Written by on Feb 27, 2014. Posted in Production News

Wanda Productions launches cars over iconic San Francisco hills for Citroen C4

Wanda Productions played with San Francisco’s iconic hillside roads in a new spot promoting a Hill Assist feature in the Citroen C4. Catapult shows a collection of cars taking dramatic jumps over a hilltop road, before the C4 tracks the contours much more safely.

“The script was inspired by all these movie scenes we all know and like from the 70s, such as Bullitt and Dirty Harry,” explains Jerome Denis, an Executive Producer with Wanda Productions, “and that’s where all of these car chase scenes have been shot, in San Francisco.

“We could have shot this in Cape Town probably or in any convenient city for shooting where you find steep roads and hills, but there was something magical about considering filming [in San Francisco]. We easily found the right locations and some amazing stunt crews to work on these crazy cars. Sometimes you just need to go where this makes sense and not try to cheat too much.”

The production team wanted to hurl the cars through the air for real to capture more authentic reactions from the cast and boost the comedy element. A launch ramp was built on the approach side of the hill and modified for each car.

“The crazy cars [were] very precisely prepared to allow them to fly away without breaking in pieces when landing,” Denis adds: “Because of our schedule we could only afford [to shoot] these jumps three times per car.”

The script was inspired by all these movie scenes we all know and like from the 70s, such as Bullitt and Dirty Harry.

Jerome Denis, Wanda Productions

Given that the shoot involved dramatic stunts in a residential area of the city, permits had to be filed nearly a month in advance, meaning the team wasn’t able to do a physical scout ahead of the shoot days.

“That’s always tricky since you never really know what kind of problems you can go through before going on set,” Denis finishes.

Credits:
Client: Citroen C4
Agencies: Havas Worldwide, Düsseldorf and Le Gaulois, Paris
Chief Creative Officer: Felix Glauner
Producer: Christopher Thierry
Production Company: Wanda Productions, Paris
Executive Producer: Jerome Denis
Director: Markus Walter