Stunt Director Vic Armstrong Talks About Thor And The Amazing Spider-Man

Stunt man/director Vic Armstrong has an impressive resume, Indiana Jones, Superman (1978), Mission: Impossible 3, and The Green Hornet just to name a few. Recently Armstrong concluded work on two comic book movies recently, Thor and The Amazing Spider-Man. Wired sat down with Vic where he talked a little bit about the two movies as well as if the addition of CGI over the years has made doing the real stunts obsolete.

"I think it’s still very much alive (stunts with out CGI), even making a resurgence. I’ve just finished Spider-Man in New York and the advent of CGI has certainly made our life more bearable. But for Thor and Spider-Man, we were doing big snapbacks [when a person gets jerked by a cable simulating the effects of a gunshot or explosion] and a lot of the flying for real. The beauty of CGI is that you can use cables as thick as your little finger. When we made Superman, we were hanging on little piano wires and they had to be painted to match the sky or whatever. Modern technology has allowed us to do more stunts while putting the actors in, too. I think Chris Hemsworth in Thor ended up doing 99 percent of his stunts."

"Honestly, the rest is when we needed to do a shot and he was out of town, shooting in New Mexico. The only dangerous one I can think of is when Thor gets thrown, and he bangs and bounces around on the ground. There isn’t a way to fake that, so no need to risk Chris."

"I think Chris Hemsworth and Tom Cruise are up there. Andrew Garfield is another. Of course, Harrison Ford was great, too. For years these guys have always wanted to do it, but now with modern technology, we can let them do it. Audiences are ever more demanding. But also, they’re now competing with videogames that have incredible action, but no one is actually doing it. I think there’s a whole generation of kids thinking that kind of action is the norm."