Behind the Scenes

10 Insane Stunts Actors Did Themselves

When I watch a movie, I love seeing a real stunt. There’s something about the reality of these dangerous actions that makes the films more visceral and the experience better. Today, I want to highlight ten of my favorite real-life stunts.

10 Insane Stunts Actors Did Themselves

When I watch a movie, I love seeing a real stunt. There’s something about the reality of these dangerous actions that makes the films more visceral and the experience better.

Today, I want to highlight ten of my favorite real-life stunts.

Let’s dive in.

1. Buster Keaton: The Falling House in ‘Steamboat Bill, Jr.’ (1928)

This has to be the most famous stunt of all time. Long before digital effects, Buster Keaton risked it all for a laugh.

With mere inches of clearance on either side, any miscalculation in his placement or the wall’s trajectory could have been fatal.

The man let a house fall on him for a gag.

2. Jackie Chan: The Pole Slide in ‘Police Story’ (1985)

No list of insane stunts is complete without the legendary Jackie Chan. For Police Story, Chan leaped from a balcony onto a metal pole several stories high, sliding down through a cascade of exploding light bulbs before crashing through a glass ceiling.

The man is a miracle, and his films are among my favorites.

3. Tom Cruise: The Burj Khalifa Climb in ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’ (2011)

Tom Cruise has made a career of pushing the envelope with his stunt work. For Ghost Protocol, harnessed to the building by a series of carefully concealed wires, he scaled the exterior of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, over 1,700 feet above the ground.

It’s an insane spectacle and remarkable that the world’s biggest movie star even attempted it.

4. Michelle Yeoh: The Motorcycle Jump in ‘Supercop’ (1992)

A true action icon, Michelle Yeoh has consistently performed her own high-octane stunts. In Supercop, she executed a jaw-dropping sequence where she rides a motorcycle onto a moving train.

This is another legendary stunt that was brave, cool, and set the bar high in a Jackie Chan film!

5. Harold Lloyd: Hanging from the Clock in ‘Safety Last!’ (1923)

One of the most iconic images of the silent film era, Harold Lloyd hanging precariously from the hands of a clock high above a bustling street, is a masterclass in suspense and stunts.

It’s one of those images that captivated audiences worldwide and helped propel the popularity of movies in the early days.

6. Zoë Bell: Ship’s Mast on a Speeding Car in ‘Death Proof’ (2007)

A veteran stuntwoman in her own right, Zoë Bell took center stage as an actress in Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof. In a sequence known as “ship’s mast,” Bell clung to the hood of a speeding 1970 Dodge Challenger, holding onto nothing but two belts strapped to the car’s doors, as another vehicle repeatedly rammed into them.

It’s one of the coolest stunts I’ve seen and pays homage to the 70s exploitation films that were surely as unsafe as this stunt.

7. Buster Keaton: The Train Collapse in ‘The General’ (1926)

Buster Keaton makes a second appearance on this list for a stunt that was, at the time, the single most expensive shot in silent film history.

And it still looks really cool today! They crashed a whole train for him!

8. Jackie Chan: The Clock Tower Fall in ‘Project A’ (1983)

In a tribute to Harold Lloyd, Jackie Chan performed his own perilous fall from a clock tower in Project A.

It’s one stuntman nodding to another, and I love how Chan adds history to this equally dangerous maneuver.

9. Tom Cruise: The HALO Jump in ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ (2018)

Tom Cruise once again raised the bar for cinematic stunts in Fallout. He became the first actor to perform a High Altitude Low Open (HALO) jump on camera.

Yes, it was crazy, and yes, it was an amazing part of the film.

10. Keanu Reeves: The Arc de Triomphe Sequence in ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ (2023)

Keanu Reeves took his “car-fu” to a new level for this mind-bending sequence. The scene features Reeves driving a doorless 1971 Plymouth Barracuda around Paris’s chaotic Arc de Triomphe, drifting at high speeds against traffic.

Reeves trained for months to execute the 180- and 270-degree drifts himself, and he performs all his stunt driving.

Summing It Up

When I want to put on an action movie or something exciting, these are the ones I return to. They have so much power, and these stunts create a visceral emotion when I watch.

These are my favorites, but tell me which ones I have missed.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

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