My experience on the “The Book of Eli” started with a call from the film’s Stunt Coordinator, Jeff Imada. “Would I like to double an actor on the new Denzel Washington film?” Damn straight! So after a couple of more phone calls, I was off to New Mexico.
I flew into Albuquerque, picked up my rental car, drove north through the desert and into the mountains. That was a good two and a half hours. Checked into my hotel, checked in with production … and was told to turn around and go home. Schedules had changed and I wasn’t needed for another two weeks.
Cut to: two weeks later.
I went back to New Mexico, and this time got right to work. My job was doubling Joe Pingue as ‘Hoyt.’ Joe’s a solid actor with great onscreen presence and a terrific resume. He also happens to be an all-around good guy. He was kind of a younger big brother. We had great fun. Joe did some of his action before I got there – he’s an athlete comfortable in action situations. But he’s also a smart actor who understands where a stunt double needs to step in. As such, he was generous and collaborative, and worked with me to make certain our transitions were smooth.
All the actors were comfortable with their stunt people, because Jeff Imada did such a great job of coordinating this show. He brought the right people in and made certain actors and stunt performers alike understood what would result in the best onscreen action.
Jeff definitely put his bad-ass stamp on this film, and I was thrilled to be in the middle of it. Along with the fight style he created for Eli/Denzel, the action includes some serious fights, explosions, chases and of course, great turnovers.
My favorite stunt involves me and an exploding truck … and all I can tell you without giving anything away is that it made my butt pucker just a little. Which will happen almost anytime you’re pulling an ice cream truck with 8 1/2 lbs of explosives in it. Jeff planned it beautifully, but there’s always a bit of Murphy’s Law at work, so the gag definitely had a huge dose of live drama. I saw the result and the cameras caught it all. You can see it too, in the trailer for “The Book of Eli”.
I want to give huge kudos to some of my stunt performer buds on the film. Go to IMdB.com and look up Todd Schneider, Jeff Wolfe, Darrin Prescott, Laurence Chavez, and the always-great Thom Williams. Just some of the great talent that I was fortunate enough to work with.
Happy to answer any and all questions – keep ‘em coming!
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