YOU MIGHT NOT recognize director David Leitch if you walked past him on the street, but you’ve likely seen him plenty of times on the big screen—as many lead actors’ stunt double, that is.
The stunt legend has been in the industry for over 20 years, and has doubled for stars like Brad Pitt in Fight Club and Matt Damon in The Bourne Ultimatum—flipping cars, jumping off buildings, and beating up plenty of bad guys. More recently, he’s been taking his hand at directing big action films including Bullet Train, John Wick, and Atomic Blonde with his film production company 87North. The company’s most recent work, Fall Guy, is a crash-jump-kick special based around the story of an ex-stuntman who gets pulled back into the business after a big movie star goes missing, staring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt.
On top of directing a whole movie about the craft, Leitch also trains some of Hollywood’s most successful stunt men and women at the 87North headquarters in Santa Monica, California. “As an overall stunt performer, being in the best physical shape you can be day in and day out is important because you never know when you’re going to get a call,” he says.
These athletes aren’t exactly picking up dumbbells, barbells, or hitting the treadmill the way the average Joe does at the gym, though. There’s quite a bit more flipping, fighting, kicking, and punching involved. A typical day includes running through a collection of different martial arts disciplines that are all often incorporated into fight choreography.
“Modern stunt work is really about risk aversion with maximum spectacle,” Leitch says. “It can be hours and hours of rehearsal, physical training, and rigging. It’s a collaboration of all these disciplines.”
Here, Leitch talks us through a workout with his team at the 87North campus, where they choreograph and train fight scenes for all of the production company’s films.
The Workout
1: Martial Arts Rolls
Most martial arts disciplines, like judo and jiu jitsu, have special falling techniques. The team at 87 warms up to prep their bodies to fall safely throughout practice.
2A: Jiu Jitsu
One version of martial arts that the team as been specializing in recently is jiu jitsu, which Leitch says is present in his work in the John Wick series. It’s a style of fighting based on close-contact moves or “grappling” holds—a bit different than other styles that focus more on striking and kicking.
2B: Wushu
The team then moves on to Wushu training, a Chinese martial art that combines several other disciplines including tai chi and Wudangquan. It’s characterized by quick, powerful movements and agile flows.
2C: Wushu Weapons
Once the athletes have their basic Wushu movements warmed up, they’ll start integrating weapons like swords and bats to learn how to move with equipment.
3: Muay Thai
For this portion, athletes will pair up and go through conditioning rounds of Muay Thai, a Thai combat martial art that features punches, elbows, knees, and kicks. This helps them keep up their stamina—necessary when they undergo take after take on shoot days. “Muay Thai is all about drilling repetition, so it’s great for fitness, but it’s also great for choreography.”
4: Taekwondo
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art famous for its dynamic kicking. It’s very common in the production house’s style of choreography, so the athletes need become very proficient at it.
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