Stunt work is one of the most dangerous professions in the world.Professional stunt people risk their lives to create the perfect on-screen shot or sequenceand are the unsung heroes of the film industry. There has been quite an argument for the Oscars to create a category that honors stunts, but this has yet to come to fruition.
While stunt work is mostly done by professionals in film, there are some actors so dedicated to their craft that they have performed their own stunts.Despite other options like CGI, these actors were brave (or insane) enough to put their bodies on the line,creating some of cinema’s most memorable stunts and embodying the action heroes they play.
10Carrie-Anne Moss - ‘The Matrix Reloaded’ (2003)
Directed by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski
Carrie-Anne Mossplays Trinity, Neo’s (Keanu Reeves) love interest inThe Matrixmovies. The films see Neo, the chosen one, leading the fight against the machines, who have trapped humanity in a simulation. Like her co-star Reeves, Moss performed a lot of her own stunts for the action and martial arts heavy film.
One of her most impressive stunts is in the very first fight scene in the sequel,The Matrix Reloaded, where Trinity tackles a group of security guards. Moss performs the ‘scorpion kick’, where she leans forward and swings one leg over her head.The kick was invented for the film by choreographer Yuen Woo-ping and took six months for Moss to master.Her dedication was worth it, as it looks completely badass on screen.
The Matrix Reloaded
9Burt Reynolds - ‘Deliverance’ (1972)
Directed by John Boorman
Burt Reynoldsstarred in the 1972 Oscar-nominated thrillerDeliverance. The actor plays Lewis Medlock, who takes his friends on a canoeing trip on the Cahulawassee River so they can see it before it gets converted into a dam. However, the trip soon turns into a nightmare thanks to dangerous rapids and unwelcoming locals.
Reynolds performed one of the most dangerous stunts in film history in a scene where his character flings himself down rocky rapids in a canoe.Director John Boorman originally wanted a dummy for the stunt, but Reynolds thought it would look better if it was actually him. While his dedication is admirable, it was not the wisest thing to do, with the actor cracking his coccyx in the process.
Deliverance
8Jason Statham - ‘Crank’ (2006)
Directed by Brian Taylor and Mark Neveldine
Jason Stathamis one of modern cinema’s biggest action heroes, having trained in martial arts and even competed as a diver at the Commonwealth Games. Most of what audiences see Statham do on screen is real, but there is one particular stunt from his career that is utterly terrifying. In the filmCrank, Statham plays an assassin who is injected with a poison that will kill him if his heart rate drops.
In the final climax, where the film’s villain tries to escape on a helicopter, Statham clambers onto it and grabs hold. The two men fight each other in the air, and here, Statham is actually hanging off that helicopter.All that was stopping him from imminent death was a belt and wire, but Statham was adamant about doing the scene without CGI, thinking it would look better.
7Jackie Chan - ‘Police Story’ (1985)
Directed by Jackie Chan
Jackie Chanis an icon when it comes to martial arts in cinema, having performed many dangerous stunts throughout his career. A standout is in the ‘80s action-comedyPolice Story, where Chan plays Officer Kevin Chan. When he is framed for murdering another police officer, he must clear his name. The film’s biggest stunt comes at the end of the movie, where Chan watches the villain escape from the top of a mall.
To catch him, he jumps twenty feet from one escalator to another, slides down a pole that explodes, and leaps through a pane of glass. The stunt is visually spectacular, proving Chan to be a master of his craft.However, it was later noted that actual light bulbs were used to heat up the pole, causing Chan to receive second-degree burns on his palms.
Police Story
6Daniel Craig - ‘Casino Royale’ (2006)
Directed by Martin Campbell
Casino RoyalemarkedDaniel Craig’s first outing as James Bond, and the actor went all-out when it came to embodying the spy and performing in the film’s action sequences. When Bond is sent out on his first mission, he must defeat a private banker funding terrorists through a high-stakes poker game.
In the film’s opening scene, Craig chases a bomb maker on foot, which sees him jump onto a construction crane two hundred feet in the air.Craig physically fights his opponent while balancing on the crane, with open ground far below them, and even makes the large jump from one crane to another look effortless.If there was ever any doubt that Craig was the perfect new Bond, this stunt dispelled it completely.
Casino Royale
5Tom Cruise - ‘Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation’ (2015)
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie
One name comes to mind when somebody mentions stunt work, and that isTom Cruise.The actor is known for putting his life on the line and performing death-defying stuntsin films like theMission: Impossiblefranchise. InMission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) tries to avoid being captured by the CIA and prove the existence of the Syndicate.
There are several mind-blowing stunts performed by Cruise in this movie, such as scaling a skyscraper, but the craziest one occurs in the film’s opening scene.As Hunt tries to intercept nerve gas being sold to terrorists, Cruise jumps onto the side of a plane and hangs on as it flies five thousand feet into the air. The actor wanted the scene to feel as realistic as possible, so he was only supported by a single harness.
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
4Harrison Ford - ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (1981)
Directed by Steven Speilberg
TheIndiana Jonesmovies laid the groundwork for all the adventure films that followed, withHarrison Fordembodying the iconic archaeologist. In his early days as Jones, Ford performed most of his own stunts, with the most memorable being inRaiders of the Lost Ark. In the film, Jones must fight the Nazis in order to find the Ark of the Covenant.
In the movie’s opening sequence, Indy is chased by a giant boulder after trying to steal a Golden Idol from a temple. Ford had to outrun the boulder himself, and luckily, he was quick on his feet. The large boulder was made out of wood, plaster, and fiberglass, and a mechanical arm was in place to slow down the boulder if needed, but it still could have done some considerable damage.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
3Angelina Jolie - ‘Salt’ (2010)
Directed by Phillip Noyce
Angelina Jolieperformed all of her own stunts in the 2010 thrillerSalt. Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent who goes on the run after being accused of planning the assassination of the Russian president.Janene Carletonwas hired as Jolie’s stunt double but ended up being more of an understudy if Jolie couldn’t perform her stunts. In the end, she became more of an observer, as Jolie stuck it out.
In the film’s most jaw-dropping sequence, Jolie leaps off a bridge, lands on top of a speeding truck, then jumps onto two more trucks before finally jacking a motorcyclist and escaping between lanes of stopped traffic.Jolie may be a humanitarian in real life,but it turns out she’s just as badass in front of the camera.
2Buster Keaton - ‘Steamboat Bill, Jr’ (1928)
Directed by Charles Reisner
Buster Keatonwas the ultimate pioneer for stunt work in the early days of cinemaand performed perhaps the most iconic movie stunt ever in the silent filmSteamboat Bill, Jr.The story follows William Canfield Jr. (Keaton), the son of a riverboat captain who joins his father’s crew. In the film’s famous ‘falling house’ scene, a giant house facade falls on top of him after damage from a tornado.
Luckily, Keaton happens to be positioned in the hole for an attic window, avoiding getting crushed. It’s ironic that the stunt didn’t perform any movement from Keaton, but one step wrong on his part could have been fatal. The scene is visually heart-stopping and has been parodied endlessly in shows and films likeMacGyverandJackass.
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
With the release ofMission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, audiences may question whether or not Tom Cruise has a death wish. In the franchise’s seventh installment, Ethan Hunt and the IMF team must track down an artificial intelligence that could destroy humanity if in the wrong hands.
The film features Cruise’s most dangerous stunt ever, and what some even label as the biggest stunt in cinema history. Simply put, Cruise drives a motorcycle off a cliff, flies off the bike, and parachutes to the ground.Cruise free-falling needs to be seen to be believed, and the stunt took hours of training to get right. At this point, you can’t really separate the character from the actor. Tom Cruise literally is Ethan Hunt.
