Anyone who saw and enjoyed Marvel’s Iron Man 2 movie from 2010 will probably remember that awesome Grand Prix de Monaco Historique action sequence, where Tony Stark was attacked by Mickey Rourke’s character, Whiplash.
What some might find surprising is that the main cast wasn’t even on location in Monaco (only the stunt doubles were), and instead used an improvised set in California, replicating part of the track.
So while the action sequence was partially shot in Monaco, it included mostly stunt doubles driving Tony’s Rolls-Royce around in order to later combine that footage with what they were shooting back in the States.
Of course, seen as how the production crew had to blow cars up and cause significant damage to the surrounding environment, it makes perfect sense why they wouldn’t have been allowed to film such scenes on the actual Monaco Grand Prix city circuit, which hosts its Historic Grand Prix event about two weeks before the real Formula 1 race.
In the end, everything came together perfectly and the movie delivered one of the most realistic and spectacularly executed race-related action sequences in cinema history – part of the reason why Iron Man 2 received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects.
The video below also contains a couple of other behind-the-scenes moments, mainly Scarlett Johansson and her stunt double’s choreographed fights.