How Cars Are Destroyed For Movies & TV | Movies Insider | Insider

Car crashes in movies like “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” (2021) may look random and chaotic. But pulling off destruction that spectacular on camera requires hyper-tailored prep work - both on the cars themselves, and on other set elements. We visited JEM FX to find out how its team of effects wizards primes cars to get destroyed spectacularly on camera.
Taking a Buick LeSabre as our case study, JEM’s technicians showed us how they score a car’s roof pillars and replace its door hinges to set it up for optimal wreckage. Then we saw how the weakened car responded to various forms of destruction, from having a 3,000-pound weight dropped on its roof to getting its doors whacked off with a forklift.
The team at JEM also walked us through some highlights of their automobile effects work on “Shang-Chi” (2021), “Bright” (2017), “Taken 3” (2014), and “Velvet Buzzsaw” (2019).
For more from JEM FX:
/ jemfxpopov
www.jemfx.com/
/ @jemfx-gf2uw
MORE MOVIES INSIDER VIDEOS:
Drummer Rates 7 Drum Scenes in Movies and TV | How Real Is It? | Insider
• Drummer Rates 7 Drum S...
How Fight Scene Props Are Made For Movies & TV | Movies Insider | Insider
• How Fight Scene Props ...
Egyptologist Rates 8 Ancient Egypt Scenes In Movies and TV | How Real Is It? | Insider
• Ancient Egypt Expert R...
------------------------------------------------------
#Cars #MoviesInsider #Insider
Insider is great journalism about what passionate people actually want to know. That’s everything from news to food, celebrity to science, politics to sports and all the rest. It’s smart. It’s fearless. It’s fun. We push the boundaries of digital storytelling. Our mission is to inform and inspire.
Subscribe to our channel and visit us at: www.insider.com
Insider on Facebook: / insider
Insider on Instagram: / insider
Insider on Twitter: / thisisinsider
Insider on Snapchat: / 4020934530
Movies Insider on Snapchat: / 9616609930
Insider on TikTok: / insider
How Cars Are Destroyed For Movies & TV | Movies Insider | Insider

[@X150t]

Note to self: don't buy used car from a Hollywood effects department, it might have a weakened roof*.

[@mehere3013]

car has a room?

[@hardy16able]

@@mehere3013 captain obvious here in case this is a serious question: it's probably a typo and was meant to be "roof"

[@inevitable408]

@@hardy16able for a second I thought it was maybe the European way of saying cabin 😂

[@andrew_owens7680]

@@mehere3013 Only in Hollywood.

[@jamietumiel4421]

Lol

[@MisterMistyEyes]

That porsche 944 getting crushed breaks my heart

[@SofaKing85]

😢😭

[@gidmonkey982]

I saw that too! It's sad. Hollywood doesn't understand!

[@BioMilch1945]

I feel u brother

[@wolfgagger]

unless it was rotted underneath

[@MisterMistyEyes]

it was not rotted. 944's body is galvanized so its pretty rust resistant

[@CostlyFiddle]

Love how the forklift drivers gets to operate his forklift the way every forklift driver WISHES they could.

[@histidin]

i am a forklift driver .. and you are right !!!

[@kingcosworth2643]

The force required to throw that shipping container is truly incredible, and to throw those cars with the cables, these guys are playing with some serious bits of equipment.

[@cobaltblue2756]

It's empty.. won't that heavy imo

[@delphic464]

​@@cobaltblue2756 That 3700kg shipping container went roughly 6 meters into the air in 1 second. That comes out to 22,200 newtons of force. This does not include the force required to move the two rams. Of course, these calculations are based on estimating the values from the youtube video, using relative measurements, so they may not be 100% accurate. That said, there is still a terrifying amount of energy in the system. Someone else can take a crack at figuring out the nitrogen tank volume, pressure, and valve requirements to create that much power. All I know is that if a pressurized nitrogen system fails, you'd be advised to be very, very far away.

[@TheTruthKiwi]

I love how the trailer skids to a stop and the container flies up and keeps rolling for ages. Classic action movie physics defying 😂😂😂

[@stanleybochenek1862]

what if something crushes one of the workers? or random people on the street

[@skussy69]

@@stanleybochenek1862 what kind of dumb question is that. Obviously they don't have people near any super dangerous stunts lol, and they're meticulously planned so nothing would ever go wrong in the first place. Only possibility for an an accident is some random idiot wandering to a place he shouldn't be, and no one would have to notice or they'd shut the stunt down instantly. Sorry if that was a genuine question and not just some cheeky remark, wasn't trying to be mean but if you were serious it comes across as mean lol

[@fireaza]

Recruiter: "So, why do you want this job?" Technician: "I want to make the engineers who design the safety features in cars cry."

[@thesweetnotes]

You're hired xD jkjk

[@jrambo7495]

Stupid comment!

[@A_Buster9693]

"see those structural supports?" "yeah?" "they're only cosmetic, we don't need em."

[@skussy69]

@@A_Buster9693 I don't know if I should be proud or ashamed but after fixing my pos car every 2 months for the last 18 months, this is the technique I'm now at when "repairing" things. There's less and less parts on my car as time goes on.. Can't break if it's not there or working in the first place! That's how you save money! 😬😂👌 but to be fair if I get into a serious accident I'm dead either way considering how rickety the car is. I've broken 2 bolts by leaning onto a part gently to get a better angle to get the spanner in

[@odysseyflyer4017]

LMAO

[@BigZoe99]

I literally was just watching Shang chi and was wondering how they did that scene set in San Fran. That's crazy it was on location and all real luxury cars 🤦🏽‍♂️

[@pharmit24]

it's replicas just like in fast & furious. they make fake cars that looks like the real deal.

[@Freakie1NL]

Destroying an i8 for the sake of filming makes me wanna cry.

[@andrew_owens7680]

I think there is some deception even about those cars. They sometimes have damaged cars that can't drive or cars defective or masked in one way or another. I suppose it also depends on what budget they have and how they want to spend it.

[@BigZoe99]

@@andrew_owens7680 oh yea, at the very least it's been gutted for all its expensive parts

[@BLOXKAFELLARECORDS]

Facts... anybody like my music?? Discover me... 🙏🏽💯🔥✊🏽

[@gop4usa12]

It's comforting knowing that cars don't crush as easy as Hollywood portrays.

[@k.5425]

Ikr

[@spartanalphamode2987]

All cars do crush if the right amount of pressure and distance or speed of where certain object falls from is added though. For example I saw a video of a man being crushed by a huge boulder that fell from a mountain 300 ft in the air weighting almost 600 pounds on the side of the road into his car. It was a mess

[@manoman0]

Hollywood is all LIE.

[@RedDoorPaintedBlack.]

Mercifully they also don't explode as easily

[@rustyshacklefordposter]

@@spartanalphamode2987 okay cool, who asked?

[@kokonut1350]

Seeing those old cars that I like gave me pain 💀

[@I_WANT_MY_SLAW]

Cry more

[@SquidCena]

@@I_WANT_MY_SLAW Cope harder.

[@FBIs]

@@I_WANT_MY_SLAW little mr took it personal for no reason

[@michaelkempton1652]

It was a relief to hear that at least some of the time they made replica panels instead of destroying the originals

[@cookiegaming1911]

Mine is the complete opposite lol the cars are very old so dont really care much if it was a new fancy car then same i would cry for eternity

[@rscottr]

Made me wonder what protocols are in place to make sure a weakened car is never accidentally sold to the public if it doesn't end up getting used.

[@jondaschner9538]

I assume they would be commissioned to be destroyed /sold to a prop agency or stuck in storage

[@RabbitsInBlack]

Most cars that Hollywood uses are cars that are deemed destroyed by insurance. Those cars were meant to be recycled. Like Flood Damage looks good on the outside but nothing good on the inside.

[@jfeeble]

Title carries a category I would bet.

[@rscottr]

@@jfeeble Not sure what that is. Like salvage or junk?

[@DJ11213]

Note to self strip used cars and inspect edges

[@notbuyingit8047]

0:58 that dude is stripping away more than just chunks of support from the car. He's also stripping away his hearing operating that grinder inside that car. Doing stuff like that when I was his age is the reason I am hearing impaired now. Its a real tragedy how little Hollywood cares for the health of the people that make the magic happen.

[@ronblack7870]

i have used a grinder like that for 30 years and my hearing is still good . i'm 62 we do tests every year for hearing by medical professionals. i rarely used ear plugs or muffs. face shield almost always though.

[@andrebartels1690]

@@ronblack7870 lucky you.

[@xxportalxx.]

I was thinking the same thing, he's wearing his safety short sleeve and baseball cap lmfao

[@B1SCOOP]

I would be far worried about using grinder with dismantled cutting disk guard. Guy will get piece of sharpnel in his eye one day.

[@andrebartels1690]

The land of the free, the country with the limited impossibilities. I live in Germany, and your boss would absolutely freak out on you, letting yourself be filmed working without proper safety equipment. It would be a blow to the reputation of a company to see their workers unprotected in a video.

[@X774M]

What a shame so many classic cars where destroyed :(

[@ramp7857]

Yea they don't care

[@crushingvanessa3277]

Same can be said when people throw away old cars just because their granddad died, or because they just don't like a certain brand.

[@Evan-ff3mm]

A lot of them are replicas built on a similar chassis.

[@NikoBellaKhouf2]

@@Evan-ff3mm I sure hope so

[@zacharyarchbold4097]

@@NikoBellaKhouf2 Doubt it, the companies are not going to put in the time and money to build a replica that is a background car for like 3 seconds

[@confidenceemmanuel3730]

It's fascinating that all these crashes are real🤯

[@blue8740]

Good to know real car is stronger than the ones in movies 🤣

[@k.5425]

Ikr

[@randomchance7796]

When you go to a movie it's for fun, not necessarily realism. Cars blowing up or flipping or ramming into a helicopter is fun.

[@andrew_owens7680]

Look buddy, the last time I rammed into a helicopter during a high speed chase, it wasn't fun at all! Luckily I was able to do a salto followed by a pike during my dismount from the dismount from the landing skids to get into position to ride down a stair railing into the bad guys that were chasing me while shooting at them with guns in both hands. It could have ended badly!

[@randomchance7796]

@@andrew_owens7680 😄😄😆

[@jamietumiel4421]

Facts. Lol 😉🤟

[@stanleybochenek1862]

i guess lol

[@TheNiteNinja19]

Live Free or Die Hard: Ramps a car into a helicopter through a toll booth.

[@jakkor1106]

Seeing that 944 destroyed is really sad

[@toastyeeter]

I died a little bit inside during the bus scene in Shang-Chi where all those luxury cars got demolished

[@green29373]

Thats what I was thinking :(. Especially the BMW i8. It’s probably not a favorite of many but it looks beautiful to me. Seeing a $100,000+ car crushed like that was painful. I was hoping they would say it was a sedan made to look like it.

[@toastyeeter]

@@green29373 I think someone in the comments said those were replicas, I was so relieved

[@ALZHEM]

Sometimes they buy totalled cars and fix them enough so they still look good for the camera, plus they normally have everything valuable inside removed.

[@H3Y023]

@@ALZHEM so those cars in the bus scene could be previously wrecked cars but "repaired"?

[@B1SCOOP]

Why to worry about pieces of scrap, you won't likely own during your lifetime?

[@jamareonhayes6571]

So basically a real life BeamNG Drive team

[@esepinchearod4558]

All these classics getting destroyed makes me sad

[@hosackies]

It hurts to see a w126 being crushed like that for a scene

[@agboolaadebowale8340]

the last part was my favorite. "Everything we do defy physics, but we get paid to do it."

[@tomclancy8462]

I love how the destruction in Taken 3 is real but the way it was shot and the trash fast cutscenes made sure it looks fake.

[@JohnDoe-wm4qr]

Yeah i hate those constant quick flashes

[@MightyCoffeeMaker]

It’s like : what do they had to ruin the practical effects like this ?

[@garethbattersby]

They did the same with Tom Cruises HALO jump in Mission Impossible. The guy genuinely did the jump but then they added a load of GCI weather and other crap so it looked green screen

[@OfentseMwaseFilms]

@@garethbattersby That shot didn’t need any additions since it was done for real. They messed up there.

[@Qimchiy]

@@garethbattersby it didn't look that bad in post. Plus it made it all the more intense.

[@OFFtheCHIZANE]

“Cars don’t always just explode on impact” - I would argue that they rarely do

[@daijoubu4529]

Except for a Telsa lol

[@fahrenheit2530]

The fastest I've seen a vehicle explode or burn after a crash took about 3 minutes, when I was watching a demolition derby. A pickup in the derby rammed another car, and smoke was visible above the hood about 30 seconds afterwards. Open flames didn't come until a few minutes later. Most cars and trucks that blow up instantly in a crash need an accelerant

[@lisafish1449]

You might be a little young to remember the Pinto.

[@fahrenheit2530]

@@lisafish1449 I've seen them around, including that weird looking van version they put out at one point. The Pinto was also used as a basis for a flying car called the Mizar, if you know anything about how planes land and the primary design issue with the Pinto then you can imagine how well it worked out

[@lisafish1449]

@@fahrenheit2530 yoikes!

[@Fuck9oogleAskMe]

Looks so professional running a angle grinder without the explosion cover on the grinder and without ear-protection

[@floris2872]

I see that 944 😭😭 Don’t think they think they can get away with crushing it like that 😡

[@straight_to_finish]

Just shows how safe cars are in (most) crashes.

[@k.5425]

Yeah.

[@AA-wq5sm]

I felt more bad for that poor buick lesabre than I did for the i8

[@lukedavis436]

So did i oddly enough.. And being English i don't pay much attention to buicks... But i kinda felt bad for it

[@mingz7067]

also the porsche 944

[@steelie9050]

The poor camry too

[@josepharmani5827]

Now that's a fun job!! Might be exhausting sometimes but definitely fun

[@willcookmakeup]

I honestly thought this shot was done in a lot not on location. That's crazy. SFs streets are so small and steep. So much could have gone wrong. That prep is really amazing

[@User1975-]

Well, the magic of movies -I studied film and it’s always perplexing the lengths these people will go to , to get that brilliant shot in a minimal take ! It’s a solid industry unlike the poor vehicles that meet their fate this way 😂

[@WhuDhat]

looks like a dream job although destroying special things like that i8 or 944 would hurt a little inside

[@thormueller]

They not real

[@dalethelander3781]

@@thormueller Did you even watch the video? Real vehicles, real destruction.

[@dalethelander3781]

When The Green Hornet (2011) was made, there were 27 1964 and 65 Chrysler Imperials customized into the Hornet's ride, Black Beauty. Only 2 survived.

[@kokaworu6263]

@@dalethelander3781 for example the i8 and the 944 were replica cars so technically they did destroy them they only destroyed fake cars

[@adamn7516]

@@kokaworu6263 How do you know they were replica cars?

[@OfentseMwaseFilms]

Director: So how many shots do you want to use for the crash scene? Taken 3 Editor: Yes

[@oddities-whatnot]

Dated KZbin comment format.

[@dylonabubo7513]

2:27 that beautiful red porche 😪😪 rip

[@kenea3226]

"None of it makes sense, but we get paid to do it." With the biggest F in grin on his face.

[@TheBanjoShowOfficial]

I appreciate practical effect so much more than CGI

[@halogamerghost97]

Man, reminds me of the stuff that the mythbusters would do

[@josephpeoples2621]

It's kinda sad seeing some of these cars being destroyed beyond recognition, like that red Porsche or that grey f150

[@chasechildress2720]

Also that white suburban .

[@justanotherghost4589]

Really.. that white Mercedes sedan too

[@lukedavis436]

I'm the only person who cared for the 300c it seemed lol

[@alrosenfeld5958]

@@lukedavis436 nope I'm there with ya

[@Dr.W.Krueger]

Just cars lol

[@se_an8389]

That poor squarebody burb looked like a good project truck too

[@jimmynuetronrblx8628]

2:05 RIP Buick, was a good bubbly boi

[@laprepper]

Use a face shield with that cutoff wheel 😟

[@movieguy1985]

Wow that Buick they cut up is exactly what I drive every day! Same color too.

[@georgeforall]

Amazing talented folks that set up these vehicles. I always think of the extra pressure on camera operators that everything was captured correctly, properly exposed, and in-focus etc.

[@JH-di3nu]

No guard in place on the grinder and no face shield. Yikes. OSHA would have a field day.

[@srirachaaaa]

Truly a creative and skilled line of work, very cool

[@evanbarnes9984]

I can't imagine being a stunt driver and being like, "ok! Time to drive this car I'm inside of off a ramp and into a wall! Don't forget to press the button to detonate the gas bomb"

[@smh3293]

So many great cars lost to movie making

[@charlie-girl72]

love cars actually only oldtimers, muscle cars. Yeah I'm a woman and love cars. Born 1972, My grandfather was a car builder. I'm from the Netherlands and he knew everything from ' Citroën ' snook cars. I always saw him work in the garage with my uncle. Mom was a teen mom so my family is not that old. I don't see anyone of them these days, grandpa died in 2005. I love mustangs the most' 67' till 79' after that it was kind of gone for me. Generally I think: give me the 70s back! Half 80s was fun. I know the lies were already there but for me, that time was the best I've seen! It's just in my blood loving cars. Lovely vid & channel!

[@manishpanicker1992]

Imagine the camera man forgets to press the record button 😂

[@TheNiteNinja19]

"Hey! Yeah, uh, we forgot to put a new memory card in..."

[@TheMrDarius]

These guys are the true magicians of the movies

[@alsehl3609]

Osha probably visited that shop after seeing the worker using the grinder with minimal personal protective equipment. Also the debris flying around on his clothes and skin.

[@DemarcusQ]

That innocent i8 🥺 hope they atleast used a salvaged title cars for this 😅

[@caesarashom1866]

The precision makes me love engineering more. You guys are amazing

[@ViceCityNightcrawler]

Bruh they really totaled i8s like they were 90s corollas 🤦‍♂️

[@prds25386]

Bro who cares about the i8 Shit's still in production i fuckin died when they destroyed that 944 behind it

[@johnsch2957]

Good to know JEM FX doesn't care about their employees: no guard on the angle grinder, no hearing protection, no gloves, no face shield, no respiratory protection. You would think the shop manager would make sure OSHA was followed before filming.

[@MuhammadSaeed-mt5oq]

As a car enthusiastic this hurts me 🥶

[@skybirdprojects5489]

yeah bro, that shang-chi scene was hard

[@MuhammadSaeed-mt5oq]

@@skybirdprojects5489 no doubt

[@zZiL341yRj736]

The BMW hurts me.

[@davidsucesso2419]

What an amazing documentary. Very cool to see how do they do it

[@engared]

Poor 924....

[@prds25386]

Its a 944 You can tell by the widebody And it made me more hurt

[@mikebaginy8731]

An enjoyable and interesting video! I spent most of my professional life preventing automotive fuel tanks from exploding (as fuel system engineer). I wish more people would watch this video to understand what's behind Hollywood's action scenes, and still enjoy the films.

[@langolier9]

I’ve seen so many cars stunts that are just insane and it’s so funny to hear him say yeah it makes no sense there’s no physics involved but when it’s done, right it’s awesome

[@BlenderStudy]

Thank you for the update, Insider..!! Wow, that was awesome..!! 👍

[@user-kw7xk5hj4f]

Awesome. They deserve to get recognition for their work. Otherwise, most people think it's all about CGI.

[@filenotfound__3871]

It should all be CGI

[@IeeIee778]

@@filenotfound__3871 why then it wouldn't look as cool

[@filenotfound__3871]

@@IeeIee778 no in fact, they have more controll over cgi than over real stuff, cgi could in fact look better

[@gtaperson7923]

@@filenotfound__3871 it’s harder to blend a cgi car hitting a real explosive than it is to simply digitally remove some wires pulling a real car into a real explosive with the real car you don’t have to worry about the lighting or the way the car reacts to the explosion like you would with a cgi car

[@filenotfound__3871]

​@@gtaperson7923 Keyword harder,, missing word: money.

[@andrewball_]

Some of the older cars being destroyed make me sad haha

[@TheTruthKiwi]

Very cool and interesting. I wonder if it makes some car companies think twice about placing their cars in movies. Do you want some great advertising or do you want people to think your car crushes like a aluminium can?

[@rmannayr2129]

THE CAR GOT CRUSHED!

[@patrickmartin3322]

Gotta love how in the first scene showed here the i8 changes color from shot to shot

[@TruMaverick]

Me just needing a car to drive: Plz stop. Can I have a working one

[@vamsterr]

Thats a man who loves his job haha would be so much fun doing this

[@ahotdj07]

That is pretty cool. I always wondered how this is done.

[@michaeld954]

Sad some really nice cars getting destroyed

[@caturlifelive]

Awesome information, thank you for showing this to me

[@unknownentity7408]

Meanwhile there's people in desperate need of a car 😂

[@aliendead7580]

Amazing how strong cars are

[@zealmae9082]

thank you for this. I've always wondered how they did this. I thought it was all tiny cars bein crushed or something

[@RIO-..]

Very cool stuff!

[@Clodd1]

As a car lover, this video is pure gore.

[@cormacmccarthy7735]

Casually angle grinding in an enclosed space with no respirator

[@Elixovid]

Wow I’m very impressed a lot more work goes into “fake car crashes” for film than i imagined. 💥🚗

[@hal9xxx321]

I'd rather have the crash to be realistic, atleast I know what's not to buy. Also wierd seeing the i8 with carbon-fibre reinforced chassis tear to shreds that easily.

[@apeshitclothing]

It's for a movie though. If you want realistic crashes of vehicles you're looking to buy, just look up "vehicle crash tests"

[@krismate2895]

Possibly not a real i8. Looks like they did more than 1 take (there's a shot of multiple cars with an i8 and a separate shot of just an i8 being), so there's a chance it's just a body kit. A lot cheaper than wrecking a $150k car.

[@uterotourettes15]

Well the majority of the world wouldn't

[@luisgordillo1695]

love me some car/truck destruction in movies. great work. 😁😁🤘🤘

[@ramensoup762]

"Everything we do defies physics. None of these makes sense. But we get paid to do it." 😂😂😂

[@trevorgwelch7412]

Hawaii 5-0 has lots of excellent car explosion scenes

[@djp1234]

I'd rather have realistic physics in movies than all the fireballs and fireworks.

[@Nutty...]

Go read a book. You can have all the realism you want.

[@thesweetnotes]

The point of a film is to tell a story and bring a directors vision to light. There's plenty of real physics in there. It's just done in a way that makes the story flow better. How would we have a good ghost story if we went for realism all the time?

[@djp1234]

@@thesweetnotes real physics are more believable. For example the video game Half Life 2 has the best physics out of any video game. The explosions are not giant fireballs, but realistic, high speed explosions that launch surrounding objects in different directions.

[@ehaurader2640]

The art of crash science love it

[@odysseyflyer4017]

Wow. I'm not a car person so I had no idea how many safety features were put into cars that are not visible.

[@punit_jain]

wonderful video 🔥🙌

[@ezekielenesi1268]

So much destruction, a lot Thats a lotta damage

[@xyx2188]

Imagine accidentally selling one of those to a family 💀

[@JesusTony]

Rest in peace

[@LouisSubearth]

Those cars are never sold to the public, they are held in studio lots to be later reused and scrapped when they're no longer usable as props.

[@Dr.W.Krueger]

Won't happen.

[@gabesmath105]

that's what junk titles are for, perma banned from registration, unlike salvage.

[@LGLFanTeam12]

These are just the traffic cars we hit in video games. The player's car(s) built like a tank, but their cars are just made of tin cans.

[@T4KKFI]

This a nice avenue to venture in

[@lovenelsonchamisa]

The way I need a car and some people are crashing cars

[@OneTwoFive0]

I’ve never wanted to work in the movie industry more than today.

[@danistander]

Great Job!!!!

[@ShotbyNielsen]

Wild and amazing to see 😊🙏🤙

[@smartman123]

amazing job

[@willcookmakeup]

This was really cool to watch

[@notreallyaniceguytho1648]

8:19 OMFG! ARE THEY STILL ALIVE? 😰😂

[@kflashcarr888]

Might want to do one on Hollywood prop guns and how they make them go off when dropped.

[@isopod_gaming-real-]

As a car guy my soul just left my body

[@JohnDoe-tl7zg]

only good car was that w123 benz

[@ramp7857]

@@JohnDoe-tl7zg Porsche 944? BMW I8? Chrysler 300c?

[@jasonrumsey2197]

TFW the LeSabre shown being cut and prepped was in cleaner condition than the one I drive now 😢

[@paulmuindiwilliam2945]

2150: No self-driving cars were hurt during the production of this movie