Jimmy Fallon Didn't Know How To Drive For His Band Of Brothers Cameo
It's been over two decades since comedian Jimmy Fallon made an all-but-forgotten cameo in the HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers," and in that time, Fallon has gone from being a "Saturday Night Live" cast member to the host of two late-night talk shows. He started out doing the "Weekend Update" segment on "SNL" before hosting "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" and eventually taking over "The Tonight Show" itself. Since Fallon has spent most of his working life in New York City, he's not great with wheels.
But Fallon needed wheels for his "Band of Brothers" cameo since his character — based on real-life army lieutenant George C. Rice — was expected to drive a jeep. Rice appears in episode 5, "Crossroads," which was directed by none other than Tom Hanks, co-creator of "Band of Brothers" with Steven Spielberg as a scaled-up version of their previous World War II collaboration, "Saving Private Ryan."
On an episode of "The Tonight Show" in 2018, Fallon related his experience working on "Band of Brothers" to guest Julianna Margulies, whose 10-year-old son happened to spot him in "Crossroads" (via Parade). Suffice it to say, Fallon is not a seasoned dramatic actor, nor did he know how to drive a stick shift, but he recalled having to fake both those skills for his big "Band of Brothers" scene:
"I was so nervous. I had to just drive a jeep and say my line, 'Good luck, boys.' It's a real WWII jeep, so you've got to, like, press the thing, put it in neutral... I don't know how to drive. And I just say my line, and I'm supposed to look really heroic."
From Band of Brothers to New York go-kart
Jimmy Fallon is being somewhat modest about the amount of dialogue he had in "Band of Brothers." In reality, his character spouts off more than a few lines as he drives through a crowd of soldiers. This begins with the line, "Make a hole! I got ammo! Grab what you can!" Fallon then exchanges more dialogue with "Band of Brothers" stars Damien Lewis and Ron Livingstone before driving off again — or being pushed off, as the case may be.
It turns out Fallon was so lost trying to operate the jeep's manual transmission that it did indeed lead to two crew members finally pushing the vehicle from behind, to give it the illusion of forward momentum while Fallon attempted to act. As he told "The Tonight Show" audience in 2018, the experience was nerve-wracking:
"I'm so nervous. There's like 200 extras. So I drive, I hit my spot. I go, 'Good luck, boys,' and I forget to press the clutch, and these two dudes are pushing the car, and the wheels aren't moving because the clutch isn't in. I don't know how they made it work, but they made it work."
Despite his lack of driving ability, the irony is that Fallon continues, to this very day, to headline a motion-simulator attraction at Universal Studios Florida: "Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon." The ride involves him driving a go-kart through the streets of New York. It just goes to show that sometimes you really can make it if you fake it, even behind the wheel of a vehicle onscreen.
All 10 episodes of "Band of Brothers" are currently streaming on HBO Max.