 |
Simon Crane (born 1960) is a British stuntman, stunt coordinator, second unit director and film director.
|
Simon Crane (born 1960) is a British stuntman, stunt coordinator, second unit director and film director.
Born in Twickenham, Middlesex, England. Crane was originally a law student, but not liking it, he dropped out after one year and worked as an acrobat in a circus for three years. To fulfill English requirements for stuntmen to achieve instructor level in six sports, Crane became an instructor in gymnastics, parachuting, scuba diving, high diving, karate, and fencing. When he could not obtain a union card as a stuntman fast enough, he became an instructor in three more sports, including hang gliding. [1] His father, Dr. John Crane, was the doctor for Arsenal F.C and the England national football team.
Crane's first major work came in the 1985 Bond film A View to a Kill . In 1987 he became Timothy Dalton's stunt double in The Living Daylights . He also played the character of Che Che in a reenactment of the "gatecrasher" fight scene from On Her Majesty's Secret Service traditionally used to test the fighting skills of actors up for the part of James Bond. Vic Armstrong coordinated the fight. Actors believed to have tested opposite Crane in the screen tests include Mark Greenstreet, Sam Neill and Pierce Brosnan.
After spending five years as the apprentice to an experienced stunt coordinator, Crane was allowed to act as second unit stunt coordinator on Licence to Kill . In 1993, Crane performed the dangerous-looking aerial transfer for the film Cliffhanger , for which he earned an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for being part of the most expensive stunt ever performed. It cost $1 million to have Simon Crane descending on a rope between two planes at an altitude of 4,572 m (15,000 ft).
In 1995 he became the overall stunt coordinator for GoldenEye – the opening bungee jump was voted the greatest film stunt ever in a poll for Sky Movies. After a four-year break from the Bond franchise, during which he coordinated stunts for the Academy Award-winning films Titanic (in which he happened to play fourth officer Joseph Boxhall, and had two lines) and Saving Private Ryan , Crane returned to handle the stunts for The World Is Not Enough , with Vic Armstrong as second unit director.
Crane also took the role of stunt coordinator in Will Smith's Hancock (2008). He was to make his directorial début directing a film adaptation of the popular video game, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men but departed from the project. [2] Crane directed the 3-D supernatural thriller The Peak, [3] which was based on a screenplay from Neal Marshall Stevens [4] and Crane worked with Will Smith again as second unit director and stunt coordinator on Men in Black 3 .
Actor:
A stunt is an unusual, difficult, dramatic physical feat that may require a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually for a public audience, as on television or in theaters or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Before computer-generated imagery special effects, these depictions were limited to the use of models, false perspective and other in-camera effects, unless the creator could find someone willing to carry them out, even such dangerous acts as jumping from car to car in motion or hanging from the edge of a skyscraper: the stunt performer or stunt double.
Enos Edward "Yakima" Canutt was an American champion rodeo rider, actor, stuntman, and action director. He developed many stunts for films and the techniques and technology to protect stuntmen in performing them.
Hal Brett Needham was an American stuntman, film director, actor, writer, and NASCAR team owner. He is best known for his frequent collaborations with actor Burt Reynolds, usually in films involving fast cars, such as Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Hooper (1978), The Cannonball Run (1981) and Stroker Ace (1983).
Bob Simmons was an English actor and stunt man who worked in many British-made films, most notably the James Bond series.
George Frederick Bernard Powell, credited as Nosher Powell, Freddie Powell, or Fred Powell, was an English actor, stuntman and boxer. He is best known for his work in the James Bond film series, most notably From Russia with Love (1963).
Victor Monroe Armstrong is a British film director, stunt coordinator, second unit director, and stunt double—the world's most prolific, according to the Guinness Book of Records.
Ron Balicki is an American actor, martial artist and stuntman for various films and television series. He is also a well known martial arts practitioner, teacher, and author. He is a student of and son-in-law to Dan Inosanto.
Richard DeHart Crockett was an American television and film actor, stunt performer, stunt coordinator, producer, and director, best known for his work with director Blake Edwards.
Gregory Owen Powell is a British stuntman, stunt coordinator, actor and 2nd unit director nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on Band of Brothers. He is also known for his work in Indian films. He is also the stunt coordinator for all eight Harry Potter movies and Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Tom Steele was a stunt man and actor, best remembered for appearing in serials, especially those produced by Republic Pictures, in both capacities.
The Taurus World Stunt Awards is a yearly award ceremony held midyear that honors stunt performers in movies. It is held each year in Los Angeles. The first awards were given out in 2001. The deciding committee has been around since the year 2000. The awards were created by Dietrich Mateschitz, the founder of Red Bull. The awards statue was sculpted by Austrian artist Jos Pirkner, and is a figure in the form of a winged bull.
David McCoy Barrett is an American television director and producer.
Alfred Charles Richard Joint was a British film and television stunt performer, stunt coordinator and arranger.
Rocky Taylor is an English stuntman and actor.
Kim Kahana Sr. is an American actor, stunt performer and action choreographer of Hawaiian and Japanese descent. He has done stunts for over 300 movies and television programs and runs a stunt school in Groveland, Florida that has trained over 15,000 students.
Films made in the 1980s featuring the character of James Bond included For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, Never Say Never Again, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights, and Licence to Kill. The decade featured 3 Bond actors Roger Moore, Sean Connery and Timothy Dalton. The 1980s were unique for the Eon franchise in that every Bond film of the decade was directed by one director John Glen. The 1980s also saw the rare occurrence of a Bond film being released by a company other than Eon. 1983's Never Say Never Again saw Connery return to the role one final time.
Teodoro Galan Baldomaro, professionally known as Baldo Marro, was a Filipino actor, screenwriter, stunt director, film director and producer in the Philippines. He was awarded Best Actor by the prestigious Metro Manila Film Festival in 1988 for the action film Patrolman.
George Leech was a British film actor and stunt performer who was notable for his work on eleven James Bond films.
Keir Beck is an Australian stuntman and film director based on the Gold Coast. He works out of, and is founder of, the stunt training venue AP8.
Cheng Kai-Chung, also known as Andy Cheng, is a Hong Kong actor, stuntman, choreographer, martial artist, and director. He was a prominent member of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team from the late 1990s to early 2000s until he broke out on his own and became a member of the Stunts Unlimited team. He has doubled for Chan on occasion when Chan suffered serious injuries, and Chan saved his life on the set of Rush Hour 2 when a boat stunt went awry. Cheng has been working steadily as both a director and stunt coordinator.