Snake Got Revenge
The early 1980s were inarguably Kurt Russell’s peak. Fans will remember how he embodied the Snake Plissken with the iconic eye patch in Escape from New York (1981). His stunt double Dick Warlock didn’t have it easy filing in for Russell.
When filming the boxing match fight scene, the man playing his opponent was, in fact, a real wrestler named Ox. Apparently, Ox didn’t know how to “act” like he was fighting and beat the stunt double to the point that he couldn’t do the master shot so Russell had to go ahead and do his own stunts. Lucky for him, it was the scene where Snake finally kills off his opponent because Ox had to lie still while Russell “pretended” to take him out; however, Russel did later admit to avenging his stuntman and hitting a little bit harder than required for an acting scene.
Little Frodo
At 5.5 ft (1.68 m) Elijah Wood is shorter than the average American male, but in order to portray his Hobbit character, Frodo, he needed to scale down a lot more. That's when his scale double, Kiran Shah, came to the rescue.
According to the Guinness World Records Kiran Shah is the world's shortest stuntman, and has appeared in nearly 40 films as a stuntman or body double. His resume includes blockbuster films like Superman I and II, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi, Aliens, Braveheart, and Titanic where he stunt doubled all the children in the film.
Leave the Stunts for Stunt Doubles
This is a throwback from 2013 of Danny Trejo with his stunt double on the set of Machete Kills. Trejo has expressed his adoration for stuntmen and has even spoken out against actor who attempts to do their own stunts on a few occasions.
Trejo said in an interview "I know that all the big stars hate me to say this, but I don’t want to risk 80 peoples’ jobs just to say I got big huevos on The Tonight Show. He continued "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.". What do you think? Should actors stick to acting and leave stunts for the professionals?
The Man in the Suite
Clay Donahue Fontenot was listed among Business Insider's most sought-after stuntmen in the movie industry. He's performed in over 60 films, from Blade to Django Unchained and most recently, Iron Man. Yep, Fontenot is the man in the suit, performing Robert Downey Jr.'s stunts, so much so, that the Iron Man suit was actually designed specifically for the stunt double's body.
As talented as an actor Robert Downey Jr. is, Fontenot is the one doing all the cool moves Iron Man does in the battle scenes we so love. Bravo!
Mask Off
This photo had the internet gushing with nostalgia when it popped up. You can see Jim Carrey, Cameron Diaz, and their stunt doubles on the set of the classic film, The Mask in 1994 (feel old?). Any fan of the film remembers this dancing scene. Apparently, the actors didn't have the moves, but luckily they had professional dancers that helped them pull off the iconic scene. The Mask was actually Diaz's breakthrough roll into Hollywood and one of Carrey's most memorable roles.
Perhaps their dancers deserve a little credit for putting them on the map?