No Bull: James Mangold Finds a New Stunt for “Knight and Day”

In a world of seen-it-before chase sequences, filmmakers have to jump on the opportunity to take on a stunt that's never been done before.

For "Knight and Day" director James Mangold, this inspiration came to him after much perspiration. The idea came in the night -- a chase scene which happens to cross paths with the running of the bulls in Seville, Spain.

But first he had to make sure it was truly fresh material.

"I woke up in the middle of the night and thought of this," Mangold tells Popcorn Biz. "The first thing you do is start running to people going, 'Alright, this has to have been done before. There's no way this hasn't been done before.' "

"But it seemed like I had not seen it before."

Mangold's research proved no such bull/human/speeding vehicle intersection. An idea was spawned.

"Before that we were sitting there before going, nope can't do that, that's been done. And then it was bulls: never done," says Mangold. "It just seemed fun."

Then comes the other hard part. Setting up the complicated stunt, with live bulls, speeding vehicles and the world's biggest movie star in Tom Cruise. Was it a nightmare or a challenge? "Both," says Mangold. "It's just a lot of planning."

Importantly, none of the cast or crew fell victim to a bull's horn -- despite some misleading headlines during the setup for the stunt.

"Before the main unit even got to Spain, there was some incident where this bull wandered out of a fenced area and looked (bored) down the street and a woman walked out of the supermarket, freaked out and fell down and bruised her hips," says Mangold.

"It literally created headlines around the world," he laughs. "Bull knocks over woman. It didn't happen."

As for the stunt, viewers can judge for themselves when the movie opens June 23.

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