I'm starting this thread to discuss professional stuntmen in Hollywood and how they are sadly kept out of the limelight while they take all the risks!
Every now and again, you have the Hollywood star who makes a big deal about how they do their own stunts. Harrison Ford, for example, made a big deal about how he did so many of his own stunts in the Indiana Jones movies. But one of the greatest Hollywood stunts--the stunt in Raiders of the Lost Ark, in which Indy is pushed out of a truck by a "mean Nazi" (as, I think, the credits described him), after which he crawls under the truck and over the back and then pushes the "mean Nazi" out of the truck and runs over him was, sad to say, actually performed by a capable and experienced stunt double! Also, all manner of precautions were taken to ensure that the stunt was performed with caution to ensure minimal danger to those concerned! But Harrison Ford got all the credit for that death-defying stunt, not the anonymous stunt double!
Nowadays, thanks to CGI, the world of Hollywood stunts is taking on a whole new dimension. For example, in Gladiator, many of the fighting scenes were performed by professionally trained stunt doubles and Russell Crowe's face was "pasted" on thanks to CGI. If Russell Crowe--the Hollywood star--had performed the stunt himself, he would, in all likelihood, have been seriously injured!
Anyway, I'd like to throw this topic open for discussion and welcome your comments!
FYI, according to sources, the new Indiana Jones movie, currently in the works (apparently) promises that they will not use any CGI in their production, so it seems like that with the release of Indy IV, we will see a return to the old-fashioned Hollywood of live stunts (performed, of course, by death-defying Hollywood stunt doubles). Maybe that movie will bring live stunts back into vogue again! Who knows!
Every now and again, you have the Hollywood star who makes a big deal about how they do their own stunts. Harrison Ford, for example, made a big deal about how he did so many of his own stunts in the Indiana Jones movies. But one of the greatest Hollywood stunts--the stunt in Raiders of the Lost Ark, in which Indy is pushed out of a truck by a "mean Nazi" (as, I think, the credits described him), after which he crawls under the truck and over the back and then pushes the "mean Nazi" out of the truck and runs over him was, sad to say, actually performed by a capable and experienced stunt double! Also, all manner of precautions were taken to ensure that the stunt was performed with caution to ensure minimal danger to those concerned! But Harrison Ford got all the credit for that death-defying stunt, not the anonymous stunt double!
Nowadays, thanks to CGI, the world of Hollywood stunts is taking on a whole new dimension. For example, in Gladiator, many of the fighting scenes were performed by professionally trained stunt doubles and Russell Crowe's face was "pasted" on thanks to CGI. If Russell Crowe--the Hollywood star--had performed the stunt himself, he would, in all likelihood, have been seriously injured!
Anyway, I'd like to throw this topic open for discussion and welcome your comments!
FYI, according to sources, the new Indiana Jones movie, currently in the works (apparently) promises that they will not use any CGI in their production, so it seems like that with the release of Indy IV, we will see a return to the old-fashioned Hollywood of live stunts (performed, of course, by death-defying Hollywood stunt doubles). Maybe that movie will bring live stunts back into vogue again! Who knows!