When it comes to big, tentpole action films, the general consensus is that they take a lot of CGI and a lot of people on a lot of computers to bring them to life. Modeling, animating, rotoscoping, compositing -- these are the bread and butter of most franchise features. But that isn't the case for director Scott Waugh's Need for Speed , based on Electronic Arts' popular series of racing video games. Instead of setting up tracks in front of a green screen and creating car chases in post, Waugh's method is much simpler: put the actors' butts in the driver's seats and watch 'em fly. Don't believe us? Check out the brand new trailer that DreamWorks released today and see for yourself:

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“ Unlike other movies that rely so heavily on CGI, we're not gonna.

No CG here!

Aaron Paul as Tobey Marshall

“ When we put [Aaron Paul] in the cars for the first day, I told him, 'Hey, if this acting s*** don't work out for you, you need to be a stuntman.'

Earlier this year, IGN got a chance to visit the set of Need for Speed in Detroit, where we and several other outlets got to talk to the cast and crew, and sneak a peek at one of the film's high-speed car chase sequences. More recently, we also stopped by the editing bay to check out some new footage. We'll have more detailed write-ups closer to the film's release, but until then, we thought we'd share some of what we heard about Need for Speed's impressive stunt work and the practical approach the filmmakers are taking in order to tell a more believable story."[Scott] grew up in this family where his father was a famous stuntman, stunt coordinator, stunt director, and he grew up as a stunt kid," explained writer-producer John Gatins. "The first meeting that we had with Steven Spielberg, Spielberg looked at Scott and said, 'Wait, I know you.' He said, 'Yeah, I stunted on Hook.' So as a little kid, he was a stunt player for wannabe actor kids in Hook, and Spielberg recognized him. So Scott grew up in a world of authentic car stunts. For him, it was really important that that authenticity carried its way into [Need for Speed]. Unlike other movies that rely so heavily on CGI, we're not gonna."Before taking the job, Waugh made it clear that he wanted everything in Need for Speed to be as real as possible. As the director told us, "99 percent of the time nowadays, if an actor is in a car, he's on a stage and there's green screen there, and he's doing dialogue and I was like, 'We're not doing that anymore. We're going back to on the road, going the speed, and hanging on the outside of the car and filming 'em.' I just feel like, me personally, I just think subconsciously the audiences know the difference. I think you'll see this movie and realize all the other stuff you've been watching is fake, because inherently you'll say, 'This is real.'"So just who are these out-of-their-mind daredevils willing to get behind the wheel and drive at ludicrous speeds -- on camera? That'd be Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul, for one, who plays leading man Tobey Marshall in the film. On accepting the role, Paul said, "Scott made it very evident before I attached myself to this that he wanted me to be driving. He wanted all the action sequences to be practical. He didn't want all of this to be done behind a computer after we shot it all. He said, 'You're going to have to be behind the wheel and doing all these crazy races.' I was like, 'That's fantastic. Let me do that.' So yeah, it helped me. It helped the character. It was a blast. Now I just drift around corners and it's awesome."Indeed, Paul's driving skills were no joke by the time the cameras started rolling. As Waugh noted, "When we put him in the cars for the first day, I told him, 'Hey, if this acting s*** don't work out for you, you need to be a stuntman,' because he's so good, and he learned so quickly... So, he's a true physical phenom. I was like, wow, it really reaffirmed my viewpoint on him being the next Steve McQueen."

Continued on Page 2, where Paul talks about his favorite car, and Waugh explains the video game aspect of shooting...