There’s no shortage of action scenes in movies, from explosions and car chases to fights of all kinds – but some directors are especially reckless when it comes to cars. A recent study looked at the big screen’s top dangerous movie makers to find out who has caused the most onscreen damage.
Michael Bay stands out as the man who has wrecked the most cars in his films, according to the study conducted by UK site Scrap Car Comparison. The research took into account the number of cars that were damaged, either by bullet holes in the bodywork or by broken windows, as well as those that were totally destroyed by explosions for the purposes of a movie.
The study focused only on scenes that were used in a movie’s final cut, and not during other takes filmed during production, by selecting the most popular action movie directors according to IMDb.
Bay, director of the “Transformers” franchise, comes out on top with 354 cars wrecked, 279 of which were totally destroyed and 75 damaged. In second place comes Justin Lin of the “Fast and Furious” films, who has 135 destroyed and damaged cars to his name.
John Landis, director of “Beverly Hills Cop 3”, comes third with 120 vehicles wrecked. Surprisingly, despite impressive action scenes in the Marvel movies, the Russo brothers only rank fifth overall with 80 destroyed and damaged cars.
The same goes for Chad Stahelski, director of the “John Wick” films, who claims 11th place in the top 15 with 30 cars under his belt.
Here are the top 15 directors who have wrecked the most cars in their movies, including damaged and destroyed vehicles:
- Michael Bay – 354
- Justin Lin – 135
- John Landis – 120
- Christopher Nolan – 83
- The Russo brothers – 80
- John Woo – 77
- Richard Donner – 61
- Steven Spielberg – 60
- Paul Greengrass – 51
- Lana et Lily Wachowski – 45
- Chad Stahelski – 30
- Edgar Wright – 25
- James Cameron – 25
- John McTiernan – 21
- George Miller – 18