{"id":723312,"date":"2020-12-30T06:11:19","date_gmt":"2020-12-30T06:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/?p=723312"},"modified":"2020-12-30T06:14:21","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T06:14:21","slug":"steve-mcqueen-the-lost-movie-review-sensational-footage-of-f1-from-1965","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/articles\/single-seaters\/f1\/steve-mcqueen-the-lost-movie-review-sensational-footage-of-f1-from-1965\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve McQueen: The Lost Movie review \u2014 &#8216;Sensational footage of F1 from 1965&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"c-content-block content-block content-section\">\n    <div class=\"container user-content\">\n        <p>A new feature-length documentary about Steve McQueen will be broadcast on Sky on January 1 and for anyone with even a passing interest in motor racing it should be judged unmissable \u2013 even if this time it doesn\u2019t centre around his infamous movie paean, <em>Le Mans<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, <em>Steve McQueen: The Lost Movie<\/em> focuses on the motor racing flick he nearly made, but didn\u2019t quite pull off. <em>Day of The Champion<\/em> took its inspiration from Formula 1 rather than sports car racing and would have pre-dated <em>Le Mans<\/em> by five years, only for McQueen to lose the greatest race of his professional life. A parallel movie, John Frankenheimer\u2019s <em>Grand Prix<\/em>, starring his friend, neighbour and former co-star James Garner, beat \u2018The Cooler King\u2019 to the punch and played a central role in the cancellation of this passion project.<\/p>\n<p>Now, for the first time, rushes from early filming for <em>Day of The Champion<\/em> have been revealed to take centre stage in <em>The Lost Movie<\/em> \u2013 and the footage is stunning, at least equal to the contemporary F1 scenes captured in <em>Grand Prix<\/em>\u00a0and arguably even more sensational.<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-embed\"><iframe title=\"Watch Stirling Moss drive the N\u00fcrburgring in footage for Steve McQueen&#039;s lost F1 film\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yOL7dYPl_Ic?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>The new film, which will be shown on Sky Documentaries, is written, produced and directed by Alex Rodger, formerly of Sky F1. But it wouldn\u2019t have been made at all without ace archivist Richard Wiseman stumbling across one of the greatest finds of his prolific career. He was looking for something else when he opened some files he\u2019d been sent from an American stock library, and immediately realised what he was staring at. On the screen were crisp, colour images of the 1965 German Grand Prix captured on 35mm movie film, and some striking car-to-car action featuring Stirling Moss, also filmed on a verdant N\u00fcrburgring. This was the never-seen-before opening shoot for McQueen\u2019s movie, even if the star himself hadn\u2019t travelled to Germany and was therefore conspicuous by his absence.<\/p>\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n<section class=\"c-content-article content-article content-section\">\n    <div class=\"container\">\n        <div class=\"content-article__grid\">\n            <div class=\"content-article__article\">\n                <h2 class=\"title sanomat\">From the archive<\/h2>\n                                                        \t\t\n\t\n<article class=\"article-item \">\n\t\n\t\n\t\t<a class=\"article-item__link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/article\/february-2021\/72\/steve-mcqueens-lost-f1-movie-day-of-the-champion\/\">\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-item__image article-item__image--cropped article-item__image--featured\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-item__issue\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" height=\"185\" width=\"274\" alt=\"Steve McQueen&#8217;s lost F1 movie: Day of The Champion\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2020-07-07-0016-274x185.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2020-07-07-0016-274x185.jpg 274w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2020-07-07-0016-300x203.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2020-07-07-0016-330x223.jpg 330w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2020-07-07-0016-165x112.jpg 165w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2020-07-07-0016-82x55.jpg 82w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2020-07-07-0016-172x116.jpg 172w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2020-07-07-0016-200x135.jpg 200w\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-item__content\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"article-item__row proxima\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-item__recommended\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Great Read\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/themes\/motor-sport-magazine\/public\/dist\/svgs\/great-read-icon.svg\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Great Read<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-item__tag tag tag--group\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Archive<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-item__title article-item__title--cropped sanomat\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSteve McQueen&#8217;s lost F1 movie: Day of The Champion\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"article-item__excerpt\">\n\t\t\t\t<p>Steve McQueen or James Garner? Michael Delaney or Pete Aron? Hilts \u2018The Cooler King\u2019 or Hendley \u2018The Scrounger\u2019? You\u2019ll have your preference. John Frankenheimer, director of 1966 motor racing blockbuster&hellip;<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"article-item__meta proxima\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"article-item__date\">February 2021\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIssue<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-item__author\">By\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDamien Smith<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\n<\/article>\n                            <\/div>\n            <div class=\"content-article__content user-content\">\n                <p><em>The Lost Movie<\/em> covers in detail the fascinating backstory behind <em>Day of The Champion<\/em>, with narration from US talkshow host and paid-up racing enthusiast David Letterman. As it shows with a mix of great archive photos, plus both recent and period interviews, the seed was sown when McQueen spent three months in the UK towards the end of 1961 filming a war movie, <em>The War Lover<\/em>. It was that film\u2019s locations in and around Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire that lured the actor to make this black-and-white picture. Why? Because McQueen knew he\u2019d be in the vicinity of windswept Snetterton and the Jim Russell racing school, which is where he\u2019d spend a degree of his down time during the shoot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pull-quote-right\">John Whitmore took him to Oulton Park for a \u2018clubbie\u2019, where McQueen raced an Austin A40<\/p>\n<p>Vibrant British Path\u00e9 colour film of Russell\u2019s Formula Juniors is an early treat, as is a fascinating interview with a hirsute McQueen conducted with Anglia TV during filming, in which he discusses his love of motor racing. \u201cIt\u2019s a pure thing. Racing is one of the few things in life you can\u2019t fix,\u201d he says to the plummy interviewer the like of which simply doesn\u2019t exist today. \u201cYou can\u2019t buy your way out of it. When you are out there by yourself, you are very much by yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During that time in the UK he also befriended likeminded Mini racer John Whitmore, who hit it off with an actor not yet as famous as he soon would be (this was post-<em>The Magnificent Seven<\/em>, but pre-<em>The Great Escape<\/em>. Whitmore took him up to Oulton Park for a \u2018clubbie\u2019, where McQueen raced an Austin A40 of all things, then more famously let him have a run in his Mini for a British Saloon Car Championship round at Brands Hatch, in which he came out third best in an entertaining battle with Vic Elford and Christabel Carlisle. Now Lady Christabel Watson, his female rival that day is interviewed in the documentary and recalls McQueen driving her back to London after the race. \u201cHe was charming, chatty \u2013 had wonderful blue eyes\u2026\u201d she says with a glint in her own. \u201cHe behaved extremely well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n<section class=\"c-content-product content-product content-section\">\n    <div class=\"container\">\n        <div class=\"content-product__grid\">\n            <div class=\"content-product__product\">\n                                                                            \n<article class=\"product-card \" id=\"product-713657\">\n    <a class=\"product-card__link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/shop\/back-issues-of-motor-sport-magazine\/february-2021\/\">\n                                <div class=\"product-card__img\">\n                            <img decoding=\"async\" height=\"330\" width=\"330\" alt=\"Product image for February 2021 | McQueen's Lost Movie | Motor Sport Magazine\" class=\"product-card__image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/February-2021_Web-Version-330x330.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/February-2021_Web-Version-330x330.jpg 330w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/February-2021_Web-Version-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/February-2021_Web-Version-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/February-2021_Web-Version-165x165.jpg 165w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/February-2021_Web-Version-82x82.jpg 82w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/February-2021_Web-Version-370x370.jpg 370w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/February-2021_Web-Version-185x185.jpg 185w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/February-2021_Web-Version-123x123.jpg 123w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/February-2021_Web-Version-200x200.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/February-2021_Web-Version-100x100.jpg 100w\" \/>\n                    <\/div>\n        <h4 class=\"product-card__primary-category proxima\">Motor Sport Magazine Back Issues<\/h4>\n        <h3 class=\"product-card__title sanomat\">\n                        February 2021 | McQueen&#8217;s Lost Movie | Motor Sport Magazine\n        <\/h3>\n        <div class=\"product-card__pricing proxima\">\n                                                <span class=\"amount\">&pound;5.99<\/span>\n                                    <\/div>\n    <\/a>\n<\/article>\n                    <div class=\"button-row u-justify-center\">\n                        <a class=\"button button--outline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/shop\/back-issues-of-motor-sport-magazine\/february-2021\/\">Shop now<\/a>\n                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n            <div class=\"content-product__content user-content\">\n                <p>Along with his spell in England, the publication of <em>The Cruel Sport<\/em> by American journalist Robert Daley a couple of years later solidified his intention to make a movie that would authentically capture the reality of motor racing in the 1960s. The book caused a stir at the time for its somewhat unflinching study of the aspects of racing most enthusiasts and specialist magazines skipped over \u2013 and it was perfect fodder for Hollywood. The trouble was McQueen wasn\u2019t alone in recognising that.<\/p>\n<p>He enlisted his friend John Sturges, director of both <em>The Magnificent Seven<\/em> and <em>The Great Escape<\/em>, who shared McQueen\u2019s enthusiasm for motor sport \u2013 and the great auteur secured what he thought were exclusive rights to make a film for Warner Bros inspired by the book. But as he found out at a fateful Hollywood dinner, where he found himself sat next to a lesser known director called Frankenheimer, MGM was also embarking on an almost identical movie based on the same book\u2026 Turns out Frankenheimer had dealt directly with author Daley, while Sturges had gone through his agent. The race was on.<\/p>\n<p>Both film crews began recceing F1, somewhat awkwardly working around each other at the Monaco GP in 1965. McQueen attended that race with Sturges and Moss, who he had enlisted as a consultant to help him on authenticity. The trio then returned to the UK and visited the premises of car preparation specialist Alan Mann, who would take responsibility for the Lola T70 camera car and the other racing machinery needed for filming. Whitmore was also on board as the Sturges crew stole a march on Frankenheimer by heading to the N\u00fcrburgring for the first filming, at this early stage with no need of their star.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-723325\" src=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel-1600x900.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel-400x225.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel-660x371.jpg 660w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel-330x186.jpg 330w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel-165x93.jpg 165w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel-82x46.jpg 82w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel-1316x740.jpg 1316w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel-658x370.jpg 658w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel-329x185.jpg 329w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel-172x97.jpg 172w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel-200x113.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Karussel-600x338.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The footage they captured leaves the three familiar talking heads who appear in <em>The Lost Movie<\/em>, Nigel Roebuck, Simon Taylor and Peter Windsor, stunned when they are shown watching it for the first time. Crowd and pitlane shots draw attention, before action of what is presumably a real practice session taken from a helicopter shows the N\u00fcrburgring in all its original glory. Then there\u2019s footage of the immediate aftermath of the race, as winner and newly crowned double world champion Jim Clark takes to the podium, flanked by Graham Hill and Dan Gurney. It\u2019s wonderfully evocative of a time usually only captured in monochrome.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" height=\"450\" width=\"800\" alt=\"Pursuit DoC\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pursuit-DoC-800x450.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pursuit-DoC-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pursuit-DoC-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pursuit-DoC-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pursuit-DoC-400x225.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pursuit-DoC-660x371.jpg 660w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pursuit-DoC-330x186.jpg 330w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pursuit-DoC-165x93.jpg 165w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pursuit-DoC-82x46.jpg 82w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pursuit-DoC-658x370.jpg 658w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pursuit-DoC-329x185.jpg 329w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pursuit-DoC-172x97.jpg 172w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pursuit-DoC-200x113.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Pursuit-DoC-600x338.jpg 600w\" \/>\n                <figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n                            <p class=\"wp-caption-image-text\">The rediscovered film offers a magical N\u00fcrbugring ride on Moss&#8217;s camera car<\/p>\n                                <\/figcaption>\n    <\/figure>\n<p>The scene then switches to the car-to-car action, filmed in the days following the race, featuring a pair of Reg Parnell-run Lotuses and Moss in a Rob Walker Brabham \u2013 all of which had taken part in the grand prix. Taken from the Lola T70 camera car, it\u2019s superbly shot, but the best bit is the over-the-shoulder scenes of Moss in the Brabham taken from a camera bolted to the side of his car. Stirling almost seems to have forgotten he\u2019s filming as he flies around the \u2019Ring, Roebuck dropping in that Moss once recalled the day fondly, saying it took him straight back to his final grand prix win at the circuit back in 1961\u2026 Spine-tingling stuff.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Last Movie<\/em>\u00a0also includes similarly dramatic footage of another filming day at Oulton Park, when Hugh Dibley subbed for McQueen\u2019s character in a Lola T70 during a GT race. Again, helicopter shots capture the greenery of motor racing\u2019s venues in the mid-1960s as Dibley recalls his brush with Hollywood stardom \u2013 if only the film had been completed. Sadly, a combination of factors scuppered the project.<\/p>\n\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n<section class=\"c-content-article content-article content-section\">\n    <div class=\"container\">\n        <div class=\"content-article__grid\">\n            <div class=\"content-article__article\">\n                <h2 class=\"title sanomat\">From the archive<\/h2>\n                                                        \t\t\n\t\n<article class=\"article-item \">\n\t\n\t\n\t\t<a class=\"article-item__link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/article\/february-2021\/80\/day-of-the-champion-film-footage-the-fluke-find\/\">\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-item__image article-item__image--cropped\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-item__issue\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-behaviour=\"lazy-load\" \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-src=\"https:\/\/media.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/february-2021\/180px\/80.jpg.webp\" \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tonerror=\"this.onerror = null;this.src = 'https:\/\/media.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/february-2021\/180px\/80.jpg';\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twidth=\"172\" height=\"223\" \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\talt=\"Day of The Champion film footage: The fluke find - Left\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-item__content\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"article-item__row proxima\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-item__tag tag tag--group\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Archive<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-item__title article-item__title--cropped sanomat\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDay of The Champion film footage: The fluke find\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"article-item__excerpt\">\n\t\t\t\t<p>Steve McQueen: The Lost Movie is written, produced and directed by Alex Rodger, who got his teeth into this feature-length project after time spent producing short pre-race features for Sky&hellip;<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"article-item__meta proxima\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"article-item__date\">February 2021\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIssue<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"article-item__author\">By\n\t\t\t\t\t\tRichard Wiseman<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\n<\/article>\n                            <\/div>\n            <div class=\"content-article__content user-content\">\n                <p>First, an unwell McQueen found himself marooned in Taiwan during 1966, filming another movie, <em>The Sand Pebbles<\/em>, for which shooting overran from its scheduled nine weeks to seven months\u2026 while Warner Bros lost its bottle as MGM and Frankenheimer cracked through filming of <em>Grand Prix<\/em> at the likes of Monaco, Clermont-Ferrand and Brands Hatch \u2013 but noticeably not at the N\u00fcrburgring, which was contracted to <em>Day of The Champion<\/em>. The documentary also follows the making of Frankenheimer\u2019s classic, with fantastic behind-the-scenes footage made for <em>Whicker\u2019s World<\/em>\u00a0on the BBC \u2013 including an amusing clip of a dripping Garner losing his rag with a local official who is making trouble during filming of the scene when the actor\u2019s character, Pete Aron, crashes into the harbour.<\/p>\n<p>Archive interviews with Garner and Frankenheimer also reveal that McQueen was almost cast as Aron in <em>Grand Prix<\/em>, and that his <em>Great Escape<\/em> co-star was very much second choice, if that. There are all sorts of intriguing narratives, relationships and broken friendships that weave in and out of this story and you don\u2019t have to love motor racing to find yourself hooked.<\/p>\n<p>Warner pulled the plug on <em>Day of The Champion<\/em> in the summer of 1966 when it became clear MGM would beat it to the cinemas with <em>Grand Prix<\/em> \u2013 much to McQueen\u2019s fury. But the disappointment only drove him on and appears to have fed directly into the famous car chase scene in <em>Bullitt<\/em> and most obviously into <em>Le Mans<\/em>, to the extent that Michael Delaney\u2019s signature \u201cEverything else is just waiting\u201d speech is lifted almost word for word from the earlier script.<\/p>\n<p>In <em>Le Mans<\/em>, McQueen achieved his ambition of creating an authentic ode to motor sport, completing a mission that had backfired so disastrously half a decade earlier. That it almost broke him too is central to our continuing fascination with \u2018The Cooler King\u2019. This masterful new documentary gets to the heart of what drove him on, revealing significant gems along the way \u2013 captured even in his absence.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"proxima large-text\"><strong><em>Steve McQueen: The Lost Movie<\/em> will be shown on Sky Documentaries and NOW TV on January 1, then will be available via streaming thereafter. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"proxima large-text\"><strong>To read much more about its making and the story behind <em>Day of The Champion<\/em>, check out the February 2021 edition of <em>Motor Sport<\/em>, on sale now.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":747,"featured_media":723323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[118712,121828],"tags":[126747,35869],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/747"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723312"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":723333,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723312\/revisions\/723333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}