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Given the extremely tight production schedule on The Stunt Driver, the winning new tragicomic feature about Carter’s life, that did not happen.

“We put our car in the drink with scenes left to shoot inside it,” says Jay Baruchel (Knocked Up, This is the End), who stars as Carter in the film. “And so, we have all these closeups to shoot—all my closeups inside the car are after it was in the fucking lake. And it just smelled like shit and old tuna.”

Jay Baruchel as Ken Carter.

Despite both being Canadian, neither Baruchel nor director Michael Dowse knew much about Carter’s life growing up. (For your own primer, check out this stellar R&T story by amazing C/D staffer Elana Scherr.)

Dowse’s perception of daredevils was based mainly on the exploits of the grandiloquent ’70s/’80s showman Evel Knievel, who is a core antagonist in Carter’s life, and is played in the movie by Ben Foster (Hell or High Water, 3:10 to Yuma). Also, the antics of fictional TV stuntman Super Dave Osborne.

Baruchel’s affection for technical driving was derived from youthful exposure, by his film-loving parents, to cinematic stunting masterpieces such as The Road Warrior, Cannonball Run, and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. And from one personal experience. “My dad took me to see a monster truck rally at Olympic Stadium in Montreal in grade nine,” he says. “So, I did get to see Grave Digger live, which was pretty sick.”

Baruchel has since had his own on-set motoring experiences. For The Trotsky, he had to drive an awful Russian LADA. “I learned how to, quote unquote, drive stick on that particular vehicle, which if I slowed down too much, just shut off,” he says. “So, you had to keep it at a certain velocity, like the fucking Speed bus, or else it would just die.” And for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, he had to drive a singular 1930s Rolls-Royce rented to the production by his menacing co-star Nicolas Cage. “You don't want to spill anything in a fucking one-of-a-kind Rolls that Nicolas Cage owns,” he says.

Ed Helms as car creator Dick Keller, with the rocket-powered Mark IV.

Assembling an on-screen version of Carter’s Mark IV for The Stunt Driver was a laborious process. Needless to say, the original car did not survive. And though production designer Jean-André Carrière was able to speak with its creator, rocket-car mastermind Dick Keller—whose Blue Flame set a 1970 land speed record at Bonneville, and who is played in the movie by Ed Helms (The Office, The Hangover franchise)—they were unable to locate any schematics. Further complicating the endeavor was the fact that the new film contains spliced-in clips from an in-period documentary about Carter’s jump, The Devil at Your Heels, emphasizing the need for verisimilitude. “Jean just pieced it together,” Dowse says. “Like, he found every single historical photo he could.”

A stroke of good luck was visited upon the production when it was revealed that The Devil at Your Heels documentarian owned a piece of the original car’s colored exterior fiberglass. Sadly, he refused to hand over the precious artifact. But he was eventually cajoled into taking it to Home Depot for a color match. “He gave that paint code number to Jean,” Dowse says. Still, three weeks out from shooting, the director found himself cursing the Montreal shop that was building the car. “They couldn't quite pull it off. We had to find another shop to make sure it got done.”

For a scene involving one of Carter’s early daredevil stunts, Baruchel was granted lap time behind the wheel of a 1950s Chevy, a car he describes as “a horrendous fucking pile of garbage” due to its lack of a properly functional gas pedal, transmission, or electrical system. But he never had a chance to drive the big, yellow, be-winged Lincoln. This wasn’t through any fault of his. “It didn't do jack shit. It had no motor. You couldn't mow a lawn with that fucking thing,” he says. “It had a steering system, but that was all. You couldn’t go anywhere if someone wasn’t pulling it.”

Still, both star and director ended up possessing personal mementos of Carter’s actual Continental. At the afterparty following the movie’s September premiere, two gentlemen approached them. It turned out the pair had been behind a musical docudrama about the jump called “Aim for the Roses,” and attended the opening event bearing remnants of the Lincoln that they’d scavenged from the original jump.

“They gave each of us a chunk of it,” Burachel says. “And Dowse and I, being soft old farts, both started getting super emotional because, like, we're holding chunks of the thing. The car that we'd seen explode on camera in the documentary, and in our movie.”

➡️ Skip the lot. Let Car and Driver help you find your next car.

Brett Berk (he/him) is a former preschool teacher and early childhood center director who spent a decade as a youth and family researcher and now covers the topics of kids and the auto industry for publications including CNN, the New York Times, Popular Mechanics and more. He has published a parenting book, The Gay Uncle’s Guide to Parenting, and since 2008 has driven and reviewed thousands of cars for Car and Driver and Road & Track, where he is contributing editor. He has also written for Architectural Digest, Billboard, ELLE Decor, Esquire, GQ, Travel + Leisure and Vanity Fair.    %!s()

The question on the internet's lips this week started life, as many do, in a TikTok video.

"Don't waltz into your interview all casual with an iced coffee, it just looks like you didn't have time to finish your coffee beforehand," said US recruiter Caitlin Wehniainen.

It's what her Gen Z job candidates are doing, she said, warning it makes it look like the interview is "just a stop on your list of errands for the day".

The post has started what Wehniainen calls the Great Iced Coffee Debate of 2026.

Some believe turning up with an iced matcha latte in hand is a cardinal sin. They say it's unprofessional, too informal, and a distraction.

Others feel this is an overreaction - distracting from how difficult it is to secure a job - or even just get an interview in the first place.

In a subsequent LinkedIn post, Wehniainen says she "was never saying that bringing coffee makes someone a bad candidate.

"My point was simply about avoiding distractions."

Hanad, 28, works for an energy supplier in London. He likes iced coffee but wouldn't bring one to an interview.

"A job interview is all about first impressions," he says. "Anything can deter the employer from employing you.

"Iced coffee is something a lot of teens drink… it would look immature and too informal."

He would never bring along an energy drink for the same reasons. But he says water or a hot coffee would be okay.

His colleague Tsvetina, 24, thinks a potential employee shouldn't be judged by what they bring to the interview, nor their dress code.

"I think we should be moving away from these traditional corporate stigmas. What matters is what the person is actually communicating during the interview."

Aisha, 28, says she would take along an iced coffee. "I think it shows that I have come early enough to get iced coffee."

She wouldn't bring a fizzy drink, however.

In general, she thinks a lot of employers like to see personality in a candidate. "It makes you stand out from other people who are coming [applying] for the job."

Katy, 25, a personal assistant in events, says she personally wouldn't turn up to a job interview with an iced coffee.

But she sees the controversy around Wehniainen's post as "a bit sexist, because it's usually girls who drink iced coffee".

"If it was a hot coffee, which is more masculine, there wouldn't be a discourse about that."

Young people trying to land their first job are facing multiple challenges.

The number of graduate vacancies in the UK has almost halved in the past year, as employers cut entry-level roles in favour of AI and battle rising costs.

Around one in eight people aged 16-24 are not in education, employment or training - so called Neets.

Young workers in the US are also struggling with a tight jobs market, external as hiring slows.

'A little bit flippant'

Lucy Cooper is the founder of Spark, a design and branding recruitment company in London.

She says her industry - marketing - is really tough right now, and she doesn't know of any Gen Z candidates who would risk turning up to an interview with an iced coffee.

You could "seem too relaxed and a little bit flippant, like you're not taking it seriously enough, or you are interviewing the employer rather than the other way round".

"I think people at junior level are very conscious about not doing anything that could jeopardise their chances," she says.

She adds that it would be fine to accept a coffee offered by the employer, however, or drink one on a video interview.

Dan Craddock, director at Hays, says employers shouldn't rely on "snap judgements".

"It's important not to read too much into a single item a candidate brings to an interview.

"Whether that's an iced coffee, a bottle of water or a notebook, employers are ultimately assessing the skills, experience and behaviours that will make someone successful in the role."

Chris Mason, co-founder of Intelligent People - a specialist recruitment agency for the tech industry, says focusing on ice coffees alone "does seem to be an overreaction on the US recruiter's part".

He advises candidates to "try to do everything possible to project the right image and attitude".

He warns bringing snacks or specialist drinks may undermine the impression candidates will want to give - that they're "serious and focused on the interview".

He says the main issue they see with some younger candidates is a lack of preparation, not being punctual, and not researching the role, organisation or interviewer. %!s()

But this breakdown of business as usual in Germany has been brewing for years.

It's a nation wrestling with new, uncomfortable and unresolved realities.

Think of certain stereotypes about Germany, and think again.

A country dominated by boring, consensus-driven politics? Not any more.

A confident, powerhouse economy at the cutting edge of car-making? Yesterday's story.

A nation that can be used as a byword for impressive efficiency? The trains don't even run on time.

Many Germans I've spoken to feel their nation has drifted away from the things that once anchored their identity.

And the question of what next is, as yet, unanswered.

That uncertainty is currently embodied by a beleaguered chancellor weakened by bruising regional election results.

In the last fortnight, Friedrich Merz's party was beaten to first place in Berlin, pummelled in the polls in Saxony-Anhalt and pushed out of parliament altogether in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

A lifeline for Merz is that no-one, within his own centre-right CDU party, is yet willing to challenge the chancellor openly despite persistent rumours of a Kanzlertausch (chancellor swap).

But he is on thin ice, with record low approval ratings among voters who often describe him as arrogant and out of touch.

It is a problem that in government circles is sometimes more politely referred to as a "communication" issue.

Those who back the Chancellor say it is time to double down on much-needed reforms, alongside its centre-left SPD coalition partner, and find a better way of talking to people.

Swapping chancellors is not the answer as anyone would face the "same challenges", argues Jürgen Hardt, foreign policy spokesperson in parliament for Merz's CDU and its sister party, the CSU.

Hardt pointed out that the CDU/CSU fared far better in other regional elections earlier this year, when we spoke minutes after Merz addressed party lawmakers at a closed-door meeting in the Bundestag.

"I think Friedrich Merz knows about his deficits," says Hardt. "He will work on him and we will work on us as (a) party. And hopefully we will convince the people in the next months that we are on the right way."

Merz came to power in 2025, promising to get tough on immigration and boost Germany's ailing economy.

He appeared to offer a dynamism that might act as an antidote to the former dull, unhappy drumbeat of centre-left leader Olaf Scholz's bickering three-way coalition.

And Merz's allies would claim he has had some success.

This week, leading economic institutes raised the country's growth forecasts for 2026 and 2027 above 1% while illegal entries into Germany – and Europe – are down year on year.

But that will not eliminate public anxieties, on either issue.

Households and businesses continue to endure high energy costs while fears persist that China is cannibalising German industry, including its iconic car sector.

It is a brutal reversal of Germany's old recipe for success: cheap Russian gas that powered a booming export-driven economy.

And when it comes to immigration, the focus is now less on new arrivals and more on concerns about public safety, welfare costs and integration.

While there are local exceptions, voters appear to be losing faith in Germany's two principal governing parties (CDU and SPD).

Enter the rising force in German politics, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD): a party that alarms security officials with its Russia-friendly stance and contains regional branches that are classed as right-wing extremist by domestic intelligence.

Smears and misrepresentations, argues the AfD, as it claimed its third victory ever in a state election last Sunday in the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.

Its co-leader, Alice Weidel, told me this week that Friedrich Merz's days were numbered. %!s()

"This is really bad for our undercover agents," says one former FBI agent, who fears for the safety of his colleagues.

The former cyber investigator is in a group chat with current agents who are worried their personal information could soon be freely available online to criminals and hostile nation-state hackers.

He says staff fear they could be targeted, or that criminals could use the data to create highly convincing phishing attempts, scams or demands for bribes.

The hacking group ShinyHunters is threatening to publish the stolen databases and documents within four days unless its demands are met.

Some agents are also concerned about the risk of physical attacks from cyber criminals they have investigated.

"One of the things we are discussing in the group chat is 'violence-as-a-service' attacks from young online gangs," says the former worker.

"They could use this information to harass an FBI agent who has worked on their cases."

Groups similar to ShinyHunters - believed to be an English-speaking gang - have in the past been linked to swatting incidents, and even petrol bomb attacks against law enforcement officers and rivals.

Swatting is a phenomenon so-called because perpetrators make calls that prompt armed police units - called Swat teams in the US - to swoop in on victims.

The group claims it breached FBI systems on Monday and later posted details of the attack on its darknet site.

The FBI has not responded to requests for comment.

However, on Wednesday the agency acknowledged the breach - saying it was "aggressively investigating" how it occurred.

For Michael McPherson, a former FBI agent who is now senior vice president of security operations at cyber firm ReliaQuest, the hack presents "a security threat which cuts to the core of agent safety, particularly their families".

He says agents understand the "inherent risks" that come with the job.

"But this incident reportedly includes personal data such as home addresses and contact information, which could expose family members who are normally insulated from the threats associated with such a career," McPherson says.

ShinyHunters shared samples of the alleged stolen data with reporters, along with an extortion demand.

The samples appear genuine and include names, addresses, phone numbers, badge numbers, job titles and information about spouses.

The records appear to relate to thousands of agents, including senior officials such as deputy directors.

The criminals also appear to possess highly sensitive medical information relating to thousands of special agents.

BBC News has seen samples of stolen "fitness-for-work" medical examinations containing information such as blood and urine test results, along with doctors' notes mentioning conditions including a "shellfish and banana allergy".

Agents' full names and addresses, as well as references to medical issues including "blood in the urine" and "high cholesterol" are now in the criminals' hands.

Cynthia Kaiser, who was the Deputy Director of Cyber at the FBI and now leads the Research Centre at Halcyon says ShinyHunters appear to already have lost control of some of the data which is circulating in various online groups of cyber researchers and could lead to harm even before the main tranche is published.

"A lot of the damage may already be done, and as we have seen in past FBI data breaches, that information continues to circulate the dark web years later," she said.

There are also concerns about the breach's national security implications, such as staff becoming targets for recruitment efforts by hostile foreign intelligence services.

Alongside fear, many of those who spoke to the BBC expressed anger at the FBI for allowing the data to be stolen.

The hack is particularly embarrassing from a technical perspective because ShinyHunters is not generally regarded as a highly sophisticated hacking group.

One former cyber agent said FBI staff were furious about the "sloppy and lazy security failures" that allegedly enabled the breach.

There is also confusion about how to handle any fallout if data is published next week, as threatened.

The FBI appears unlikely to comply with the extortion demands, and the hackers have indicated they intend to post the information on their darknet site.

Unusually, the group is not demanding money. Instead, it wants the FBI to retract an advisory published in May, which it claims "offended" them.

"The agency leadership is lost," the former cyber investigator tells me.

He says staff have been advised to sign up to a service called DeleteMe, which helps remove personal information from data broker websites - a response he feels is inadequate. %!s()