I've always been very strong minded on character-based fights and character-based action. If you take the character out of the action and you just shoot it as an action sequence, the audience starts to lose connection.

Wade Eastwood

Categorized in : Character Strong Fighting

Everything today is such a massive visual show. It's very rare to get a film where the characters are raw and real - and you can take people back to where they are watching live cinema. With character-driven action. Not visual-driven action.

real character people

The way that you have cut the film, you can take the audience out of the action if it becomes evident that there is a stunt double doing it rather than the actor. I'd rather stay with the character and the story point behind the fight, rather than cutting to a wide angle of the fight.

cutting fighting character

The last thing you want is an injured actor. That, or having to use a stuntman too much.

actors use want

Not every actor is a Tom Cruise. They are not all used to doing big action movies and doing sliding bikes and cars and fights. So you've got to take actors who have maybe not done that kind of stuff and get them through some proper training first.

training car fighting

The more we can put the camera in a better place, the more we can take the audience on a more extreme journey with that character.

cameras journey character

I'm so critical, especially of the movies I do. If the movie flows and I buy it, that's important. Beyond it working, if I buy the character, especially if I'm close to the character.

flow important character

If a movie makes money, then it's a success.

making-money ifs

That's filming. You pitch up, give your all, and see what the outcome is.

outcomes giving

The worst thing that can happen is when you have gone weeks and months into elaborate sequences and the storyline of the film changes and you find out they don't need it. Sometimes you don't shoot those sequences, or they have been shot and then get edited out of the sequence you've shot gets changed and needs to be redone. That can be hard. It's not heartbreaking, but you do tend to think, "Och, all that work and effort." But that's filming, you know? You put all of these modular things into the pot, and sometimes they don't all get used.

heartbreaking effort thinking

I strive to be professional and to push myself always to do a better job.

better-jobs strive jobs

I'd most likely be a helicopter pilot, or I'd own a really cool surf hotel somewhere on a beach.

surf pilots beach

It's one of those conversations where everyone looks at each other and goes 'oh f**k,' and Tom smiles and says 'it's going to be fun.'.

We did a lot of tests with dummies and everything went according to plan, the next thing was the plane landed in England and they [Airbus] literally threw the keys at us and said, 'OK.'.

The shot was far more effective seeing the runway shrink, this meant a high G-load on Tom.

[In the scene] his feet slip off the plane and he really is holding on for his life.

Time to start panicking about the next one.