Talk about a man who really loves his car.
For Dax Shepard’s directorial feature debut Hit & Run (which he also wrote and stars in), the actor and avid racing fan had authority to cast the people – and things – that he loves most. Among them: real-life fiancée Kristen Bell and two of his real-life cars.
And without a studio attached to the film during its production, Shepard had full authority to do as much stunt driving as his heart desired (read: all of it).
“There’s no way I could have sat there and watched somebody drive it,” Shepard tells The Hollywood Reporter of his souped up 1967 Lincoln Continental.
Shepard is so attached to “Lady Lincoln,” as she’s affectionately called, that he’d even be willing to go to extremes to keep her in her purest form.
“I would have sooner let Bradley [Cooper] make out with Kristen, probably,” he says of the on-screen couple’s co-star, who sports a wig full of blond dreadlocks for his role as an ex-con out for revenge on his former friend.
“If given the choice, this is 100 percent true, of [being forced] to write a scene between Bradley and I making love, or Bradley driving Lady Lincoln, it is incomparable that he would choose the former,” laughs Bell in response.
STORY: Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell: Elderly Nudes, True Love and the Sloth Video
“I trust you more than the Lincoln. I think the Lincoln might enjoy being driven by Bradley Cooper,” quips Shepard, to which Bell zings: “Who wouldn’t?”
Kidding aside, Shepard admits that while he knows racing like the back of his hand, it was those same car chase scenes that provided the most challenges for him during filming.
“They’re really hard to capture cinematically,” Shepard says, while noting that his favorite day on set was speeding down the PCH and driving on the LA river. “That was a fun day,” he reflects.
For more from Shepard and Bell, including the “surprise” aspect of the infamous lemonparty scene, watch the video above.
Email: Sophie.Schillaci@thr.com; Twitter: @SophieSchillaci
