Need-for-Speed-UK-Quad-Posters-sliceStuntman turned director Scott Waugh admits that he had never seen an episode of Breaking Bad – nor had he ever heard of Aaron Paul, before casting the actor as the lead role in his action thriller Need for Speed, though gleefully claims he has become quite the fan of the hit TV series ever since. Waugh, whose previous credit is Act of Valour, picked Paul for the part of Tobey Marshall in the car racing picture for reasons besides Breaking Bad – though admitted it took the help of a certain Steven Spielberg to ensure his dream become a reality.

“I’d never seen Breaking Bad. They brought his name up to play the bad guy when I was looking at actors, and I was like, who’s Aaron Paul? They looked at me like I was some foreign alien. ‘You don’t watch Breaking Bad?’ I was like, ‘I don’t watch television’”, said Waugh. “They put his tape up in front of me, and I thought the kid was amazing. I was looking for the next Steve McQueen, I wanted to find a kid that had that edge, that charisma, that likeability, who was simple. Steve was a really simply guy, jeans, t-shirt – that’s it. That’s who he was, and I loved that about him. When I saw Aaron’s tape, I was like, oh my gosh, this kid has that.

“It was an obvious choice for the bad guy – but the more interesting choice would be the lead. They didn’t think the studio would go for that, but I was like, why not? It really defines the movie, you know, we’re not making your stereotypical movie, it’s different, and casting somebody like Aaron achieves that. Then we put it to Steven Spielberg and he see’s Aaron’s name under the bad guy role Dino, and he sees the footage, and he’s like, this kid’s amazing, why don’t we consider him for the lead? And they listen to Steven more than listen to me, so we went with him, and it’s great. It set a precedence through Hollywood that we were making something different.”

When asked if Waugh had become a fan of Breaking Bad since working alongside Paul, he was quick to praise the immensely popular show. “I have watched all five seasons now, and I completely understand why everybody is obsessed with it! The funny part about that, was, for a year my father had been telling me about this show, he told me it’s about this guy who sells meth, and I’m thinking to myself, my dad is a Midwest guy, so I’m like, why are you watching that show for? And he said, I’m telling you, the acting is amazing. So when Aaron’s name came up I immediately called my dad and was like, hey, you know that guy Aaron Paul, who plays Jesse Pinkman… Do you like him? My dad was like, oh my God that kid is great! So I knew I needed to watch this show.”

Paul brings a real sense of humility and empathy to the lead role, a rare sight in such an adrenaline fuelled, action packed production. However Waugh tells us that it’s always his intention to try something different – which he feels he achieved by performing stunts for real, and choosing not to use any CGI within his sophomore endeavour. “I find it much more of a challenge, to do it for real,” he said. “It’s the easy way to say, oh let’s just do it in CG. Well, why? Unless you’re doing some movie on mars where you can’t really go there, I think let’s do it real and let’s figure out a way to do it for real. Audiences are like, man I was so scared and immersed, it was like I was really driving the car. That’s because it’s real. Movies that aren’t real, they let us sit back in the chair, eat our popcorn, have fun, but really not be really immersed in the movie, and realism helps that.

“It’s more of a mainstream movie, but like Act of Valour, I still have that style of no CG, everything is real. Kind of going back to old, cool car culture movies of the 60s and 70s. They were still fun movies, still a blast, but all the stunts were real, and great love stories. I grew up as a stuntman in that world, of these kind of flicks, so it was fun to be a director on this kind of movie. I really enjoyed it.”

Waugh also believes that his history of being a stuntman is beneficial to his directing career, allowing him to bring certain aspects of the former livelihood, and using them to his advantage as a filmmaker. However he claims he doesn’t feel the urge to move back into his old vocation. “If I’d only done stunts for like 10 years, I’d be wanting to, but I did it for 25, and that’s a long time. My body is paying the price. But what it has done for me, is that it’s allowed me to put the camera in places nobody else could. Because they haven’t had those experiences, so if I need to get a shot in a helicopter, hanging out to get the shot, I’m gonna do it because I’ve done it many times in a movie as a character, doubling the acting. So I’m all about giving the audiences something fresh and new and a different angle they’ve never seen. If it requires me doing something physical to get it, I’m all about it.”

Striking that balance between frivolous comedy and intense action, with a poignant, profound narrative running right the way through it, is something Waugh believes is imperative to making a good movie, and something he’s confident to have achieved with this picture. “I think like, great movies that are really memorable take you through all those emotions. The movies that I love are like Forrest Gump. Let’s look at that – you laugh your butt off, you cry your ass off, there’s action sequences when you’re nervous for him. We go to movies for a two hour ride to get to escape and live in a world we don’t ever get a chance to be a part of, and that’s kind of how I want my films to be like. Where you get the chance to do everything. When you hire some of the greatest actors there, it makes your job a lot easier.”

Exuding confidence ahead of the release of Need for Speed, which is released in the UK on March 12th, Waugh hopes to have made a movie that anybody can enjoy, in spite of any preconceptions that may arise. “When I make movies, I make them for everybody. You don’t need to be a car nut, or a video game player to want to see this. It’s awesome, because there are so many women who come out of the theatre saying, ‘I would have never seen this movie, but it’s amazing’. That’s because it’s a great story. We all go to the movies to see a great story, that’s really the most important part for me. Then you can wrap it in some crazy, action world.”

Need For Speed is out in cinemas now, and you can read our review here, and our interview with Aaron Paul & Dominic Cooper here.