No need for a stuntman: Hollywood actors who can perform dangerous stunts without a double

No need for a stunt double: Hollywood actors who perform dangerous stunts without a body double

It is well known to many that actors do not perform many of their stunts themselves. This is often due to safety reasons. Because if an actor gets injured, the filming process is prolonged and the film suffers great financial losses. Some actors, on the other hand, cannot manage complex elements due to their physical capabilities. However, there are also actors in Hollywood who perform most of their stunts independently.

**Tom Cruise**

During an action movie, he climbs a cliff independently without a safety net. With each new film, Cruise takes even more risks and amazes fans with his skills.

In his filmography, running along the exterior wall of the 828-meter-high Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai holds a special place. Audiences can see this in the film "Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol." Before this, Cruise was told that this was impossible and that he should abandon the scene. Even though strong winds were blowing at high altitude during filming, he managed it without a double, as usual.

In addition, in the film "Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation," Tom Cruise hangs onto a flying airplane, overcoming strong air resistance.

Flying a helicopter between cliffs, riding a motorcycle at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour without a helmet, jumping from an altitude of 8 kilometers — these are not the complete list of things Cruise has done himself in cinema without stunt doubles. Preparing for such life-threatening scenes takes months. However, the actor believes that cinema should show reality as much as possible, and he has no equal in this regard.

**Keanu Reeves**

Later, they began to invite him to action movies, where he immediately showed how he differed from many other performers — this was the ability to perform most of the stunts independently.

In his first action film "Speed," the actor made a dangerous jump from a car to a bus. Later, in the famous film "The Matrix," he showed his amazing martial arts skills. He also presented the audience with the bullet-dodging scene. This may look simple from the outside. In fact, such movements require not only a high level of flexibility, but also strength.

Throughout his career, Reeves has performed most of his stunts without the help of stunt doubles. Although he is now 60 years old, he is still in excellent physical shape.

**Jackie Chan**

Therefore, he knows all the nuances of this profession well.

After working in crowd stunts, Jackie Chan himself began to be invited to roles. Initially, the young actor appeared in the action comedy "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow," and later in the film "Drunken Master," in which he also worked without doubles.

Jackie Chan not only performed all the stunts himself, but also led the entire stunt team. During his prolific career, he performed countless stunts of various complexities.

Of course, these scenes did not go without injuries. When Jackie Chan fell from a height of five meters, almost all parts of his body were injured. During another filming, he fell and hit his head on a rock. This could have threatened his life. The actor was forced to undergo surgery, and filming was delayed for a year, but he continued working after his recovery.

Although Jackie Chan is seen less on screens today, he is included in the Guinness World Records as the actor who has performed the most stunts independently.

**Emily Blunt**

They starred together in the film "Edge of Tomorrow." According to the plot of the sci-fi blockbuster, the main characters must fight aliens. Due to a time loop disruption, every time Cruise's character dies, the battle starts from the beginning.

For this role, the actress had never prepared so thoroughly before. In the film, her character Rita Vrataski wears an exoskeleton weighing 38 kg. She doesn't just wear it, but constantly runs and fights in it.

Blunt performed most of the scenes herself, including an episode that put herself and her colleague in real danger. She lost control of a minivan and crashed into a tree at high speed. By a miracle, the actors escaped without injury. However, Blunt did not lose her composure even in front of such a skilled stunt performer as Tom Cruise and acted at his level.