Rémy Julienne (17 April 1930 – 21 January 2021) was a French driving stunt performer and coordinator, assistant director and occasional actor. He was also a
rallycross champion and 1956 French
motorcross champion.
Early life
Julienne was born in 1930, the son of
café owners in the town of
Cepoy, 110 km south-east of Paris. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, he was dared by children evacuated from
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
to ride a bicycle across the local canal, which inspired him to start riding
motocross.
[
]
Career
In his early 20's Julienne became French motocross champion in 1957,[ which brought him to the attention of eminent stunt co-coordinator Gil Delamare. Through Delamare, Julienne's first screen appearance in 1964 was replacing actor ]Jean Marais
Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais (11 December 1913 – 8 November 1998), known professionally as Jean Marais (), was a French actor, film director, theatre director, painter, sculptor, visual artist, writer and photographer. He performed in over 100 f ...
, and in 1966 he played a German army motorcyclist in '' La Grande Vadrouille''.[
After Delamare's tragic death during a stunt in 1966, Julienne stepped-in and agreed to fulfill contracts Delamare had signed with various film studios. Julienne's scientific approach which created spectacular on-screen images garnered him admiration within the industry in an age before computer modelling. Working initially in French film and TV, and occasional Hollywood films shot in Europe, his developing reputation led to his employment on the British film '' The Italian Job''. Producer ]Michael Deeley
Michael Deeley (born 6 August 1932) is an Academy Award-winning British film producer known for such motion pictures as ''The Italian Job'' (1969), ''The Deer Hunter'' (1978), and ''Blade Runner'' (1982). He is also a founding member and Honora ...
later commented that “During our initial meeting with Rémy, Peter Collinson he film’s directorand I were delighted to discover that he was prepared to take the chase sequence even further than we had envisaged, suggesting a different range of hair-raising stunts that could be written into the script.”[ Julienne planned and co-ordinated all of the vehicle sequences, including the epic ]Mini
The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...
chase sequence through the streets and roof tops of Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...
.[
He resultantly became Hollywood's go-to vehicle stunt coordinator, best publicly known for his stunts on six James Bond films, five of which were directed by John Glen. Julienne became known for Bond sequences which made ordinary cars do extraordinary things, such as the Citroen 2CV in '' For Your Eyes Only'', the Renault 11 in '' A View to a Kill'', and the petrol semi-tanker in '' Licence to Kill'' in which a Kenworth performed a wheelie. "The tanker chase was the most dangerous sequence I ever devised” said Glen, who also noted that Julienne was fastidious in his preparation.][
Julienne was eventually involved in over 1,400 films. His choreographed stunt sequences were usually destructive, with high-speed chases and highly realistic vehicle behaviour. French car manufacturers, notably Renault and Citroën, frequently called on his services for their TV and film commercials, and he had a noted partnership with Italian manufacturer ]Fiat
Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...
in the 1980s.[ In November 2005, Julienne was contracted by French TV station M6 to consult on a French-language remake of the 1970s series '']Starsky and Hutch
''Starsky & Hutch'' is an American action television series, which consisted of a 72-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a ''Movie of the Week'' entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn (inspired by th ...
''.
In 1999 during the filming of '' Taxi 2'', written and produced by Luc Besson
Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed or produced the films ''Subway'' (1985), '' The Big Blue'' (1988), and ''La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Besson is associated with the '' ...
and directed by Gérard Krawczyk
Gérard Krawczyk (17 May 1953, Paris) is a French film director. He is of Polish descent (his grandparents were from Częstochowa).
Filmography Director
* ''Homicide by Night'' (1984)
* ''Je hais les acteurs'' (a.k.a. ''I hate actors'') (1986)
...
, a stunt sequence caused the death of a cameraman Alain Dutartre and the serious injury of the cameraman's assistant. Clearing Besson's firm EuropaCorp of all charges, the Prosecutor held Julienne solely responsible accusing him of "not taking all the necessary measures for the security of the stunt in question" and notably to have "neglected the speed calculations of the car and the length of the jump", handing Julienne an 18-month suspended jail sentence and a €13,000 fine. Julienne appealed, accusing Besson's production company EuropaCorp of taking short cuts in safety equipment, and rejecting Julienne's offers to trial the car scene in question due to cost. The Paris Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal of Paris (french: Cour d'appel de Paris) is the largest appeals court in France in terms of the number of cases brought before it. Its jurisdiction covers the departments of Paris, Essonne, Yonne, Seine-et-Marne, Seine-Saint-D ...
reversed the ruling in June 2009, and ordered EuropaCorp pay €100,000. Julienne's jail sentence was reduced to six months, and his fine reduced to €2,000, but he was required to pay the Dutartre family €50,000 in court costs.
Julienne began a school in France to provide drivers and mechanics with the specialized skills needed for stunt work. He also coordinated the attraction ''Moteurs... Action! Stunt Show Spectacular'' at Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
.
His sons Michel and Dominique are also highly skilled stunt drivers/coordinators, and now run the family business.
Death
Hospitalised in Amilly near Montargis in early January 2021, Julienne died on the evening of 21 January 2021 from COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...
during the COVID-19 pandemic in France.'James Bond' stuntman Remy Julienne dies from coronavirus
/ref>
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Julienne, Remy
1930 births
2021 deaths
Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in France
French motorcycle racers
French racing drivers
French stunt performers
Stunt drivers