'll be able to see me in my car, but they put the wig on me just in case. We did two takes, and on the second one I managed to hang the tail out a little as Dale took a narrower line for the turn.



5&6. Stunt man spinning car from passenger side while Sheryl C. hangs out window (to duplicate McQueen's reverse burnout).

The entire production then moved over to the steeper hill on Baxter Street. The crew rigged up two ramps on the cross street, Apex, and put the wig on the main veteran stuntman. With everyone cleared out of the way, he hit the ramps at about 40 mph and that Mustang sailed through the air in a most graceful way. VERY hard landing, but straight and the stuntman was fine. The same could not be said for the '67 Mustang, which cracked its shock towers and bent slightly in the middle. Something was also punctured underneath, as there was a huge puddle underneath the car where it came to a rest at the bottom of the hill.



7&8. Sheryl Crow and Jennifer Caputo as stunt double posing with my car (dubbed "beauty car" on the set to differentiate from stunt car) for a photographer from Esquire magazine


The last shot of the day was my personal favorite. A light was rigged on my hood (while I carefully watched that the crew laid down plenty of padding) and a camera was set on the passenger door so Sheryl could lip-sync to the song while driving. A camera operator was wedged in the back of the car and with a police escort, we were off for some laps around Silverlake. I had to brief Sheryl on the car, and she was very nice. She was very much aware of the fact that it was my personal car, not one that's just hired out for these things.

She only stalled it once, but I was following along in a van with the director. She got it restarted pretty quickly, while the motorcylce officer held traffic to make sure there were no other cars in harm's way.
We returned back to base, and Sheryl thanked my for allowing her to drive the car, then gladly signed my door jamb and posed for a photo with me.


9. Sheryl gladly signing my door jamb at the end of the shoot.


10. This is the stunt car after the jump. Note the original red colour where the rocker cover fell off.

This video should be pretty cool. Not sure how much of the Bullitt stuff they're going to use, but should be at least a third of the song. There were several cameras shooting the jump, including one mounted beneath the ramps. The video can be "seen" in a smal size/low resolution format at the official Sheryl Crow fan site www2.fanscape.com or at Jamey Adams site http://mufftang66.20m.com
A much better full-size version is available here at Todd Hill's site


Back to Bullitt main page