What 15 Actors Had To Say About Doing Stunts
Vote up the best stunt stories.
Stunts have been a part of movies since the beginning of the medium. A whole industry of professionals works behind the scenes and in front of the camera to ensure stunts are performed safely and correctly. Still, some actors prefer to do their own stunts, while others rely on stunt people to make them look good – it's different for everyone, and some decisions are made out of injury or, on occasion, an embarrassing story.
Many high-profile actors have spoken out about their thoughts on doing stunts. Some are for doing them, while others oppose doing so because it puts stunt people out of work. Whatever their position, these actors talk or have spoken out about stuntwork and their experiences doing their own or having a professional step in and do it for them. Take a look below, and be sure to upvote your favorite actors before you go!
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- Deadpool
- 20th Century Fox
Ryan Reynolds has been in many action movies and spent most of his career doing his own stunts. That eventually changed, though. These days, he lets the professionals do their work. After he was seriously injured filming 2013's Safe House, Reynolds was done, explaining why in an interview with Empire:
I've had some bad injuries doing stunts. I broke a couple of vertebrae in my neck. It was a bad situation. I remember the doctor sitting in the office – it was about the seventh time I had been there that year – and he writes on a prescription pad, rips off the note, and it reads ‘Stuntman.’ Point taken. So now I use four different guys that come with me. Thankfully nothing scary happened on this one [The Hitman's Bodyguard].
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- Machete
- 20th Century Fox
Some actors love doing their own stunts, while others prefer not to. It's up to the individual as to why they choose to put their body on the line and why others choose not to. Actors' reasoning for doing so is not always clear. That can't be said for Danny Trejo, who not only doesn't do his own stunts, he's vocal about why.
Trejo did a Facebook live interview with Yahoo! Movies, and he had something to say when it came to actors doing their own stunts:
I know that all the big stars hate me to say this, but I don’t want to risk 80 people’s jobs just to say I got big huevos on The Tonight Show. Because that’s what happens. I think a big star just sprained an ankle doing a stunt, and 80 or 180 people are out of a job… We have stunt people who do that stuff. And if they get hurt, I’m sorry to say, but they just need to put a mustache on another Mexican, and we can keep going. But if I get hurt, everybody’s out of a job. So I don’t choose to do that.
Trejo has often spoken about his insistence on letting the stunt people do their jobs. In 2014, he told Fox News that he wouldn't want to “risk 80 people's jobs just so I can say I have big nuts. I don’t want to say that. Norm Mora is my stunt man; that’s his profession.”
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- The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
- Universal Pictures
Throughout much of the 1990s and early 2000s, Brenden Fraser was one of the biggest actors working in Hollywood. He was the star of The Mummy franchise and so much more, but he faded into the background for several years. One reason for this was the accumulated damage he'd taken over the years filming action sequences.
Fraser sat down with GQ to discuss his life and what happened in the early aughts. He explained, "By the time I did the third Mummy picture in China, I was put together with tape and ice – just, like, really nerdy and fetishy about ice packs. Screw-cap ice packs and downhill-mountain-biking pads, 'cause they're small and light and they can fit under your clothes. I was building an exoskeleton for myself daily.”
Fraser required a lot of medical care to get back on the mend, including a laminectomy. "I needed a laminectomy. And the lumbar didn't take, so they had to do it again a year later.” Additionally, he needed a partial knee replacement and some vertebrae management, and his vocal cords required repair. Yikes.
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- Premium Rush
- Sony Pictures Releasing
Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been acting since he was a kid, and he's been in plenty of action movies over the years. He's been injured on the job, requiring 30 stitches during one incident while filming Premium Rush, and he takes his work seriously. Though he puts his body through the paces to prepare for a role, he rarely does his own stunts.
During a discussion with Vanity Fair, Levitt described waking up sore every day from all the work he put into preparing for the movie. Regarding his work in Premium Rush, he said, “…you know, that’s part of the job, and it’s fun. And then, slowly but surely, you get into shape, and then you can do it all day.” Still, he was clear about who did the stunt work:
Let’s be clear: I didn’t do my own stunts in this movie. I don’t like it when actors say that they did their own stunts. I rode the bike all day, every day, but there’s me and four other guys who all had different specialties on the bike. One of them is a real bike messenger, one of them is a Hollywood stuntman, one’s good at tricks on a trials bike, and one’s good at tricks on a fixed-gear track bike. And they’re all in the movie, and they’re all brilliant. And you know, the thrills in Premium Rush don’t come from big C.G. sequences. They come from watching these really talented, skilled athletes do crazy things on two wheels.
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- Armour of God
- Miramax Films
If you're a Jackie Chan fan, you already know the man will go to extreme lengths to film a movie. Chan is arguably one of the best stunt performers in the world, and he also happens to be a talented actor and martial artist. Chan does all of his own stunts and has for decades, but it can be costly.
Many of his films play bloopers through the credits, often featuring shots of Chan being injured. Of all his stunts, his most dangerous came when he was 32 while filming Armour of God in 1986. The stunt was so dangerous it nearly felled him, and he did it more than once.
The first take was perfect, but Chan always likes to repeat a stunt because the man is a perfectionist. While his first attempt of jumping onto a tree from a ledge worked, the second time he tried it, he grabbed hold of a branch that snapped, sending him down onto his back with his head hitting a rock. He explained what happened in an interview with Role Recall.
Chan explained that the first take “wasn't fast enough. ... I wanted to [swing] like a monkey,” so he did a second take and came colliding down. “My whole body was numb. [I] almost died..” Fortunately, the medics rushed him to the hospital, where emergency surgery saved his life.
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- John Wick: Chapter 4
- Lionsgate
Keanu Reeves has been in a lot of action films over the years, beginning with films like Speed and Point Break before becoming a genre icon with the Matrix and John Wick franchises. Throughout his career, Reeves has learned to fight, shoot, and move so he could best portray his characters, but if you ask him if he does his own stunts, his answer may surprise you.
During an appearance on the Smartless podcast, he explained, “I do action. It's a big difference.” To Reeves, getting hit by a car is a stunt requiring the work of a professional, but fighting a bad guy – that's “action,” and he doesn't see it as stuntwork. Reeves expanded on his work, saying the following when he was asked how he continues making action films:
That’s the joy of it. Like, it’s not easy, man. But if you can do it, if you can try if you can climb the mountain. Who gives a — who cares [how hard it is]?! Hard, schmard! Whatever, let’s go!
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- Home Alone
- 20th Century Fox
Home Alone tells the story of a young man left at home during a family Christmas trip. He spends his time preparing his house for a couple of burglars and puts the two men through hell in his obstacle course of immense danger. You're not alone if you've watched the movie and wondered how they survived it all.
Some of the stunts required the actors and their stunt performers to throw their body around and take on a lot of punishment. Joe Pesci, who plays Harry in the film, was seriously burned when a rigged flamethrower cooks his head. The actor spoke about this in an interview with People on the 30th anniversary of the film's sequel:
In addition to the expected bumps, bruises, and general pains that you would associate with that particular type of physical humor, I did sustain serious burns to the top of my head during the scene where Harry's hat is set on fire.
While that was unfortunate, Pesci appreciated the stunt performers who did most of the work, saying, "I was fortunate enough to have professional stuntmen do the real heavy stunts. It was a nice change of pace to do that particular type of slapstick comedy. The Home Alone movies were a more physical type of comedy, therefore, a little more demanding.”
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- Deliverance
- Warner Bros.
Burt Reynolds did many of his own stunts throughout his career, often putting his body and life on the line to get a good take. One scene, in particular, was incredibly dangerous, and in a discussion with Business Insider, he described the stunt as “a dumb macho thing to do.”
I went over the falls in Deliverance, and I hit a rock and cracked my tailbone. I tell everyone I was a 31-year-old guy in great shape before I went over the falls. And once I got in, they couldn't find me. I remembered one of the stunt guys said to me before the stunt, 'If you get caught in the hydrofoil and you can't get out, go to the bottom, and it will shoot you right out,' but he didn't tell me it was like being shot out of a torpedo. I came out of the river about a mile away, it seemed like, and I came out with no clothes. I had no shoes, [or] socks — the falls tore them off. It was a pretty hairy stunt.
Reynolds may have hurt himself badly while filming Deliverance, but he has a lot of respect for actors who do the same, calling Tom Cruise “very brave with the stuff that he does.” Still, despite this, he told Business Insider he wished he let his longtime stuntman Hal Needham take on more than he let him:
When it's cold, and I'm limping around, I think, 'Why didn't I let Hal [Needham] make some money, and I just sit down?' But you can't go back.
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- Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
- Paramount Pictures
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves hit theaters in early 2023 to widespread critical acclaim. That's a big deal considering previous adaptations of the fantasy role-playing game haven't captured the public's imagination in the way fans would have liked.
The new film features an all-star cast, including Chris Pine as Edgin Darvis. Throughout the film, Pine can be seen running, jumping, fighting, and getting in on the action, but it's not Pine. In reality, all Pine did was run on camera - preferring to leave the stuntwork to the professionals - as he revealed in a conversation with Pinkvilla at the film's premiere:
I don’t do any stunts in this film. Nothing. I have no action. All I do is run. Run away from s**t. All these poor schmucks had to do all this martial arts training on the weekends, and I was taking walks on the beach. I was reading, [and] caught up on my Netflix. I had a great time.
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- Thor: Ragnarok
- Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Chris Pratt tends to do his own stunts when he's able to, and he gave it the old college try while filming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. During an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Pratt discussed filming the movie, and he explained some of the stuntwork, saying, “We were suspended from wires. We did a whole bunch of stunts.”
When Meyers asked him, “All go good?” Pratt was quick to say, “Not necessarily. Yeah, no. I got my bell rung pretty good one time. I got essentially knocked out.” Unfortunately, he didn't elaborate fully on his experience, but Pratt acknowledged the dangerous nature of stuntwork.
Pratt explained that he didn't have plans to stop doing his own stunts but realizes he won't be able to do them forever, saying, “I am getting to that point now… where it's like you gotta stop doing that because stunt people are way better than me at it.”
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- Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
- Warner Bros. Pictures
Margot Robbie prefers to do her own stunts whenever possible, and she's put her body through a lot. To prepare for Suicide Squad, she learned to hold her breath for five minutes underwater for a single scene. Playing Harley Quinn has put her through many action sequences, and they take a toll.
While describing her work in Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), Robbie told British Vogue just how it affects her body:
There are explosions and guns firing. And even though they’re blanks, your body starts reacting as if it’s real; your adrenaline’s through the roof.
She explained that she has difficulty sleeping at night “[b]ecause, well, [her] body thinks it’s just been in a war zone.”
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- Santa Clarita Diet
- Netflix
Drew Barrymore has spent almost her entire life in front of the camera, beginning acting at a very early age. She's been in a ton of movies, including several action films. When she was filming the two Charlie's Angels movies, she did her own stunts whenever possible. That's no longer the case, and it's due to a horrible experience filming Santa Clarita Diet.
While rehearsing a stunt for the series, things went horribly wrong, which Barrymore described as “very serious.”. The scene involved Barrymore holding onto an actor from a height, but when she went to grab him, she didn't get a good grip. The show's creator, Victor Fresco, explained:
Then he held onto her legs as she slipped off, and so she just pivoted down all the way and just hit her head. I thought, 'That's it. We've killed Drew Barrymore.'
Barrymore was out for a week, but she returned to the set with only one stipulation: she was done doing her own stunts. “Coming back, it was scary. Everyone was really tense. I love this group of people, who aren't family necessarily, are coming together and care about my well-being. It was a nice moment where you see the good in people." Barrymore later told People:
I will never do my own stunts again. That was the end of a wonderful era. I can look back at a bunch of movies that I totally was a baller and always threw myself in there. I whip it in Charlie’s Angels! But I will never do a stunt again because I could’ve died, and it was really scary.
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- Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
- Paramount Pictures
Tom Cruise has been doing his own stunts for decades, and he seems to up the ante with each film. Over the years, he's learned to pilot a helicopter, scale the tallest building in the world, and perfect all manner of fighting moves to play characters like Ethan Hunt from the Mission: Impossible franchise.
The man is dedicated to his craft, but one stunt he performed didn't make his mother very happy. In Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation, Cruise starts the movie by holding on to the outside of an airplane that takes flight. He's really doing that in the film. Of course, he's on cables that aren't visible in the final shot, but it is him.
During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Cruise spoke about his career and all the stuntwork he's done over the years. He explained that his mother wasn't pleased with the opening of that particular film:
I showed her when I was on the A400, the side of the airplane in Rogue Nation, and she was like, ‘Honey, is that you on the side of that airplane?’ I said, ‘Yes, ma’am,’ and she goes, ‘Oh lordy, I’m so glad you didn’t tell me about that one.’
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- The Woman King
- Sony Pictures Releasing
Viola Davis's The Woman King performance showcases her intense acting range alongside some impressive stunts. The film features a ton of action – it's a war movie, after all, and Davis's Nanisca is at the center of most of it. Nanisca is the commanding general of the Agojie, a unit of all-female warriors, so she's where the action is.
When casting was underway for the movie, the prospective actors had to do physical tests, including a swimming trial and others examining their physicality. This was because the actors were meant to do their own stuntwork, which pushed many to their limits. Davis told Collider that one scene nearly broke her:
Well, I had to flip a man in the village raid scene when we come out of the grass, and then I battle this one guy and flip him over, and they said, 'Cut! Didn't work.' And I was like, ‘Wait, wait, wait. what?’ And then I think I may have done that 20 times. And I'm saying 20 times where you're literally flipping a 200-pound man over your back and your hip. And I thought to myself, there were times when I said, 'Okay, somebody else is going to have to do this role. They're going to have to call in another actress. We're going to have to ask Sony Studios for more money, and that's going to have to be it.' Because it really, we were like Agojie in terms of having battle scars.
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- Renfield
- Universal Pictures
Nicolas Cage has been in a ton of movies, and everyone knows he really goes for it each time he's on screen. In Renfield, Cage plays Dracula, and he brings a new level of animal ferocity to the role. Cage based much of his performance on Christopher Lee, though he took it in a bit of a different direction.
During a Q&A with JoBlo, Cage was asked about a fight scene between Dracula and some vampire hunters. Specifically, he was asked about the animal ferocity behind unleashing all of Dracula's might against his enemies. Cage explained that a lot of that was due to his input regarding the stuntwork and choreography of the scene:
This Eloquent Baron, or Lord or Count, speaks very well and maintains a gentlemanly feel to his social interactions. But lurking there, ready to strike, is the cobra and the panther. And so all of that animality was thought through with [Chris] Brewster, who was the stunt coordinator, who was working very closely with Chris McKay. The two Chris’s. And I wanted to augment the animality of Dracula’s counterpoint to his elegance as a so-called man. But when the demon comes out, it’s all animal on strike, and the animals are like top predators, like cats and snakes.
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