Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
David Leitch is a recipient of Vultures first ever Stunt Award: Best Shootout.
Read about the winners of the inaugural celebration of stunt professionalshere.
Youd think it impossible to escape Brad Pitts shadow.
Luckily, David Leitch is in the profession of making the unfeasible feasible.
Most recently, Leitch reteamed with the man he doubled as for years and directed Brad Pitt inBullet Train.
That scene was recognized by Vultures 2023 Stunt Awards, winning the Best Shootout honor.
Most difficult stunt of his career.
I think there was a sequence in theMatrixsequelThe Matrix Revolutionswhere agent Smith and Neo were flying in the air.
In itself, it wasnt as dangerous as other stunts.
How could we make this flying sequence look real at the birth of the modern comic-book movie?
Which those movies were.
Secret to making action look real onscreen.
For me, realism isnt actually that interesting.
Generally, the movies I make are escapist fare.
Were building worlds that you’re free to go to for a couple of hours.
So Ive always been careful about Is it realistic?
Could we pull off taking out 75 guys like John Wick does?
But does it work for our world?
Action sequence hes most proud of as a director.
Im proud of the choreography that we designed inJohn Wick, which is now given this label fun fu.
I think that was the first time that term was used.
The camera never perceivably cuts.
I think we did something really provocative with the action there we stayed with the character.
It took a lot of planning and logistics on the stuntwomans part, and Im really proud of it.
Im proud of it mostly because it was dramatically compelling, far beyond the gimmick.
Go-to action move that always looks great onscreen.
A good cannon roll or car roll always looks great.
You know its real, and you feel it on the screen, and its visceral and big.
Secret to directing actors with no action experience.
One of my skills is having taught martial arts for so many years.
Any good athletic coach whether its gymnastics, martial arts can break down the movement.
Actors who are surprisingly great at stunt work.
Charlize is incredible at choreography.
Keanu is incredible at driving motorcycles.
Hes such a great athlete.
Secret to doubling for Brad Pitt.
A good stunt double is a good mimic.
You as a stunt performer need to embrace that and mimic it.
As the stunt team, we are actually helping to build that character.
Youre trying to create a seamless illusion for the audience.
He worked with us onDeadpool 2.
Its not just Put the stunt double in there for the frame until he hits the ground.
Its really How do you keep the illusion alive?
Secret to choreographing a fight scene between the Rock and Jason Statham.
Great actors dont worry about theres no tit for tat of Whos going to win?
Whos going to lose?
They care about the scene and the story and making sure that its dramatic for the audience.
Theyre friends, but theyre frenemies.
The choreography with them always had to be a competition.
The drama of that allows you to show the disposition of these two characters that were building.
Worst injury as a stuntman.
I got the job, and I think we were rehearsing the first day.
I hadnt even done one show yet, and I was trying to do a really simple move.
I was out of the show.
Never came back, and I had pins in my arm.
Stunt he would never do.
I would never say never.
I think that everything is innovating, and we use a lot of visual effects nowadays to augment stunts.
So then how do we apply that to the work that we do in film and make it safe?
How VFX makes stunt work better.
It gives us a lot more choice and a lot more freedom.
I dont think its an us versus them, like it used to be.
Theres a ton of massive practical stunts, but then theres a lot of great effects complementing it.
That movie was really a breath of fresh air.
Favorite stunt of all time.
Theres so many great things that those geniuses brought to us.
I think of Buster Keaton and the house falling down around him.
I did a little homage to that inBullet Train, but it was visual effects.
I think that and Jackie inPolice Story, where the guys fall out of the window of that bus.
Or Jackie driving the car down through the shantytown.
Jackie is basically a library of my favorite stunts.
