Yahoo Lifestyle 19 Wild Stunts Actors Did Themselves
Stunt doubles certainly don’t get enough credit for their efforts.
It’s an understated role but one that played a pivotal role in cinema.
And let’s be real: not everyone can do it.
It’s a grueling task that takes a physical toll on the understudy. In some cases, they result in real injuries. In others, it can be tragically fatal.
However, there are several actors who’ve taken on the task themselves.
Jackie Chan and Tom Cruise have committed to taking on these stunts throughout their careers, no matter how death-defying they might be. Meanwhile, Angelina Jolie has done roughly 99% of her own stunts, according to her stunt instructor, Simon Crane.
Below, we’ve compiled 19 wildly impressive stunts that actors pulled off themselves.
1.Angelina Jolie — Salt (2010)
2.Jackie Chan — Police Story (1985)
Jackie Chan has done enough death-defying stunts for a list of its own, but the pole slide scene in Police Story clears anything else he's ever done. What's even wilder is that he admitted he only had one shot to film this moment. Ultimately, he pulled it off but suffered second-degree burns on his hands as a result.
3.Buster Keaton — Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928)
4.Christian Bale — The Dark Knight (2008)
Christian Bale's earned a reputation for method acting but his commitment to portraying Batman resulted in one of the most iconic iterations of the superhero yet. In the scene where Batman oversees Gotham from the Sears Tower, Bale didn't allow a stunt double to stand in for him as he stood atop the 1,450-foot skyscraper. "How often do you get a chance to do that in a Batman costume looking out on Chicago?" Bale told CBS News. "One hundred and ten stories up looking over the edge straight down on the street? I'm not letting anybody else do that."
5.Arnold Schwarzenegger — Conan The Barbarian (1982)
6.Tom Cruise — Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015)
7.Charlize Theron — The Old Guard (2020)
8.Dylan O'Brien — Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
9.Viggo Mortensen — Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring
10.Keanu Reeves & Carrie-Ann Moss — The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
The Matrix stands among the definitive films of the 1990s, inspiring the following generation of cinema. However, in 2021's The Matrix Resurrections, Moss and Reeves pulled off an impressive stunt during the skyscraper fight and jump sequence. Though they were wired, Reeves told Stephen Colbert that the building was about 46 stories tall, and they did the jump "19 or 20" times.
11.Carrie-Ann Moss — The Matrix Reloaded (1996)
12.Zoë Bell — Death Proof (2007)
13.Michelle Yeoh — Police Story 3: Supercop (1992)
14.Daniel Craig — Casino Royale (2006)
15.Keanu Reeves — John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
16.Jeremy Renner — Bourne Legacy (2012)
17.Cameron Diaz & Tom Cruise — Knight And Day (2010)
18.Gina Carano — Haywire (2011)
19.Jason Statham — Crank (2006)
