I've definitely become much more aware of physical stunts.
When I was doing a movie called 'The Seeker,' I was fortunate enough to be able to do a lot of my own stunts.
Before I do a stunt, I have to make sure it is safe.
Sometimes you got to a point where it wasn't happening and you had to figure out another way to do it, particularly in terms of making the jaguar do what you wanted. That was not CG, a real guy had to run really fast and not trip. There was a form of restraint on the creature that you can't see. so it was all very safe - but it is real.
A good stunt has to have both style and substance. It's a combination of impact and notoriety, the element of danger, technical execution, and the skill of the stunt performer.
When you're doing an action set piece, it's very similar to choreography in a way because it's shot that way. It's meticulous how it's rehearsed. I mean, you have no idea.
We don't move on in the stunt unless it looks like a hit. So when I see it on TV, I'm generally satisfied that people are going to buy it.
The way you present a stunt is tied in to the way you photograph it, so you're hanging out with the cinematographer.
Out of a year, a half-dozen stunts are pretty tough. The rest are kinda routine. To go out and slide cars around and lay a motorcycle down hell, you do that without even thinking. But on the tough things, you put an awful lot of planning into it.
I do some of my stunts for the things I have learned. But if it is for something I have never learned, then I use a double.
I've done a lot of action movies, and there has to be a certain amount of emotion in the actual performing of the stunt. It doesn't have to be any particular emotion, but there has to be some life to it, and that's not so easy.
