Inside the World of Stunt Drivers. By Frankie Wallace.
Stunt drivers are a bit of an enigma, or at least that’s what writers and directors would have us believe. Some on-screen stunt drivers even have a sadistic side, like Death Proof’s Stuntman Mike, played by Kurt Russell. Others are complex and troubled, including Ryan Gosling’s “The Driver,” who works as a stuntman by day and assists fast-moving criminals by night.
But what of the stunt performers who actually pulled off the moves in films such as Death Proof and Drive? Gosling and Russell get all the credit, but their roles wouldn’t be possible or believable without talented stunt drivers to do the proverbial dirty work.
Although stunt drivers rarely grace magazine covers or sit for interviews, they are crucial to the industry and work in a very impressive capacity behind the scenes. Let’s take a look into the lives and careers of Hollywood stunt drivers, some of whom are responsible for the best cinematic car chases of all time.
Famous Stunt Drivers Throughout History
There are a few household names in the world of stunt driving, of course, such as the daredevil Evel Knievel and stunt driver Bill Hickman. For his part, Hickman is considered one of the most accomplished drivers in the film industry, with 1971’s The French Connection standing out as one of his most notable roles. The film’s famous chase scene was actually performed in real traffic conditions on 86th Street in Brooklyn.
But for every stunt driving star like Hickman, there’s a group of talented drivers poised to break into the big time. One of those drivers worked as a stunt driver Death Proof, in fact. Director Quentin Tarantino was looking for the world’s “most adventurous and unhinged stuntmen and women” when he tapped Buddy Joe Hooker to drive in the film’s most devastating scene, a head-on collision between a 1970 Chevy Nova and a Honda Civic.
No CGI was used in the Death Proof crash scene, which helped to solidify Hooker’s place in stunt driving history. (Although some would argue that Hooker’s notoriety was sealed in 1978, with the release of Hooper.) Starring Burt Reynolds, Hooper paid tribute to the stunt performance industry, undervalued at the time, and featured spectacular driving stunts performed by Hooker.
The Hazards of Stunt Driving
For stunt drivers, safety risks come with the territory. While stunt drivers must undergo plenty of training and certification, driving is a risky profession. For instance, Hickman actually hit another vehicle in an unscripted accident during the filming of The French Connection. And any number of things could have gone wrong when Hooker was getting ready to crash a Nova into a Honda at high speeds on a dark country road.
Even when filmmakers correctly follow all safety guidelines during the execution of a stunt, accidents can sometimes happen. In 2017, for example, motorcycle stunt driver Joi Harris was killed while performing on the set of Deadpool 2. Death is rare in the industry, however. In fact, Harris’ death in 2017 was Hollywood’s first stunt-related fatality since 2002.
Minor injuries, though, are common among stunt drivers, including whiplash, which is a neck injury that can be severe. Whiplash is caused by a series of movements and contractions of the neck that can occur in the event of a sudden collision. Symptoms of whiplash can be further compounded with the onset of chronic headaches, often requiring prescription medication to effectively manage.
Pursuing a Stunt Driving Career
Despite its inherent dangers, stunt driving remains a lucrative and desirable profession. Some of the industry’s top names have made millions and received industry-wide acclaim. It’s easy to see why those with an adventurous spirit may be drawn to a career in stunt driving. But pro stunt drivers like Hooker and Hickman had to put in years of work before realizing their dreams.
Those who want to follow in the footsteps of stunt driving greats should also expect to put in long hours of training and practice before getting on set. Driving fast on the highway is no substitute for professional training and certification. Across the U.S., there are numerous performance driving schools that focus on providing a sort of “race-car experience,” which is a great place to start on the path towards a stunt-driving career.
Finally, keep in mind that stunt driving on film may end up looking much more exciting than the reality. Thanks to modern technology and the preference of CGI over practical effects, some stunt drivers don’t even have to get behind the wheel. For example, driver Jeremy Fry spent most of his time harnessed to the roof while filming 2017’s Baby Driver. Fry’s job was more akin to manipulating a remote control car, albeit a life-size one.
But that doesn’t mean that Fry’s effects weren’t as spectacular as those created via analog channels. Sitting in a cage atop the movie’s modified vehicle, Fry was tasked with maintaining a steady course while principal actors sat inside the vehicle and filmed a scene.
Final Thoughts
In today’s modern, digital-based film industry, stunt driving has become increasingly complex and nuanced. But no matter the methodology, the exciting results of professional stunt driving still include death-defying jumps, high-speed chases, and precision movement.
We all have those friends who can never seem to put their glory days as a young athlete behind them. Decades after their career has been over they’ll jump at any chance to talk about their struggles, triumphs, victory and defeats. Infinite Football directed by Corneliu Proumboiu is kind of like that. But with a twist.
In a desolate and seemingly abandoned park, the opening scene shows the film’s subject, Laurentiu Ginghina recalling his last game as a football player when a devastating injury left him with a broken tibia and derailed his future plans of going to university to study forestry.
A year later, an additional leg injury in a factory further sidetracked him. Now middle aged and working as a paper pushing bureaucrat, Laurentiu has some ideas on how to change the game that left him with nothing more than a lifetime of disappointments. And he wants to share them.
Occasionally getting sidetracked with tales of the many detours his life has taken since that fateful day on the field, Larentiu explains in great detail adjustments he thinks would make the game safer and perhaps prevent injuries like the one he had sustained.
No right angles on the field, separating teams into sub-teams, restricting player and ball movement are just a few of what he has in mind. And whether he is talking about his life’s many failures and frustrations or completely upending the tradition of a game that has been played for over 150 years, his nonchalant storytelling style seems to depict at man at peace with where he is in life. His obsession with the incident that left him hobbled as a teenager and set the course of his life in a completely new direction says different.
Told plainly and as straightforward as possible, his meandering monologues on irrigation systems in the Sierra Nevada or orange farms in Florida are chapters but not the whole story. The whole story is about a man so obsessed with a single life event, he will spend his life hatching ways it could have been avoided.
At times both sad and darkly comic, Infinite Football is an interesting, albeit simply told, account of the changes you’d make if you could go back and make them.
“The Way Back,” as much a relationship drama as it is a sports drama, stars Ben Affleck as Jack Cunningham, a down-on-his luck construction worker who is recently separated from his wife, drinks continually, and mopes about. His drinking is so bad that he has to be helped home on a regular basis by someone at the local bar.
One day he gets a call asking him to coach basketball at the Catholic high school where he was once a star. He refuses at first, but eventually agrees to take the job. As in many sports movies, the team has been on a long losing streak so he knows it won’t be easy. But it’s a challenge he needs at this point in his life.
When Cunningham is introduced to the team by the assistant coach Dan (Al Madrigal), they are lacking in any discipline or unity. While Cunningham tries to energize and motivate them, we still see them losing game-after-game by huge margins. Eventually, we do see them start winning, as they seem to be genuinely enjoying and believing in themselves.
Despite the success of the team, Cunningham still struggles with his drinking and has to find ways to conceal that aspect of his life from the team. A scene where he meets with his ex-wife for lunch and another one where he attends a boy’s birthday party do a good job illustrating the demons that he has been dealing with.
However, I found there to be too many shots of Affleck’s character in the shower drinking a beer. Also, while the film tries to steer clear of the usual feel-good, happy sports genre formula with its realistic feel, the team’s turnaround seemed to come about too quickly.
While I thought that the players on the team all gave decent performances, I would have liked to have known them better. The best parts of the film are when Affleck has one-on-one scenes with them off the basketball court, letting himself and the players open up about their lives and struggles.
Affleck is excellent in the role, giving an understated, vulnerable performance, reportedly inspired by his own marital hardships. Madrigal is also quite effective in a smaller role, as someone who tries to help keep both the team as well as Affleck’s character on track.
The Way Back effectively shows how redemption and recovery can be a slow, but in the end, cathartic process. The finale is open-ended and hopeful, but has a true to life feel to it.
As America stays home taking up new hobbies — cooking, deep-cleaning, reading, taking part in stupid social media challenges and binge-watching, I thought it was a good time to make up a list of some of my favorite movies from the last decade that may have flown under your radar.
None of these movies exist to make you feel better about the world that appears to be collapsing around you so if you need a good, old fashioned cheer-me-up flick than I suggest checking out some of the fine titles available to you on Disney+.
But if you’re looking for dark, funny, darkly funny, dry, cringe-inducing, thrilling, frightening, off-beat and original movies to truly take you out of the moment and make you feel something real (but not so real as to make you remember what is happening outside your living room (whether that something be good, bad or in between is open to interpretation)) then there is something on this list for you.
Thunder Road (2018) — Available on Amazon Prime
Written and Directed by Jim Cummings
Starring: Jim Cummings Kendall Farr and Nican Robinson
Based on the short film of the same name, Jim Cummings parlayed his Sundance Film Festival victory into funding for this character study on a southern man balancing grief and fatherhood that will make you want to cry, cringe and laugh all within seconds of one another.
The story of a small town police officer trying to connect with his young daughter as he mourns the loss of his own mother, Thunder Road starts with one of the most beautiful train wrecks ever committed to screen (I mean that both metaphorically and in the best possible way) as Officer Jim Arnaud has a mental breakdown on the altar while eulogising his dance instructor mom with an interpretive dance to her favorite song, “Thunder Road” by Bruce Springsteen.
Watch the original short consisting of that scene here to see if it suits your taste. While self-distributing his film, Cummings’ marketing research showed him that his biggest fans were adults who enjoyed both Danny McBride and Pixar movies. That just about describes the tone better than I could ever hope to.
The Meyerowitz Stories: New and Selected (2017) — Available on Netflix
Written and Directed by Noah Baumbach
Starring: Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman
Even before 2019’s Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach had established himself as the world’s leading authority on cinematic family dysfunction. Throughout his critically-acclaimed career, the Oscar nominee has a knack for identifying the eccentricities, flaws and shortcomings we see within ourselves and our loved ones as well as the way we allow ourselves to accept them.
Hoffman stars as an aging sculptor whose adult children struggle not only to deal with their relationship with him, but also with the way his ego, insecurities and emotional handicaps have affected their relationships with each other and their own kids. Baumbach has often responded to people who ask why his movies are always about dysfunctional families by asking what qualifies as a functional family. Once you’ve spent some time with the Meyerowitz kids, you may be wondering that yourself.
The Bling Ring (2013) — Available on Netflix
Written and Directed by: Sofia Coppola
Starring: Emma Watson, Israel Broussard, Leslie Mann
It would have been easy to feel bad for Hollywood-scion Sofia Coppola had her only contribution to cinema been the historically bad performance she turned in as Mary Corleone in her father’s notoriously disappointing The Godfather Part III. Luckily for her, and the rest of us, she found her artistic voice behind the camera and went on to become one of her generation’s best filmmakers.
Taking its story from real life events, Coppola’s The Bling Ring follows a group of privileged teens who used the internet to identify vacant celebrity homes and stole around $3 million in jewellery, clothing and cash. Knowing the story won’t end well from the start adds an extra layer of anxiety to the scenes involving the lifestyle-obsessed teens snapping selfies in the homes of Paris Hilton and other stars. With each mistake you find yourself wanting to scream at the characters through the screen, even though you don’t necessarily root for or like them very much. If at all.
Lady Bird (2017) — Available on Amazon Prime
Written and Directed by Greta Gerwig
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Lucas Hedges and Timmy Chalamet
Independent film queen Greta Gerwig’s solo directorial debut was one of the most acclaimed movies of 2017, earning five Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Director, Lead Female Actor, Supporting Female Actor and Screenplay. So I’m not sure how this one would have missed you but if it has, now is the time to watch.
Arguably the best coming of age movie of my lifetime, if not ever, Lady Bird is centered around a rebellious teen trying to figure out what type of life awaits her once she is freed from her Catholic, lower-middle class upbringing in Sacramento. Filled with all the know-it-all posturing that most high school seniors employ to get their nervous parents off their back along with the uncertainty that lies just beneath all that phony posturing, Lady Bird ranks up with Dazed and Confused, The Breakfast Club, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and any other high school flick you could think of.
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) — Available on Amazon Prime
Written and Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake and John Goodman
Depressing, gray and shepherding you through a seemingly endless cycle of disappointment, the meandering tale of Llewyn Davis isn’t going to make you stand up and clap. Think of it as the anti- Bohemian Rhapsody.
While the worn-out assembly line plot of the standard Hollywood musical biopic zips us through the successes of its subject and into super stardom, the Coen Brothers and their tale of a fictional musician trying to make a name for himself in 1960s Greenwich Village focuses more on its star’s (many) failures. Both personal and professional. Making it more like the true arc of most artistic careers than any film made about any actual existing artist.
A fantastic soundtrack, top of the line supporting turns from an eclectic roster of actors and their signature bone dry humor all make this a sleeper of the Coens’ filmography. Oh, and, it also has Adam Driver meowing at a cat.
Good Time (2017) — Available on Netlfix
Directed by Josh and Benny Safdie
Written by Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Benny Safdie, Jennifer Jason Leigh
The Safdie Brothers may have reached a new level of notoriety with last year’s Uncut Gems, but it was this Robert Pattinson-starring adrenaline shot to the heart that gave the New York brothers the pull they needed to get their passion project off the ground.
Pattinson stars as a low-life Queens crook who races through the lower bowels of his borough over the course of one night in hopes of securing enough cash to bail his mentally disabled brother out of jail after a disastrous bank robbery attempt. You will not enjoy a single character in this movie and as a result, you may not “enjoy” the movie itself. But that will not stop you from sticking it through to the end and leaning forward the entire time as Pattison’s character jumps through hoop after hoop, each bad decision leading directly to another.
Mississippi Grind (2015) — Available on Netflix
Written and Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck
Starring: Ben Mendelsohn, Ryan Reynolds and Yvonne Landry
No movie (no, not even Deadpool) has better utilised Ryan Reynolds’ smooth-talking charmer persona than this story of a gambling addict trying to claw his way out of rock-bottom who falls under the spell of a charismatic hustler.
While a lot of gambling movies up the ante (pun intended) by simply raising the dollar amounts, this movie forgoes big bankrolls and adds desperation to each hand by making you feel the gut-punch of every dollar lost by our “hero.” Taking us through the seedy backrooms of the American south, Mississippi Grind doesn’t make you feel like a winning hand will get you into the World Series of Poker as much as it makes you feel like a losing hand will land you in the E.R. with a few broken thumbs. Should you be so lucky.
Hereditary (2018) — Available on Amazon Prime
Written and Directed by Ari Aster
Starring: Toni Collette, Sharpiro and Gabriel Byrne
Immediately following the first time I saw Ari Aster’s feature debut I turned on The Office to cleanse my palate of the unnerving pathos that engulfs this horror story about family, mental illness, possession and, just as importantly, devil worshiping.
As I watched, my palms sweat and my stomach was in knots. After I watched, I knew that for no reason would I ever choose to watch this movie again. But that won’t stop me from recommending you put yourself through those same side-effects. No movie has ever filled me with such dread and in trying times like these, it helps to be reminded how to feel. Even if those feelings suck.
Eighth Grade (2018) — Available on Amazon Prime
Written and Directed by Bo Burnham
Starring: Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton and Emily Robinson
Not since Marky Mark has a white rapper pivoted more successfully from goofy hip-hop star to respected artist, though Bo Burnham’s transition from tapping the keyboard in his bedroom to acclaimed filmmaker may have contained less self-seriousness than Wahlberg’s lane change. His debut as a writer-director is a funny, sweet and sharp look at the age when health class becomes less and less about just eating your veggies and participating in Phys-Ed.
And even if the well-worn story is laced with things specific to modern times such as YouTube and Snapchat, it still manages to feel completely timeless with a story that will resonate with people who grew up when a device like the iPhone was considered science fiction. Awkward and uncomfortable but ultimately funny and heartwarming,Eighth Grade makes you feel pretty damn close to how you felt in eighth grade.
Honey Boy (2019) — Available on Amazon Prime
Directed by Alma Har’el
Written by Shia LaBeouf
Starring: Lucas Hedges, Noah Jupe and Shia LaBeouf
Knowing the backstory behind 2019’s Honey Boy makes it both more effective and more devastating. Written by troubled movie star Shia LaBeouf while he was in court-ordered rehab as a prescribed way to work through the post-traumatic stress brought on by his abusive father, LaBeouf pulls no punches in showing us the chaos that enveloped his childhood as a Disney star and the consequences it had on himself and his family.
In what has been described as one of the most cathartic and therapeutic filmmaking experiences ever, LaBeouf even plays his dad, acting out his hellish experiences through the eyes of the man who subjected him to them. It is not a fun movie by any means, but knowing where the story leads after the credits roll gives you a better understanding of the guy who had all the riches and fame Hollywood could offer then threw it all away.
Paddleton (2019) — Available on Netflix
Directed by Alex Lehmann
Written by Mark Duplass and Alex Lehmann
Starring: Ray Romano and Mark Duplass
Death is never a fun subject to sit down and spend an hour and half with, especially at a time like this. A fact you’ll need no reminder of once you’ve seen two middle aged friends struggling to cope with one’s terminal illness and subsequent choice to end his life before the disease does and on his own terms. We follow the two (Romano and Duplass) through an uneasy road trip to fill out a life-ending prescription that is only available in a handful of pharmacies due to its controversial purpose, euthanasia.
Ray Romano goofy sitcom dad is gone forever and Ray Romano respected character actor is hopefully here to stay. That paired with the subtle performance of co-writer Mark Duplass as a man at least pretending to be so at peace with the fact that he has a very short time to live that he decides to make that time even shorter. The understated humor and sweetness of the story ropes you in from the start and by the time you’ve realized this isn’t the heartwarming tale of a British teddy bear, you’ll want to stick it through to the end.
The Lobster (2015) — Available on Netflix
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Written by Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou
Starring: Colin Farrel, Rachel Weisz and John C. Reilly
In all the interveiws I’ve listened to with him, Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos seems to be a well-adjusted, happy and pleasant human being. You would not make those assumptions based off his movies. In a reality where if you cannot find a suitable mate you are transformed into a wild animal (of your choice, at least) Colin Farrell tries to find love before his time as a human is up. The resulting story is best described as dreadful.
Not dreadful as in bad or poorly made. Dreadful as in close to every inch of this movie will fill you with dread. From start to finish, you’ll find yourself with a pit in your stomach as your mind grapples with the idiosyncrasies of this film’s world and the truly depressing ways people react to their own loneliness. In the movie, I mean.
Honorable mentions: Frances Ha, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Inherent Vice, Spring Breakers
Delinquent (n.) Present participle of delinquere “to fail; be wanting, fall short; do wrong, transgress, offend,” from de- “completely” + linquere “to leave”.
The rub, here, is that this group, this collection of waifs, strays, unwanted & unloved find themselves entirely unable to linquere. Engulfed in heightened tensions, post murder, the protagonists find themselves frantically searching for the least-worst solution. Somewhat fortunately, for the audience at least, Atropos, Clotho and Lachesis add another twist, as is their won’t, to this sorry tale.
From Angels with Dirty Faces, to Kids, via Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story, cinematic history is littered with a panoply of takes on juvenile delinquency, all searching to explore the complexities of the human condition and the role of fortune, or misfortune, as the case may be.
And so, Juvenile Delinquents throws its hat into the ring. Unfortunately, beyond the always interesting premise of ‘good people forced into difficult circumstances through no fault of their own’, this offering falls short, not in its design, per se, rather it’s execution. The cinematography stands head and shoulders above both the dialogue, and the acting itself, here, both of which are laboured. Lighting, in particular, offers a glimpse of the potential success of this tale, without doubt, the best cast member. The camerawork too, especially at the outset where we meet our cast, is worthy of a far greater final product.
On reflecting as to why the film didn’t take me, I was drawn to the fact that I just didn’t really care, certainly, nothing as strong as pathos was drawn from me, for any of the individual characters, nor for their plight. And this, for me, was the greatest shame. Comparison may well be the thief of joy, but I cared about Rocky’s plight (granted, none of the cast could, or should be compared to James Cagney) & I was desperately willing Jennie on as she sought to stop Telly.
I wondered whether these trying times had stripped me of my ability to empathise with fictitious circumstances, if, in the world of 24hr rolling news where tragedy is layered on tragedy, the first being conveniently forgotten only to allow the introduction of a third, new catastrophe in order to keep the audience engaged, or to gather those ever precious clicks. This concern was very real, that was until I noticed the tears falling from my eyes as Chino was ushered away, handcuffed, with Doc, Shrank & maybe most crushingly Krupke himself watching on.
“Gee, Officer Krupke —
Krup you!”
Indeed…
Wormatron is a near middle-aged misanthrope who, like everyone else in the world, streams games as a hobby. You can find them at twitch.tv/wormatron. They are no better at streaming than they are at writing reviews. Be forewarned…
