Interview conducted by Jon Auty            Photographs David Williams

JA: What was your involvement on ‘The Living Daylights’?

NW: I was involved from day one, with Greg Powell as Assistant Horse Master, this entailed training all the horses for about 3 weeks to prepare them and then finding horses that could be used as doubles.

What the public may not realise is that you have to find a quiet horse for the leading lady to ride, then you have to find a stunt horse to take a fall or a horse that is used to loud noises, like gun fire, then you have another horse that will rear up and throw the rider off. The finished sequence may only take seconds to watch and yet in that sequence we will have used 4 or more horses to get the desired effect. And that is just one character, you then do the same for Bond or the villain. It’s a big job!

JA: You were also acting as a Russian Guard on the Hercules just before Timothy Dalton throws you down the steps onto Koskov and Necros. How was it filmed?

NW: We filmed it in two parts. Paul Weston, who was coordinating the fight gave myself and Tim (Dalton) marks on the floor so that we knew where we had to be and where not to go, because it was quite a confined space. Then when he hits me with the rifle I spun around and fell off the steps. Then I was filmed jumping off a much smaller set of steps onto Jerome Krabbe and the other fella.

JA: What other Bond films have you worked on and in what capacity?

NW: For Your Eyes Only – Stuntman

Octopussy – Stuntman

Never Say Never Again - Stuntman

A View To A Kill – Assistant Horse Master

The Living Daylights – Assistant Horse Master

Licence To Kill – Utility Stunts & Paul Weston’s Assistant

Many thanks to Nick for his help and co-operation

The full interview can be read in the first issue of STUNTS magazine.

All photographs copyright MGM/Danjaq S.A. unless otherwise indicated.

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