When Brian Denny is ready for his close-up, the camera isn't focused on him -- it's on the car he's about to slam into another vehicle.

Denny, owner of Twin Cities-based Props on Wheels, supplies "picture cars" that appear in movies and commercials produced in the Upper Midwest, and does stunt and precision driving.

Makes sense for a former woodworker who describes his education as "the school of hard knocks." He has pulled off 13 crashes in more than 300 jobs since he founded the company in the mid-'90s.

The idea came to him when a relative drafted him and his old Harley for a corporate photo shoot. "I thought, 'If they don't know how to get a motorcycle at a moment's notice, maybe there's a business there,'" Denny recalled.

His film work includes "A Prairie Home Companion" and "A Serious Man." He rounded up the old red pickup trucks that appeared in jeans commercials with a certain former Vikings and Packers quarterback, and recently sawed a Lincoln Town Car in half for a promo for Kelsey Grammer's new series, "Boss."

In addition to an inventory of motorcycles, antique bicycles and other vehicles, Denny's specialty vehicles include a camera car and a process trailer for capturing realistic-looking scenes of actors driving; in reality, the car is sitting on the trailer, which is towed by the camera car.

A job well done, though, means his work is inconspicuous. "If you don't notice it, we'll get called again," Denny said. "We keep getting calls."

Denny also organizes the Flood Run, a spring and fall motorcycle run that raises money for Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare and draws tens of thousands of riders to the St. Croix Valley.

A '66 Impala. I hate to wreck any antiques. Crashes are mostly modern cars.

Virginia Madsen, on "A Prairie Home Companion." She was a very nice person. Her kids were on set. You can tell a lot about a person by their kids. I've raised a few. She was a very, very nice person. Greg Kinnear in "The Convincer." Justin Long in "Lumpy."

No, it's easy. Nothing more than making sure you're going at the proper speed and hit the right spot. You're paid good money to do the job. Your adrenaline flows.