Ever wondered what it’d be like to body double for Daniel Craig or Ryan Reynolds?
We caught up with Hollywood stuntman Bobby Holland-Hanton on the set of the brand new Ford B-Max advert to find out about the man whose job it is to jump through hoops of fire, moving cars and all manner of dangerous, death defying tricks to make those silver screen legends look like the hard men we think they are…
1. At what age did you decide you wanted to be a stuntman and jump off things?
I decided I wanted to become a stunt man at the age of around 20. I had performed in a lot of live action stunt shows in the UK as well as many commercials worldwide. I wanted to really test myself and take it to the next level. Go that one step further.
2. Is diving through a suspended open car the scariest stunt you’ve ever done?
It is for sure up there with one of the biggest stunts I have done, but also very different in its own way as a lot of stunts are!! They are never quite the same….
3.How many takes were required?
Due to a few different angles I think we roughly shot the stunt about 8 times
4. I hope there were no accidents during filming?
No accidents at all, it did get quite close a few times because of the nature of the stunt, but I had an amazing safety team, rigging team and stunt co-ordinator in Tom Struthers who I have worked with many times before on Inception and The Dark Knight Rises to mention a couple. So I felt very safe and we spend a good amount of time rehearsing the stunt to eliminate as much danger as possible, and if you do this only fate can take over
5. Have you ever sustained injuries from your work?
Yes I have due to the nature of what I do. Luckily nothing majorly serious, we are, as stunt men always going to get knocks here and there but with a good amount of rehearsal time, and a great team around, you work hard to prevent it.
6. You obviously work out quite a lot to keep your physique, do you have any special diets?
I do have a pretty strict diet and eating programme at the moment in fact the most demanding I have ever had due to the job I am working on at the moment and shape the actor is in that I am a stunt double for…. Lots of protein, training twice a day, eating small amounts but every 2 hours… It’s hard, but a good challenge and I am very lucky and feel blessed to have been given this chance in life so I want to make the most of it.
7. What advice would you give someone who’s a little bit well fed, in their mid 30s and contemplating a missed calling in life to jump through suspended cars and hoops of fire?
That’s a very difficult one to be honest as each and every person is very different in many ways. I have 24 years of training experience in all kinds of physical fields, but I would say try to better your food habits and start training 4 times a week i.e. running, boxing classes, swimming, gym training and you have to really want to get into some kind of shape. Give it 100% and you will see results thats for sure.
8. Is there one person or character you would love to stunt double for?
Well I have already been so lucky stunt doubling for Batman, James Bond, also Ryan Reynolds in The Green Lantern, and Jake Gyllenhaal in the Prince Of Persia. David Beckham is a hero of mine but I have already doubled him which was just amazing. I would have to say probably Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling. I would love to double Superman also. I would love to work with Sean Penn and Daniel Day Lewis as for me they are the 2 best actors ever….
