Now that “Banshee” fans have had a week to see the Cinemax actioner’s Season 2 premiere, it’s time to share star Ivana Milicevic’s warning to fanshees about driving backwards.
“I do not recommend that people try that at home,” Milicevic, who plays expert driver Carrie Hopewell, told me during a recent phone conversation. “We had a whole—I don’t know—five miles of highway that we closed down.
“If you can get a stretch of five miles of highway closed down in your area then by all means, practice. Otherwise don’t do it.”
Just in case you’re getting ideas, I’m sure Milicevic is kidding.
Carrie teamed up with former love Lucas Hood’s (Antony Starr) crew for one more heist in the Season 2 premiere, which you can watch in full here. In her former life as Lucas’ partner in crime and in love, Carrie—then known as Ana—always drove the getaway car, Milicevic said.
“She’s supposed to be a really good driver,” the former Michigan resident said, saying later. “We never set out to be realistic. We set out to be ‘realistic’—in quotes.”
In a separate interview, show creator and writer Jonathan Tropper said admitted just how heightened the scene is. “When she leans over to shoot I’m like, ‘Who’s driving?'” he said, laughing.
Funny thing is Tropper himself wrote the scene, but originally for the “Banshee” graphic novel as a scene set 16 years earlier, when Carrie, Lucas and Job (Hoon Lee) were pulling heists all the time.
“You never imagine having to actually physically accomplish that [kind of scene],” he said. “And then when we were writing the opening of Season 2 I was like, ‘Well, it would be so cool to have them actually try to pull that off.’ … I just thought it would be really cool for somebody to be that good a driver that they could actually keep pace like that backwards.”
Then it was up to director Greg Yaitanes and the stunt team to figure out how to pull off the scene on a “Banshee” budget, which they did oh so well. (Just watch the start of the video above.)
Realistic, heightened or whatever you want to call it, the scene works in the “Banshee” world—which is anything but boring.
“It’s always pulpy, always noirish, always over the top,” Milicevic said. “It’s bonkers awesome.”
New episodes of “Banshee” air at 9 p.m. Fridays on Cinemax. To hear more about the car chase scene, listen to cast and crew explain it in the video below.
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