Legendary stuntman, stunt arranger, and 2nd unit director Vic Armstrong took time off from his busy schedule (his work on Thor is in theatres now, while his current project, Amazing Spider Man, is due next July) to answer some questions I had after reading his fascinating biography.
Q) Throughout your career, you were hired for a specific sequence or stunt, scheduled to work for a couple of weeks, and ended up staying for a number of months or more. Was that difficult for your family?
A) The travel is an integral problem for anyone in the film business, I also seem to do more locations than most, whether it is by design I cannot really say. It is a problem when you have a family but we always tried as much as possible to take the kids with us, but even that is not as good as it sounds for the kids living in hotels and not having their school friends to play with etc and getting bored with sight seeing and hotel meals and Dad and often Mum as well getting up at 5am and out working till 7pm and just the nannies looking after them. But we soldier on, and with give and take, get through it.
Q) The classic Hollywood concept of a stuntman was a daredevil with a laundry list of broken bones. You see broken bones as a failure for a stunt arranger. Are you happy that the industry now values safety over recklessness?
A) I am very happy that safety is considered so important nowadays, we still have to fight for things but people give in now more than they used to, we also have the advantage of CG being able to hide cables, airbags, pads and ramps, etc which in the old days was nearly impossible. Of course it all costs money and this is where the resistance comes from, some times things are canceled if they are to expensive to be made safe, but safety is paramount.
Q) One of your most controversial stunts was the horse plunge in Never Say Never Again. Was it frustrating dealing with animal rights activists who only see the finished product and didn’t realize just how much preparation you did and the safety procedures that were in place so the horse wouldn’t be hurt?
A) It was very frustrating because I had taken every precaution and given the horse swimming training so that he would not get puffed and rehearsed in the location so he was totally orientated etc. But at the same time nobody did anything about the blatant abuse of the horse in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon when he is galloping through the forest and the rider holds his front legs up and he does a somersault nearly breaking his neck, it was a classic "Toe Tapper" which has been outlawed for years. I showed a copy of the sequence to the American Humane Society (because I was there on War of the Worlds when it came out) and explained how the cable was wrapped around the lance the rider was holding and showed how when he pulled up on the lance the horses front legs stayed tucked up, but the reply was "We cannot do anything as it was filmed outside of the country." I did explain that if the companies were made to cut it out of the finished film they would think twice about spending the money to shoot it.
Q) Your sons and daughters are now part of your stunt company. Did you discourage them or encourage them to enter the business? I’m sure it is quite gratifying in some ways, but isn’t it terrifying when your children’s lives are on the line?
A) I did not encourage or discourage it was their choice, it is flattering to have them want to follow in your footsteps though, but horribly worrying when they are doing stunts I have designed and am shooting, I feel so responsible.
Q) It’s industry standard for P.R. materials on films to claim that the lead actor or actress did all of their own stunts. Does that bother you or do you just accept it as exaggeration meant to help sell the
film?
A) It never bothers me and nowadays lots of stars do there own stunts like Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise and lately Chris Hemsworth in THOR and Andrew Garfield in Spiderman. With the advent of CG we can also take better precautions to protect them but they still do the stunts which is great in the right scenario.
Q) CGI has really changed the landscape of film making, and not always for the better as you point out in your biography. Do you think computer effects have jaded today's audiences, who may assume, when a stunt looks too perfect, that it was done digitally rather than for real?
A) I do think computer effects have jaded audiences and computer games have also lowered the standard of what amount of realism can be expected because they are so way out there in the surreal World. But I also think it is going the full circle and audiences now want to see more realism because subconsciously you have a good idea what is real and what is not and when it is not the threat lessens and the danger evaporates.
Q) Bob Simmons, Alf Joint, and George Leech are among your forefathers in the British stunt community, quite literally since Leech is your father-in-law. His work on OHMSS was incredible and ground-breaking, some say a decade ahead of its time, and of course he made the wise decision to hire you! Can you talk a little bit about these men, and what it was like working with them and following in their footsteps?
A) I was in awe of Bob Simmons and Joe Powell and George Leech. Alf Joint and I partnered up and we came up with some great break through action. But I take my hat of to those fore bearers of the business because I know the battles they had to fight for to make the game safe and the standards like hotels, travel wages and respect that they had to make happen.
Q) You helped arrange the screen test fights for The Living Daylights. Do you recall who played Bond’s opponents? Did any of the Bond candidates stick out above the others fighting-ability wise?
A) I cannot remember any of the candidates actually I was just so engrossed working with Simon and Dougie and trying to keep the playing field level so that all the actors had and equal chance.
Q) How much has film making changed during your 45 year career? I know you lament that the elegance of the early days is sadly missing. Has film making become more business-like and clinical?
A) I was thinking about this the other day and thinking about what it was I was lamenting. I think what has happened is modern living! The World has shrunk we are in constant communication 24/7, we can get anywhere in the world in 24 hours, we have video phones, dailies can be fired back to the studios in minutes so what it means is so many more people have a hand it the creative process purely because they can, therefore you lose the one man power and vision of someone like David Lean standing in a desert and deciding what he is going to shoot and how he is going to edit it and nobody above him really contributing until months later.
Q) How challenging was it to write your biography? Did Robert Sellers have to coax the stories out of you or did they flow pretty easily?
A) I never really wanted to write the book because everybody that suggested it just wanted to focus on broken bones and kiss and tell. It is a bit like asking a golfer "tell me about all the competitions you have lost through bad play", or asking a racing driver "how many races he lost because he crashed his car" I wanted nothing to do with discussing what I consider a failure. Then Robert Sellers came along and explained he just wanted my story of my life and then I said who wants to hear that so he said lets write it and see. Over a long period of time Robert came down and would say for example lets cover from 1965 to 1970 and would read off a list of films that I had kept over the years and he added a few at times when I had missed some. I was amazed that I could remember exactly the times the faces the escapades the visions all came back to me instantly, I had nothing written down or recorded it was all instigated by the name of the film so that part was very easy the tough part was Robert's in editing it down and all the stuff that is untold.
A very big thanks to Vic Armstrong, and to Robert Sellers for arranging the interview.
Order The True Adventures of the World's Greatest Stuntman from Amazon UK or Amazon US.
