The Runner

A stunt sequence spanning a major London bridge, a moving passenger boat and a historic warship moored on the Thames needed marine coordination built around safety and precision from the outset.

The sequence itself was ambitious in its choreography. Filming took place on Waterloo Bridge, where Gal Gadot’s character leaps from the bridge onto the roof of a passenger boat passing beneath. The boat then continues downriver before she jumps again – this time from the moving boat onto the HMS Belfast.

Coordinating a stunt performed across a moving vessel over open water called for exactly the kind of marine expertise Livett’s specialises in.

Closing Waterloo Bridge to traffic was only part of the challenge, as the production also needed the river itself closed to other traffic for the duration of filming. Livett’s secured the necessary licences and permissions from the Port of London Authority, working alongside the production team to agree the closures required to shoot safely.

With a stunt performer moving between a bridge, a boat and a ship, marine safety was central to the plan. Livett’s provided safety swimmers and devised a full rescue plan as part of the marine safety arrangements for the shoot, giving the production the confidence to run a set-piece of this scale.

Romeo Lima and Echo Lima I were deployed as safety boats, keeping watch over the water throughout filming and providing the on-water support needed for the sequence.

We hired a Class V passenger boat from Capital Pleasure Boats on the production’s behalf, which served as the picture boat at the centre of the stunt and formed a major part of the filmed scenes.

The production later called on us again for drone filming support at Millennium Bridge, with Bravo Lima GB deployed as the drone platform for this part of the shoot.

Between the road and river closures, the safety planning around a moving-boat stunt, and the vessel sourcing, this was a huge marine coordination effort for a set-piece on a scale not previously attempted. We are delighted to say it was delivered safely and successfully.

Ed Livett, Managing Director of Livett’s, said: “This was one of the more complex marine coordination jobs we’ve taken on for a production. A stunt performed across a bridge, a moving boat and a ship needs a very different level of planning to a static shoot.

“Closing a stretch of the river, securing PLA permissions and building a proper rescue plan around that kind of movement doesn’t happen without a lot of groundwork.

“It’s exactly the kind of project that shows why productions come to us for this sort of work. We can pull together the permissions, safety planning and the right vessels to make an ambitious sequence like this possible.”