Actor doing his own stunts

wolfie138 · 13 Oct 2020 at 09:22

Don't think anyone will beat Jackie or Tom, both are total ****** nutters. Jackie should probably be dead a few times over by now, especially from the Armour of God incident. some of the stuff Tom does is just insane, apparently they had to hide the fact he did the rock climbing stuff in M:I2 from the studios in the dailies

The stuff on the Bhurj and that copter cargo net are just mental.

ZXSpectrum · 13 Oct 2020 at 13:34

As others have said I am really appreciative of the dedication these guys put into the role but I am sure that Tom Cruise doing his own stunts must add millions onto the production budget of a movie for his insurance alone. On top of that, and I hate to say it or think about, i can see one day someone getting seriously injured or even killed which will put an end to it as no company will insure a movie with an actor doing their own stunts.

vanpeebles · 14 Oct 2020 at 09:02

Hasslehoff did a fair bit of the driving on Knight Rider until he put the car sideways into a tree, and they suddenly realised how much it would cost if he got injured.

dowie · 14 Oct 2020 at 15:26

Isn't this partly allowed because he's often a producer too? Like lots of other actors simply wouldn't be allowed to perform stunt's themselves in the first place... not just because of insurance but also because the production team simply don't want to risk the lead or key supporting actor getting an injury and then messing up a load of carefully scheduled shoots, booked locations etc...

On the other hand, if you're both a lead actor and a producer then you have greater scope to do whatever you want.

Ninco! · 16 Oct 2020 at 20:57

Steve McQueen (Le Mans 1971) driving a Porsche 917. Probably one of the most infamous cars in motor sport history.

I think (quoting from memory) according to a recent documentary, for the final scene where he gives the V sign, McQueen wanted to look haggard (the vein in his temples to be pumping) so took the 917 for a blast for 3 laps around Le Sarthe before shooting.

James Garner was not to shabby as a driver in Grand Prix.

Hasn't Daniel Craig performed a few stunts (not to Tom Cruise level) fight scene's etc. Keeps getting knocked about.

PC777 · 16 Oct 2020 at 21:24

Jackie Chan a stunt artist rather than just a stunt man.

Jackie Chan movies as a kid in the 80's were so energetic, there was nothing like it, I'll always be grateful for Jonathon Ross doing a special on him in the mid to late 80s full of clips from Police Story and Armour of God, etc. That's how many people in the UK found out about him.

Police Story 1 was Oscar worthy IMO in multiple categories, truly utterly insane action for its time and super innovative.

Used to love his older drunken master style movies as well, he took some pretty good stunts in those too, I think in Young Master he took the most gnarly split legged nut cruncher when trying to dragon dance moves on a pole - it looked real and used crack me up a little kid.

Check out 1:16:40 onwards for the nut cruncher that looks pretty real, full commitment to the stunt. That's the full movie Young Master from 1980 but in Thai, some incredible fighting when Jackie was in his prime.

One of Jackie's stunt ensemble does an insane flip onto a pipe or something in a factory fight, just some of the greatest stunts and marital arts action there is.

3:07 onwards a couple of insane stunts from his ensemble. Benny the Jet with an amazing flying kick at the end, always looked so evil, such a great bad guy in many movies.

Always hated wire work stunts like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon by comparison.

pecnarf · 16 Oct 2020 at 21:46

well if we talking tv actors then maybe "Alex O'Loughlin" it well documented that he does his own stunts for shows he in and for the first 5 or so season he did 90% of his own stunts, due to injury's he got through filming H5O was part of the reason why there were some episode in a season where he was mia due to recovery and why he slow down on number of stunts he did himself. but jackie chan is still the grand master of stunts just watch the end credits of his moive where you see when the stunt when wrong.

Minusorange · 16 Oct 2020 at 22:36

Compared to believing in Scientology doing your own stunts is quite rational, unless him doing his own stunts and risking his life is him actually crying for help to escape his crazy alien invasion cult ?

wesimmo · 16 Oct 2020 at 22:47

I cant believe no one has mentioned Last of the Summer Wine yet.

Steampunk · 16 Oct 2020 at 23:46

I think it was Danny Trejo who said he didn't do his own stunts because if he hurt himself, he'd be responsible for potentially hundreds of people losing their jobs while the film production stopped or was cancelled.

I've got a lot of respect for Cruise's work (crazy personal religious beliefs aside). He's got a terrific body of work, and he does go above and beyond when it comes to stunts and doing his own dangerous acting.

Throrik · 17 Oct 2020 at 01:40

No mention of Buster Keaton doing crazy things in here?

SexyGreyFox · 17 Oct 2020 at 14:04

Throrik said:
No mention of Buster Keaton doing crazy things in here?

Ooh, good call

JRS · 23 Oct 2020 at 09:14

Ninco! said:
Steve McQueen (Le Mans 1971) driving a Porsche 917. Probably one of the most infamous cars in motor sport history.

I think (quoting from memory) according to a recent documentary, for the final scene where he gives the V sign, McQueen wanted to look haggard (the vein in his temples to be pumping) so took the 917 for a blast for 3 laps around Le Sarthe before shooting.

In a McQueen-related example - Bill Hickman, legendary stunt driver and coordinator, played one of the hitmen driving the black Dodge Charger in Bullitt. McQueen did some hard driving of the Mustang for close-up shots (when the interior mirror is folded up McQueen is driving, when it's down it's one of the stunt drivers), but every time you see the Charger sliding around it's Hickman driving it. He didn't have any lines (Paul Genge playing the other hitman has a few lines in the hospital earlier in the film), but he did more with facial expressions and a double-take at McQueen's 'stang in the mirror than most speaking-part actors ever do!

Side note - two Mustangs were used for filming, both of which had to be pretty heavily modified to upgrade the engine, suspension and brakes. Two Chargers were used...which had heavier duty shocks added and nothing else. Even modified, the Mustangs had all on staying with the Chargers

Also note at ~4 minutes into the chase vid, Hickman clipping the camera car on the side of the road after slightly overdoing it on one of the turns.

wolfie138 · 23 Oct 2020 at 13:24

Keanu did a load of his own stunts in the Wick films, fighting and some pretty capable driving stuff too. and damn, does he know how to handle firearms in real life. we wanna be right by him if there's a zombie apocalypse.

UTmaniac · 23 Oct 2020 at 14:16

One where things didn't go quite to plan for Tom...

Kyo · 23 Oct 2020 at 14:19

Didn't Keanu Reeves do his own stunts too for the John Wick films?

VincentHanna · 23 Oct 2020 at 19:32

wolfie138 said:
Keanu did a load of his own stunts in the Wick films, fighting and some pretty capable driving stuff too. and damn, does he know how to handle firearms in real life. we wanna be right by him if there's a zombie apocalypse.

Kyo said:
Didn't Keanu Reeves do his own stunts too for the John Wick films?

I hear Keanu did his own stunts for John Wick.