"I tried to make it as easy for both cities as possible," says Bay. "Whenever we weren’t rolling, we let traffic flow. The Department of Transportation had an intricate traffic plan and we hired more than 90 police officers, plus several rescue/firefighting teams. We made an enormous effort to make sure the public was safe and inconvenienced as little as possible. Unfortunately, it rained a lot during the time we were on the bridge, which made it that much more difficult for us to shoot and worse, it caused a bottleneck on some of the roadways."
"Closing down the Causeway was a terrific exercise in teamwork," says Bruckheimer. "We always reach for the pinnacle, hoping that we’ll succeed, without losing sight of the reality of the situation and the enormity of the undertaking we ask of our locations department in order to make a film the best it can be. When all the entities involved in the Causeway closure -- the State of Florida, Miami Beach, Miami proper, the Department of Transportation, and all the various groups involved -- agreed to let us close the freeway intermittently for four days, we were overjoyed because we knew it would not only add tremendous significance to the action, but it would showcase both cities to the world. When the audience sees the MacArthur Causeway and drives across it with the vehicles in the film, there is no doubt, they are in South Florida."
While shooting a portion of the intricate car chase on the bridge, stunt coordinator Andy Gill, who was piloting a classic Mustang caught in the melee was forced to steer the car off the road and into an overhead streetlight in order to avoid a potentially serious collision with the ‘hero’ car, a smoke gray 575 Maranello Ferrari. Various news items reported the stunt went terribly awry, but in fact Gill saved the day and the Ferrari by aiming the Mustang out of harm’s way.
"We counted on losing some cameras," notes Bay. "But we never expected to lose a Ferrari. As dangerous as it was at such high speeds, Andy saved the day."
Known for his intense action scenes, Bay wanted the stunts in Bad Boys II to surpass the excitement he had devised for the first film. The concept of cars flying off a semi car carrier first began when Bay and his longtime storyboard artist Robbie Consign brainstormed ideas for the chase scene and tried to come up with a concept they hadn’t conceived before.
"We took a truck called a doolie and built a triple rig for it," Bay details. "The truck was encased within three gigantic poles, like a triangle, which surrounded the driver, and then we buried five cameras in the front bumper. During the chase, when the cars come loose from this gigantic carrier traveling 70 miles per hour, the object for the stunt drivers was to hit those cars. As the cars literally bounce off the carrier, the other cars traveling behind the carrier smash into them or deflect them, as the ‘hero’ car maneuvers through the chaos. We got some incredible shots, but we knew we were going to lose some cameras."
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