This is stupid. “Doing your own stunts” is an outdated concept and risks setting back production, not to mention lost wages for the crew and regular people who work on set and have to wait, unpaid, until grandpa recovers from the injury he got doing something he shouldn’t have in the first place.
https://screencrush.com/danny-trejo-tom-cruise-stunts/
Danny Trejo had a good quote about this:
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. Because that’s what happens. I think a big star just sprained an ankle doing a stunt, and 80 or 180 people are out of a job… 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.
Yeah, weird ego thing. I’m surprised the insurance companies allow it
That’s also a relative thing. His “stunts” are likely jumping around in a wire harness doing martial arts. He’s not doing Tom Cruise shit, like free-climbing skyscrapers or hanging out of airplanes. Nobody expects Boris Grishenko to be Jackie Chan.
Acrobatic fighting and swordplay choreography is hard to do well, which is why actors will often use stunt doubles. It’s not just “this is dangerous, bring in the person that nobody loves.” It’s more like “This guy playing the teleporting swordmonkey qualifies for Medicare, so let’s get someone who can rise from an Adirondack chair without grunting to do the blue demon crawly-bamfy-fencing bits.” If he’s able to do it, it’s going to look better in the movie.
I’ve read articles that say, “I do my own stunts.” are almost always lies for media publicity. If it’s not Tom Cruise or Jackie Chan, it’s an exaggeration for marketing.
