Days of Thunder

Days of Thunder (1990)

Timing: 1:47 (107 min)

6.35/10
1636

6.868/10
13498

6.1/10
105000

All about film

Video 3

Photo 64

Actors and characters

Release date

1990-06-27

Country

United States

Production

Paramount, Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films

Genre

Adventure, Action, Drama

Budget

$60 000 000

Revenue

$157 920 733

Website

Director

Tony Scott

Actors

Tom Cruise, Robert Duvall, Nicole Kidman, Randy Quaid, Cary Elwes, Michael Rooker, Fred Thompson, John C. Reilly, J.C. Quinn, Don Simpson
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Tom Cruise

Producer

Jerry Bruckheimer, Don Simpson, Gerald R. Molen

Operator

Ward Russell

Composer

Hans Zimmer

Artist

Audition

David Rubin

Editing

Chris Lebenzon, Billy Weber, Michael Tronick
All team (85)

• Filming began before the script was fully completed. It often happened that certain scenes were written and added to the script directly on the day of filming. In one episode, for example, Tom Cruise had to read his lines from cards on the windshield, which even led to a minor car accident. Subsequently, Cruise used an earpiece through which he heard his lines and repeated them.
• The idea for the film came to Tom Cruise (who also became one of the screenwriters) when he and Paul Newman (1925-2008) were allowed to test drive one of Rick Hendrick's racing cars (he is the owner of the 'NASCAR Hendrick Motorsports' team, co-owner of 'JR Motorsports', founder of the 'Hendrick' automotive group, etc.). On the very first lap, Cruise reached a speed exceeding 290 km/h.
• The film specifically used footage shot at the 'Daytona 500' (a 500-mile NASCAR Cup Series auto race). At one point, cars driven by Bobby Hamilton (1957-2007) and Tommy Ellis were put on the track; their results were not counted towards the official standings, and they retired after 40 laps. At one point, Dale Earnhardt (1951-2001) even appeared on the track.
• Greg Saks, a "NASCAR" driver, became Tom Cruise's stunt driver. The actor wanted to drive himself, but the insurance company strictly forbade it. The "Chevrolet" cars were prepared for filming by members of Rick Hendrick's racing team, and some of these cars were subsequently used in actual races. 35 cars were wrecked during filming.
• Don Simpson, Jerry Bruckheimer, and occasionally Robert Towne often began shooting days with arguments with director Tony Scott (1944-2012) regarding the filming of a particular scene. The film crew simply sat idle during this time, but were paid for it – sometimes for 20 hours a day. Some members of the film's creative team later said they earned so much overtime that it would have been enough for a four-month vacation after filming.
• It is claimed that, despite all the shooting delays and overtime, the filmmakers only discovered after completing filming that they had forgotten to shoot the scene of Cole Trickle's car, driven by Tom Cruise, crossing the finish line.
• Filming took place from December 11, 1989, to May 7, 1990.