The Art of Racing in the Rain: From the Circuit to the Set
- Interview with Will Turner
Turner Motorsport Racing is proud to announce that the Turner M4GT4 is featured in the upcoming Disney film, The Art of Racing in the Rain; based on the book by Garth Stein. The movie is set to release on August 9th, and stars Milo Ventimiglia, Amanda Seyfried, Gary Cole, Kathy Baker, Ryan Keira Armstrong, Martin Donovan and the voice of Kevin Costner. The Turner repair shop and racing team participated in two separate shoots for the movie - learn more by reading Will's interview below!
In 2010 Garth Stein’s he Art of Racing in the Rain joined The New York Times’ elite Bestseller’s list for fiction, and stayed on the list for 153 weeks. For years, there have been rumors of turning the book into a movie – and this August; car enthusiasts, dog lovers, and everyone in between will line up to see the film adaptation featuring a stellar cast and the appearance of a familiar BMW M4. Turner Motorsport’s #96 M4 GT4 will spend roughly five minutes on screen with the iconic yellow and blue livery bearing the name of the team’s owner and founder, Will Turner. Eagle-eyed viewers will spot Will himself in the film, but his involvement in bringing the adaptation to film won’t be so obvious. To get that inside-look beyond his screen time, we sat down with Will Turner to hear how he helped make Racing in the Rain come to life.
Ten years ago, when the book was first released, Will’s mother called him to recommend it. She, familiar with Will’s racing career, recognized instant similarities between Denny, the protagonist, and her son. Will picked up the book and read it on her advice. He enjoyed it, but with his focus on his growing race team, he didn’t put much more thought into the book until March of 2018. It was then, in the pits at Sebring, that Will was approached by another legend, Patrick Dempsey, who mentioned that he had a project in the works that could be a good fit for Will and the Turner Racing team.
In April, Patrick reached back out to Will to let him know that they were working on filming The Art of Racing in the Rain;, and that he felt the Turner Motorsport BMW could be the perfect ‘Hero Car’ for the film.
The car Will had in mind for the movie was his BMW M4 GTS. Since Rain is loosely about the race that elevated Denny to his professional career, the GS-class car was perfect for the movie. With that class as the last stop before a Pro-Am driver turns Pro, Will’s M4 would be a realistic choice.
After those initial conversations, things progressed quickly. Producers met with Will at a race, where they talked about their vision for the movie and outlined their equipment needs. Will agreed and was asked to bring his trailer, some team members, his car, and all their equipment.
They showed up in Vancouver to a dirt lot that July with their entire rig. When they arrived, the plot of land was completely vacant. Shortly thereafter, trucks started pulling in and an army of 250 of movie crew members descended on them. Over three days, the barren field was transformed into a ‘Paddock,’ ‘Pit Lane,’ and ‘Winner’s Circle’ complete with styrofoam Jersey barriers, over 1,000 extras packed in hastily-erected grandstands, and fresh tarmac. All the movie magic one would expect happened quickly enough that even as a veteran of ‘doing things fast,’ Will was astonished.
“We showed up in a big open dirt lot. I was thinking: ‘what are they going to do here? There’s no way this is going to come together and look like a race.’ It was a dirt lot! Then, like a light switch went off, they transformed this lot into a paddock, pit, and winner’s circle. In three days they built the place.”
Filming, according to Will, was organized chaos. When audiences imagine what goes into filming a scene, they likely picture three or four takes. The reality is far more taxing. Ten to twelve hour days were filled with twenty to thirty reshoots of every scene they filmed there in Vancouver. The pit, paddock, and winner’s circle scenes were all shot over the course of a few days with Will helping provide key information.
“What was crazy about the whole thing was how much everyone had to ‘hurry up and wait.’ Big stars would do their scenes and then do nothing for hours while a stand-in or double would fill their spot before the stars were needed for their scenes.”
The sequences involving the car or any elements of a race were shot with realistic detail in mind. Will contributed to script changes that were made based on what would or would not be said in certain situations, which further adds to the realism of the film. With professionals from both industries working together to depict an accurate work of fiction, the shots all impressed Will every time he had a chance to see them on the camera screens for playback.
After filming in Vancouver concluded, everyone packed up and headed for their next location. For Will, it was to the IMSA race in Toronto, where the real action shots would be filmed. To get footage of the M4 racing wheel-to-wheel with other cars in its class, the cameras followed the car around the track at the actual race where the Turner Motorsport team competed in their element. Immediately after the race, however, it was back to the vastly different world of Hollywood smoke-and-mirrors.
“We had long days. Everyone had super long hours. Filming is a lot of work. I couldn’t believe some of these people did this day in and day out. It looks like something you could easily burn out doing.”
The team and movie crew set up across the street at a neighboring track to film more scenes in a controlled environment. Rain machines were set up and poured realistic precipitation over everything. All the action shots happened in real-time where the stunt drivers performed spectacularly. Even Will was surprised at how competently they drove an unfamiliar car under such strict direction. While racing involves quite a bit of input from the driver in terms of how to achieve the team’s goals with the car, when it comes to making a movie, all the driving is expertly choreographed and requires extreme precision. Fortunately, Tanner Foust is no stranger to that kind of driving and hurtled the M4 around the makeshift race track through a man-made rainstorm.
After weeks of filming around Canada, the scenes involving the Turner Motorsport BMW were finished. Will returned to his ‘normal’ life directing a professional racing team and operating his well-respected BMW shop in Amesbury, Massachusetts. The movie releases in a few months, and Will is waiting to see his team race in fiction in front of movie goers who may or may not have any knowledge of the world they are about to catch glimpses.
With the release date closing in, we all look forward to seeing the Turner Motorsport BMW on screen as the brief focus of a high-budget film. Thanks in part to Will Turner’s involvement with The Art of Racing in the Rain, audiences will have a movie that delivers both in the quality and accuracy of content by using racing as a means to tell a heartwarming story. Catch The Art of Racing in the Rain in theaters this August and cheer for the Turner Motorsport team as the IMSA season continues.
Will Turner of Turner Motorsport: Q and A for The Art of Racing in the Rain
The Turner Motorsport Race Team and one of the team’s BMW M4 GT4 will be featured in the upcoming movie The Art of Racing in the Rain, scheduled for release on August 9th. We had the opportunity to speak with Will Turner, owner of the Turner Motorsport race team and Turner BMW Service Shop in Amesbury, Massachusetts about his involvement in the film; to learn more about how racing gets brought to life on the big screen.
Had you heard about the Art of Racing in the Rain before getting involved in the movie?
My mom called me and told me that there was this book that I needed to read – that it had a lot in common with my life and career in racing. I picked it up, finished it, and I loved it. But didn’t think much more about it other than hearing a few times it might become a movie. Fast forward ten years - in March of last year at Sebring, and Patrick Dempsey, who I know pretty well and have competed against before in the Grand Am series; came over to me in the pits and said “Will -I’ve got something in the works you might be interested in, that would involve you and the team, I’ll be in touch”.
Later, in April, he told me they were going to actually start filming. He wanted the Turner Motorsport BMW to be the ‘Hero Car’ since the yellow and blue Turner livery was so distinguishable in IMSA.
What were your thoughts when Dempsey asked if you would do it?
I thought to myself “is this really happening? Am I about to have my car in the movie?”
How did everyone settle on the M4 GT4?
Its a GS-class car. That’s a Pro-Am class and if you’re moving through the ranks, that would be your last stop before turning pro. The racing in the movie centers around a specific race in Denny’s (Milo) career where he is elevated to that pro level because of that race in the rain.
So how did you get involved from there?
Jeff Zwart (the Second Unit Director, who handles the racing scenes) called me to make sure I was on board with using my car and wanted to talk about the things they would need for the movie as far as equipment and everything to make it authentic. They asked me about racing in general, the paddock, and all the equipment to make scenes realistic.
Based on what they told me they needed, I kind of realized I was the perfect guy to ask. I basically have two of everything. I could effectively set up a whole other race team at the set since I had another trailer, all the equipment, and an M4 we could use.
After you told them you had what they needed, did things move pretty quickly?
Yeah, producers called me and we met at one of my races to go over their vision for the movie pretty much immediately. We found out when they would need everything and shortly after headed up to Vancouver in July to start filming.
What was your first experience on a movie set like?
We showed up early in the morning to this big, empty, dirt lot. I was thinking there was no way they were going to make it come together and look like a race, I mean, it was an empty dirt lot. We were there by ourselves for a bit just in this lot wondering if we were even in the right place. No one else was there at all. Then like a light switch went offon, all these trucks and 250 plus crew members just kind of descended on us out of nowhere. Then over three days they built this place. They transformed this lot into a paddock, pit lane, and winner’s circle.
How realistic was it?
There was definitely a lot of movie magic. They had styrofoam Jersey barriers and grandstands they threw together that were filled with something like 1,000 extras made to look like race fans.They paved enough to make it look like a track on camera, but it was weird seeing everything outside the shots. It definitely changed how I look at television and movies knowing how much is going on off-screen.
How did they simulate the rain?
They had a super high tech and expensive looking rain machine there that gets hooked up to a fire truck and pumps out a ton of water. It’s pretty amazing stuff – when you see the shots you cannot tell the difference.
What was filming actually like?
They work like crazy. They don’t shoot scenes three or four times, they shoot them twenty to thirty times from all different angles and just do it over and over again. Then they move on to the next shot. When they aren’t shooting a scene, it’s all organized chaos. There is a lot of ‘hurry up and wait’ going on..
As far as day-to-day, it was crazy. They work super long days, ten to twelve hours, day in and day out. I could see someone getting burnt out doing this kind of job.
Did they have their own actors for ‘team members’ or did you bring your crew?
I brought three others besides myself. I brought our team manager, Linda Randall; and some of our engineers, Kevin Holmes and Lucas Griffin who ended up being in the movie as pit crew and as the ‘lollipop.’ I originally thought they’d want me as an engineer, but they already had an actor for that role; so I was the jack man. If I had to do it over, I’d probably pick a different role (laughs)
What all did they film there in Vancouver?
We did the paddock scenes, the winner’s circle scenes, and all the entry shots into pit lane. The exit shots happened in Toronto.
Can you tell us a little more about the car they chose to film?
It’s our 2018 M4 GT4, which has about five minutes of screen time in the movie. We have actually never raced this car which turned out perfect for the film crew because we were able to set up a car for the movie without having to work around other team commitments. We had some great partner get involved for the movie car – Katerra; Continental Tire; Liqui Moly (who is our lead sponsor for the 2019 season for our M6); and H&R; who has been a great partner for many years. The best part is that it looks like all of these partners will get some great screen time during the movie, which is fantastic. We really couldn’t do what we do without them. This M4 is now referred to by the team as “The movie car” and is actually For Sale !
Was Vancouver all they needed you for?
We actually went up to Toronto for an IMSA race and they filmed our car on track with a bunch of other cars in the class for some action shots. Right after, we went across the street to another track where they did some of the stunt driving. It was really cool to see Tanner Foust get in the M4 and do the stunt driving.
Were you nervous with all the people who you gave over the reigns to for filming?
At first I definitely was a little nervous. None of those guys really had any experience with the race equipment we brought, so I had some anxiety, especially knowing Tanner (Foust) had never driven the M4. He did a fantastic job. He takes direction really well, which is important and why the producers chose him.
Did they use that ‘movie magic’ to make the driving look intense?
No, most of it was done at speed. They really had the cars out there sliding around in the rain with Tanner dodging between them. Cars were intentionally spun out at speed and the M4 just weaved in and out. Almost all of it was filmed as realistically as possible. Of course, it was all choreographed, but it was made to look real. Especially since they didn’t have to speed it up.
Besides loaning the car and equipment, did the production use your race experience as source material?
Actually yes, Gary Cole, the team manager in the movie, asked me for advice on what he should be saying or asking if his actions made sense. This realistic race stuff was all new to him. Even the director looked to me for input on certain scenes where I was able to say if they were being accurate. One time in particular I noticed they had some lines that would have definitely been out of place to someone who was familiar with team communications and they stopped, broke out the script and re-wrote the scene on the spot based on my input. I’m not sure how much of that stuff will make it in the movie, but they were concerned with being realistic and asked for my input which was cool.
So after all the filming and experiencing the movie from behind the scenes, has it ruined movies for you?
I wouldn’t say movies or TV are ruined, but I have looked at them differently since filming! I’m more aware of all the things outside the shot and how unrealistic it looks in person but how real it looks once it’s on a screen. I had trouble seeing how the sets were going to pass as realistic while I was watching them but then I would see a replay on the camera and It looked so genuine. That was when I really got to see how much magic goes into movie making.
Did you get to meet the actors?
I did. I really enjoyed everything, especially getting to hang out with Milo a bunch. He was awesome, couldn’t have been any cooler to work with. He asked a ton of great questions about racing and how to make the movie more realistic. Gary Cole was great; and we also got to meet Peter Ciuffa, who’s an awesome guy and by the end of a few long days of filming seemed to be a big Turner race fan ! I really couldn’t believe they got to do this day in and day out, it was a surreal experience that I was grateful to be a part of.
With that, the conversation between Will and us ended. We look forward to seeing all the work he and the film crew put into adapting The Art of Racing in the Rain on screen this August where some of our own Turner Motorsport crew and the Turner M4 GT4 will debut to entirely new audiences. We’ll see you all in the theaters!
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