While filming for a role, these 5 actors all faced the ultimate challenge – to pull off a real stunt without using a stunt double. From jumping out of the tallest building in the world to setting themselves on fire, these 5 brave stars have all completed really scary stunts that now look amazing on film. So, what went through their heads beforehand? How did they pull it off? See what they have to say about their heart-pounding experiences on camera!
Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper had to pull off a really elaborate stunt for his role in the A-Team: “There was one moment where I was holding onto the underside of a semi-articulated truck with a makeshift roller-skate the only thing keeping me mobile at 35mph. I actually did it: no stunt double, no green screen. When I watch it, it doesn’t look real. It was f***ing scary!”
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas had to get close to a real wolf for his part in Season of The Witch: “That was a scary day. That really was. I had a wolf that was snarling, a real wolf in my face and there was nobody holding on to him, and I was only like a foot away. A few things did flash in my mind – that I was going to lose my face and I was going to get bitten. It got to me. That was a scary day and one I won’t forget in a hurry.”
Jeremy Renner
Jeremy has to throw himself off the world’s tallest building – the Burj Khalifa in Dubai – for his ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol‘ role: “So Tom’s been running around the building the whole time, and I thought ‘I can do this.’ There’s only this little belt, one wire and a bloke who doesn’t look like he’s paying attention holding me up, so I was a bit concerned. A couple of seconds later, I was doing it. And it became a beautiful scene, once the terror passed.”
Johnny Depp
Depp had to set his face alight for his role in ‘The Rum Diary‘: “I did spew a little fire when I was a youth. I very dumbly chugged a little bit of gasoline and blew it into a torch and my head was on fire. That’s true. It’s a weird thing when your head is on fire. You tend to panic first. And then when panic sets in and you cannot get your face out, you run. Which is the worst thing you can do. A friend of mine, a guy named Bones, came over and put my face out. He saved my life.”
Gerard Butler
‘The Bounty Hunter‘ actor had to do several crazy stunts for his role, but only ended up with some minor injuries: “I was jumping up and down, onto roofs and off of roofs and onto cars I was doing a lot of crazy stuff. That’s where I picked up most of my injuries. This is very much an action comedy. It’s a road movie. We’re always trying to one-up each other. I had to jump off a car and land on the ground and we did that all day long. I picked up a lot of bruises because you’re trying to do this really fast and make it look pretty impressive.”
