Stunt performer and coordinator Jeremy Conner | The Latest With Maya

A conversation with Jeremy Conner.❤️ 


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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Hi Jeremy, welcome to The Lightest with Maya. Jeremy Connor is a stunt performer and coordinator who's worked on Legacies, The Originals, Vampire Diaries, War with Grandpa, Pitch per Victory, The Nice Guys, Royal Pains, and so much more. Most recently, Jeremy is Ghostface in Scream 7. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm so excited to be talking with you again.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Thank you, Maya. It's a pleasure to talk to you, and I'm I'm very excited myself. Um, it's it's a nice day out. I'm glad to be able to be able to sit here and have a conversation with you. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Thank you. Um, yeah, so what's been the most challenging stunt you've performed?

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Ooh, the most challenging stunt I performed. There's uh one stands out in my mind. I was talking to somebody about this the other day. Um, there was a movie called Greenland uh with Gerard Butler. Um, and in the movie, uh he's there the the whole premise of the movie is they're trying to get to Greenland because it's the one safe space on Earth that's not being attacked by asteroids, like everything's kind of getting hit. And so he's stowed away in a truck under a canvas cover, and um the truck's going down the road, and there's like nine guys in the back, and the fight breaks out in the back of this truck, and so the guy that was driving gets distracted and he hits another truck uh sides sideways on the road, like kind of sideswipes him, and then he spins out, and the truck comes to a 180-degree slide, hits the side of the curb, and everybody falls out of the back. Well, I had to drive the truck and do the hit with everybody in the back of the truck. So I had nine guys in the back of this, it was a one-ton dually truck steak bed, um, older truck, and I had to do a 50 mile an hour 180 with no e-brake and just uh kind of whip it around and make sure nobody got hurt. I'm sorry, that's my dog. He um he so I threw that out there and had nine people in the bed of the truck and had uh to do that, and uh we had one shot at it and uh it worked out. So we did that. That was probably the most um intense you feel because it's not necessarily my body on the line for that one. It's a bunch of other people that have their body on the line, but it's my my my performance that is is uh they're relying on to not get hurt, and so that probably puts a different level of pressure on than anything I would have done for myself. So that was probably the most pressure I felt in doing a stunt, but uh it was able to be it was done and we got it and everybody was safe and everything's great.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Oh wow, yeah, yeah. Um, yeah, I think uh I just I think stunt uh work is um so fascinating and so cool. So thank you.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

It's it's a fun job. I what I like about it is the variety because uh you're always trying to put another puzzle together. You're trying to build action to tell a story, and then you have all these factors and variables involved, whether it's performances or your environment or how to tell the story or how to make it a little bit different than somebody that's told that story before. And so you're trying to put all the puzzle pieces together to create a piece of action that, like I said, can forward the story. Um, we call it you know, nonverbal dialogue. Like everything that we do in action is we're still trying to forward the story, even though you're not always verbal with it, and uh, but you want to make that action tell you the story as we go forward and learn something about the character or the world that it's set in or something like that. And so building that and putting those pieces together and performing that is uh it's it's always it gets a rise out of me. I enjoy it thoroughly.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Oh wow, that's so cool. Yeah. Um so how do you get in the right headspace before performing a stunt?

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Um typically it's it's all it's about focus. Um, you want to visualize uh what you've rehearsed if if there has been rehearsals, um and all everything that that you've done to hit the certain markers. Um, you know, kind of like when guys are are racing, usually you've practiced a track and you have certain marks you want to hit on the track so you can be as fast as you can. And in stunts, you have certain uh, I guess, sections that you want to make sure everything kind of is going right, but you also have to be aware of when things don't always go the way you plan to, and you've got to be able to react to that. So you kind of have to know what your contingencies are if something uh gets out of place, um, where like if if the the difference is big enough that you can keep going, how do you keep going? If the difference is big enough that you need to stop for safety's sake and reset, then stop, and you gotta do all those calculations in your head while you're going. So everything has to be super focused. Um, I usually I don't have any ritual or planned something. I'll usually, when we're getting lined up to do it, I'll just visualize all the things I've done it and done it the right way. And I don't try to ponder on things that could go wrong. I try to visualize the right things and just be aware of how to pivot if do things do go wrong. Um, but um it's it's more of just trying to stay focused. Uh I don't hype myself up or get to it too too nervous. Um, I just try to stay even keel and focused and go forward with it.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Oh wow. Yeah. Um, so who has had the biggest impact on you professionally?

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Professionally. Um several names come to mind. Um when I got started early in the business, there was a group that I worked with uh in live shows. Um, and uh they they got me started. And um it was uh there was a guy his name was Dave Kramer and um Biden Gwen and um uh it was it was uh a man of Grady Bishop passed away several years ago, and he was the driving aspect of it. I kind of got involved with him, so they got the ball rolling for me. Um and uh and so I started like, hey, I want to do this for a living. And then um actually the stunt coordinator for Scream 7 is Jennifer Badger, and she stuck her neck out for me hugely when um she when Vampire Diaries started, um, she was the double for the lead that played Elena, and so she had recommended me to the stunt coordinator John Copeman for Vampire Diaries to that I would make a good double for for the Damon character, and uh so I got to go up there and and do that, and it worked out and the ball started. So I owe a lot to her and John, and then as uh that progressed, and then uh she ended up stunt coordinating the first season of originals. Um, first it was Bob Fisher, which I met up here in Atlanta as well, and so him and and Jennifer have been a big part of my stunt career coming up as well. And then Dave Morzo took over at Originals the second season, and um he was a fight coordinator for Chuck and Alias and and a and a um uh he went back to Buffy the Vampire Slayer back in LA and and so he had done all these shows, and when he started coordinating, he kept me as the um the stunt double on originals, and him and I started working together a lot. So the last 10 years, I've done a lot of work with him. I've been his assistant coordinator for um probably four or five shows, maybe the last six or seven years. Um, so I've probably spent the most time with him. I've learned an immense amount of uh of professionalism and um and and processes from him, as well as Jennifer and John and those guys. So it takes a village, like in a stunt community, we're always kind of working with different people. So I have several I would consider mentors that have uh kind of came into the business before I was here and and brought me up coming through it. Um and but the last 10 years, I say I've spent the most time with David and we've become uh very good friends, and we like to do a lot of our shows together if we can. Um, and um, and then Mark Omez is another guy that he does a lot of rigging stuff. He's taught me a ton. He's put me on probably a hundred wires and thrown me around through the air, but he's always kept me safe and I've learned a lot of the the rigging side of things through him, even though I don't rig a lot. Um I I kind of know what I'm getting, and I know how to see what I'm getting into when I'm when when I'm being put on something, and that's um that's a huge benefit to know if you're what you're putting yourself at risk for. And so um he's been he's been really great too. So um I would say there's a good half dozen to a dozen people that I really um attribute my growth into at different stages in my career. Um and so uh and I've learned um from everybody, every time I'm on a job, I learn something. So I learn what to do, I may learn what not to do in certain situations and stuff like that. But uh, or or say, you know, not necessarily that's a bad thing, but maybe that wouldn't work for me. I can look at that and go, you know, that works for them, but I don't think I would want to do that that way. That wouldn't work for me. I want to do it like this, or maybe I would change that and stuff like that. So every opportunity that you're working, it's a it's a learning process. I'm always growing and learning. And um, so I'm always even people that may have been in the business the only the last five years, they may have done something innovative that I mean, hey, I really like that. I should learn from that. Um, just because I'm 20 years into it doesn't mean that I don't I know everything at all.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

So oh, I love that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's so cool. Um yeah, so who has had the biggest impact on you personally?

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Personally, um probably David, Jennifer, not far behind them. Um, we've grown a lot. Um, as like I said, our friendships um over the years. Um we've grown like I'm I'm I'm a very um faith-based um Christian belief in myself, uh for for me and my family. And Jennifer's we've always we'll pray before big stunts when we'll do it. Um, we'll have a team together and we'll make sure we we want to get together and and put our faith elsewhere so that we we know that um we're we're trying to put our safety in in God's hands in a way. And so that's been a big thing. And and David and I um also share faith conversations, we'll share um philosophical conversations, we'll share professional conversations and and just friendship, or just talk sports and enjoy like being around each other. So David and I have uh a like I said, it's it's more than just a work relationship. We're we're friends, and uh I hope that I can always be there for him if he ever needs me. Um, I feel like he's always there for me if I ever need him. And uh so building that um like a personal relationship is uh far greater than just just working together, you know?

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Yeah, definitely. I love that. Yeah, um, so what uh small things bring you joy on a daily basis?

SPEAKER_00 11:40

Oh, small things on a daily basis. Um you know, just uh I love watching my family grow how they have my kids. Um when I when I started doing vampire diaries back in 2009, my my daughter wasn't even born, and my son was just one year old. And so as I've progressed through this career, he's now 17, he's uh he'll be a senior next year. My daughter's 15, she gets her driver's license in May. Um, I'm watching these young adults now come into their own. And so they've got to come out and do some training things with me, and um and seeing them become the the young adults that they are is it's always like you're like wow. It's surreal in a sense. And so I get joy in watching them grow, I get joy in in spending time with the family and all that kind of stuff, but I also get joy in in working and in because like I said, all those puzzles. Um, so if I can go do a job and and I'm trying to figure something out and we create something that it like as far as say Scream 7 and working with Jennifer that whole time, um I'm I've watched the movie and I'm really proud of the the action sequences that um she and Noah Garrett was the fight coordinator for that, um, that they designed and we were able to perform. And I feel like they do lend to that story, and not that they weren't without challenges as we were going through them, but when you you see it all come together in in the final product and you're like, man, that was fun to do, and I'm glad people like it. Um that's fun, like you know, saying the process for me is fun, so it's not just about the when it when it comes out, it's it's the process of doing it. I just have a blast.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Yeah, oh I love that. Thanks. Yeah, yeah. Um, so is there a movie world that you wish you could live in?

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Ooh. Let me think. I don't know. Um because there's always drama, right? I've I've tried to keep my life drama free, and so when we're talking about movies, there's always drama. Like, do I want to deal with that drama in real life? Um but um yeah, I've never thought of that. Would I want to be there? You know what? Sci-fi has always been a um like uh I'm I'm a fan of sci-fi stuff, just that alternate like universe space travel kind of thing, which is pretty neat. So I guess a sci-fi movie, like whether it be one of the Star Wars, is really cool. Now obviously they didn't go without their their times of you know um of distress and things, but just being able to travel from planet to planet and see different things, that seems like it would be really cool. So maybe in a Star Wars world that would be fun, as long as the Empire wasn't too too far in control.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

Yeah so cool.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Yeah, yeah. How about you? Do you have a favorite?

SPEAKER_01 14:43

What what would you like to uh I would like to live in the rom com. The rom-com world. Yeah. That's yeah, that's my dream.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Right, that's awesome. When you always know the happy ending is coming, even if there is problems, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Right, that's awesome. Very cool.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Yeah, like um this morning I woke up and it was uh snowing outside, and snow is favorite, and it hasn't really snowed this year, so I was very excited. I was like weather for a rom-com moment.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

So that's great.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Awesome. I am I'm not a fan. I like the snow for about four days, and then I'm done with it. I'm like, I want it to be warm again. So uh um, I'm blessed right now that in Atlanta we're not we don't have a cold snap right now. I feel like it's luring me in with this nice warm sunny weather, and then it's gonna snap back down to 20 for a week next week, and then I'm gonna it I don't think it's gonna do that, but it it might, and it always gets you set for spring and then snapshift for a cold snap real fast. Oh but I'm glad you have your snow. I'm glad you I'm glad you're loving it. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Thank you, thank you. Um so what uh has been the biggest obstacle, either personally or professionally, that you've overcome.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

Oh, um professionally, I would say um, you know, this business is in the show business in general, you're always looking like the work is is the fun part, the the when you have work. The work that you put in is in between getting the work, you know what I'm saying? You're always doing the work to get work, and then once you're working, that's the fun part. And so I think I've been blessed to overcome times of uh when work wasn't prevalent, um, to be able to put in work to to try to get that next job. Um, and then uh if once you're working again, you feel like you've you've cleared that hurdle. You're like, okay, we can keep going. We're doing it. I'm still in this business, I'm going. So um, because you always feel like uh if it goes long enough, you're like, am I gonna ever work again? Will I work again? And so um after the strikes, during the strike year and after the strike, it was like I think I worked like eight weeks and two years. Um, and then I got the call from Jennifer for Scream, and then you're like, oh, okay, we're on, we can do this, and then you get a a good, a good uh section of time where you're you're working and you're figuring it out, and you're like, Yes, this is this is what I was made to do. Um, so those are are some of the hurdles. Um and then personally, um it's keeping my faith where in a in a space that I want it to be in, because when you start especially in in this business, it's you start looking at like, hey, I did this. Oh, I uh look what I made. Uh we did a movie and look, oh, look what the stunt that I did there. And you you start looking about what you did and not what what God has provided for me sometimes. And so I try to I feel like I stumble a lot in that, like I get caught up on what I'm either done or trying to do, and not like just giving it up and saying, you know, use me where you want to use me. And so um I I try to focus on being a light um wherever I go. I don't, I'm not a I don't preach at people kind of thing. I don't feel like that typically is is my calling in sense of I need to like you let everybody know what their faith should be. Um I just I feel like mm if I can live my life and and and make somebody go, well, why did you make that decision or why did you do that? And then I can I can say why I choose what I choose and let that be its own testimony about if somebody wants to um look for that in their life the way I have, then I can be that light to to guide them. And that's that's my goal.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

Yeah. Um so I am uh pop culture obsessed and I go in stages of shows that I cannot stop watching. Um is there a show that you are currently obsessed with?

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Ooh. So shows I I hit it's I don't do a lot of series because I get I get random, like I'll I'll watch it for three episodes and then I'll get busy and I won't watch it again for six or eight weeks, and I'll forget what happened. I got back and started again, and I'm I'm really a guy that likes to watch a movie. So I've watched I get all my closure at that movie, and then I'm like, okay, cool, I'm moving on to the next thing. And so I'm kind of a movie guy, but series-wise, we were starting something, and like I said, we got three episodes in, and I haven't got back to it. What were we watching? Um, I literally I started Tulsa King not too long ago. Um, and we got most of the way through the first season, and then uh I started traveling for some stuff for uh some of the promo stuff for Stream and I was out of town. That's my wife and I hadn't got back to it. But it was interesting. I feel like uh I'm I'm almost done with the first season, and so I might have to go back and check that out. Um, I like that a lot. Um, and then um, I can't think of anything right off the top of my head that I've watched recently that has caught my attention like that.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Yeah. Uh well, what's been your favorite movie that you've seen recently?

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Favorite movie that I've seen recently is um I I go back and I watch a lot of old stuff that I've like things that I saw when I was a kid a lot of times. But uh Scream is actually on the on the list, and it only for the fact that I'm so proud of the work we put into developing the action for that. Um and and not and Kevin wrote a great script. I I think it's great. I think it uh the movie is fun. I don't feel like I was in there for two hours, and that's what an entertainment kind of movie is. Um, I did the same thing, like Fall Guy with uh with Glenn. Yeah, it it's I went in knowing it wasn't gonna be like the original Fall Guy that I watched when I was a little kid. Um, that was the series, and that was a really fun movie to watch, and so I enjoyed watching that. And then I watched actually The Running Man with that he redid recently, Glenn Foster did uh Glenn Powell, sorry, did The Running Man. And um, because I was when I was a kid, the Arnold Schwarzenegger version, I was like that was 80s action for me. I was all about it, and so I watched it, and that was fun. I will my son and I sat down and watched that together, and uh and we had a good time. It was really, really fun to watch. So I like I like my action. Like I said, it's sci fi, it's action, it's it's stuff like that. I really like it.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Oh cool, yeah. I love that. Yeah. Um yeah, I loved uh the fall guy and I'm so excited to see Scream Seven and Running Man. And I go back to I did think of a series.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Did you see Chad Powers at all? Have you heard of that?

SPEAKER_01 22:19

I saw one episode and I've been to go back to it.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

I watched Chad Powers because I'm a football fanatic. And so um that one was fun. I I thought it was a good, it was uh it was good. It was kind of I felt like it was short, like the the season was short. I felt like it could have gone. But um they just finished shooting season two, so I don't know when that's gonna drop for Hulu, but um they just finished shooting season two, so I'm excited for that to come out, and I will probably check that out when it does.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

Oh cool, yeah. Glenn Powell is uh in one of my uh favorite rom coms.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

Oh, which one is that?

SPEAKER_01 22:55

It's Anyone But You.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

Oh, I've heard of it, I haven't seen it, but my wife loves rom coms, and so I usually have to watch one with her at least once a week.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

Yeah, I I love that movie.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

Yeah, very funny.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Yeah, yeah. I I go in phases where I watch a ton of movies, and then there's like so many shows that I want to watch, so then I'm watching a ton of shows and not really any movies. So right now there's a ton of shows I've been watching. My mom and there you go. So that's fun.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

That's awesome. Yeah, I like I said, I don't I I get caught up in sports a lot, I do a lot of sports, and it was football season up until February. So I was watching a lot of football and I was watching a lot of basketball, and now that everything's starting to cut. Now I watched a lot of the Winter Olympics, I was watching curling a lot. Um, as as weird as that sounds, but it just catches your eye. You're just like I was trying to figure out for about a week and a half, I was trying to figure out how the scoring worked. I'm just trying to learn as I watched, and then finally I figured that out, and then it was kind of I was watching the strategy, but uh yeah, I love the the speed skating. I was watching a lot of speed skating, so yeah. I'm like I'm a I'm a competition fanatic, like I can watch anybody compete at anything, and just is I feel like it's the ultimate reality TV because you don't know what's really gonna happen, right? So you're watching to see who's gonna compete hard and and persevere, whatever the the stuff is. So that's it's always my thing. I'm a sports guy.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Yeah, oh wow, yeah. Um yeah, so if you could give someone in your life a star on the walk of fame, who would it be?

SPEAKER_00 24:39

Probably well, if anyone for it for just being who they are in life, or anyone for the profession for life, my wife.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

I mean either one.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Okay, I would I would choose my wife. Um, my wife is a is a superhero. Um she is so my wife had scoliosis as a child. She was a gymnast and they moved, and so she didn't, she took a year off of gymnastics and her scoliosis took over her body and crushed along and bent up her body. So she's been through three back surgeries. She's got four titanium rods in her back with only one moving vertebrae, and she deals usually in some kind of pain constantly. And this is, you know, she's 25 years in since her last surgery. And um, she has never let any of that like keep her from doing anything she wants to do. Um, she wrote we met riding dirt bikes. She was riding motorcycles with rods in her back. She was a stilt walker and a power skipper for Disney. She did balloon art, she would travel around the nation doing basketball games and doing the t-shirts and the stilt walking and the crowd interaction. And then she had two kids and she'd put everything on the back burner so she could be home with the kids, and I could do uh the the TV and film business. And and then she she homeschooled the kids until they were in the fourth grade, and then she put them in school, and then she volunteers with my daughter at her gymnastics, or now my daughter's in in the band, or my son was in volleyball, and she she's always there for them all the time. And she she puts everybody else first and she never complains. Um, you know, and and she's she's a rock, she's the toughest person I've ever met in my life, and so just for everything that she's done and been through and supported me as I've been either on the road or at home working long hours, she's like, Hey, you need to go do that. That's what you do. And so she takes care of everything at the house. And when I'm not able to be able to do it, um, she's my rock. So I would give her the star for sure.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

Um I love that.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Thank you. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

I'm she's the rom com.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

She's a walking rom com.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

I love that. Yeah, I'm um, I'm so sorry she um went through all of that, and she's so amazing.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

She's she is amazing, and and you know, and you think back and you're like, I no, I totally wish that she didn't have to deal with the pain she's in, but you find out who you are when you have to deal with certain things and you grow through these painful times in your life, and uh so would she be who she is without having to go through all that? I don't know, but um I'm completely grateful and blessed for who she is and and how she's not necessarily how she's got there, but how it's how it's developed her into who she is, and so um yeah, I love her just the way she is, and so I I don't wish the paint on her at all, but I'm I'm so happy with the way she's she's dealt with everything and and persevered. So it's great.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Oh, I love that. Yeah, yeah, that is I love that the rom com.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

Yeah, she is is she's all about it. She thinks I'm not funny enough. She's she says I she's the funny one, and uh I'm I'm uh I'm she what they call me, buzzkill. I would always be the buzzkill at the party. She's like, oh, you're buzz. She made me a shirt that said buzzkill because I'm the entertainer that's not funny, and she's the one that's all that gets has all the humor.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

So I love that. Yeah, um, so if you had a warning label, what would yours be?

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Ooh. Um probably warning corrosive material, I've guessed. My body's breaking down. Uh no, it's I guess uh may explode at any moment. I do I do have I I'm I'm pretty even tempered until and I handle big situations very well, but when little things stack up on me, I lose my cool and my wife has to shut has to calm me down because like and driving is the worst because it's it's not just the one person that may cut you off in traffic, it's like the tenth time you get cut off in traffic, and then I lose it on ever, I'm like yelling through the windshield, and she's like, Jeremy, stop. And I'm like, I just can't take all of it. So um, yeah, it's it's it might my fuse is is uh it it's I don't know if it's relatively short, but it it when it happens, it's gone quick.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

Yeah. Um so um what genre of movie would your life story be told as?

SPEAKER_00 29:26

Ooh. It would be an action rom com.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

I like that.

SPEAKER_00 29:34

It would have to be an action rom-com because I'm only involved in the action, and my wife brings all the rom-com. So every time I'm home, it's a rom-com, and then I have to go out and get some action in. So we maybe it's just checking the mail I have to fight a dog or something, and then come back in and we have more rom-com. That's kind of how our house works.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

I love that. Yeah, I always wanted my life story to be a musical rom com.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Oh, musicals, yeah. See, I'm not a musical person at all. Like, I love music, and I don't I can't do musicals because I don't like when people sing where it's not in place. Well, I think we talked about this at breakfast one time. Uh when I met you, we were talking about yeah, I was like, I can deal with the music if it's supposed to be there. Like if they're doing music, then that's fine. But if somebody just breaks out into song, like um, what's the the I guess even Mary Poppins? I'm like, they're singing when they don't need to be, I don't need to be told the story through song. My daughter saw cats and she was she was a little baby, she was probably four years old. She's like, I wish they would stop singing and just act. And I was like, I know, me too. But now she loves musicals. My daughter's a big musical fan, and I'm like, oh really? But she's in in the band in the color guard now, so she's got a lot of friends who like musicals too.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

But that's funny. Yeah, you see, I wish life was you just broke into songs.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

Yeah, but I think I would I'm scared of that. I think I have a fear of that because I I'm so bad of a singer that if I if everyday life had to break into song, I would just be embarrassed all the time.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

I I can't sing either, so yeah, so it doesn't stop me. I still find musical moment.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Nice, awesome. I think you should take out every musical moment you can get.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

Thank you. Um so if you had to choose a theme song that plays every time you enter a room, um, what would it be and why?

SPEAKER_00 31:42

That's a tough one too. Um a big eighties rock kind of guy. So I'm thinking about all the eighties songs. Um that and but none of them, I don't know if they all describe me, it's just I like to listen to them. I don't know, it's weird. Um probably welcome to the jungle because from Guns N' Roses because my life is so chaotic all the time. Because we we we fly by the seat of our pants. It's my wife's always like for us to make plans to go somewhere and do something for like a trip or something like that. I'm like, yeah, if I'm not working, or yeah, if it doesn't work out, because I it's hard for me to schedule anything when I don't know when my next job is gonna be, because I'm usually working on something for you know a week here, a week there, or a month here, or something like that. And so I don't know when the next job is gonna be, and I don't want to miss out on those opportunities when they arise. So yeah, our our life is is is scheduling-wise, is that's why she's the rock. She handles all the scheduling, and she's like, if you're here, I need you to do this. If you can't and you're out, then I'll figure something else out. I'm like, okay, so I'm when I'm home, I'll I'll handle everything I can handle. But when she knows that at the drop of a hat, like, hey, can you be here Thursday? I'm like, Yep, I'll be there Thursday, and then I just go do it. And so she she picks up all that slack, so I probably make it a jungle for her to walk through for sure.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

But oh, I love that. Yeah. Um, so I just have a few more questions if that works for you. Um so what's your favorite way to unwind after a hectic day?

SPEAKER_00 33:36

Ooh, um, we like I said, we do like to do a movie, um, chill out, watch a movie. Um, or like I said, if if nobody's home, I'll watch some sporting event. I'll watch uh a basketball game, or I'll watch Supercross from the motocross racing, or I'll watch, like I said, whatever it happens to be in season at that time. Um, that will be my way to do it. Um if the family's home, we'll try to find a movie that everybody wants to watch. And it's usually something that I've seen before that's an 80s movie that nobody it's obscure and and they don't remember it. And my wife doesn't remember it, my kids have never seen it, and so we'll watch something from that just because it's like it's hard to let things go from your childhood that you're like, man, that was really good. Let's watch that. And so I do that again. It's usually something like that. Some some movie that is 40 years old and probably wasn't as great as I remember it being great, but I love it anyway.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

Oh, I love that.

unknown 34:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

Um so what is uh the best advice you have ever gotten?

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Uh best advice I've ever gotten was um you you can't like so in in the stunt business, you're it's there's no agents or anything like that. So stunt coordinators hire the stunt people, right? And so as you're building your network of people you know or know what you can do, you're you're trying to um build uh trust in the industry of people that know what you can do, uh, people that would give you opportunities to do what you can do and things like that. And so as a young stunt performer, you're you're trying really hard to let people know who you are. And um, I was told you can't ever convince somebody of how good you are by your words. Um because the more you're talking about tucking yourself up and talking about yourself, the more people are going to like doubt what you can really do because the more you talk about it, the more it seems bravado and not really substance. So he's like, just let your actions do the talking. Like take the opportunities that are given, knock that one out of the park, and then it'll grow. And so it's the the business is like a snowball. So you start with your little snowball, you're packing all your tools together and and your skills, and you pack it into a little snowball, and hopefully eventually it gets to be big enough where you're rolling it in the snow, and it then gravity takes hells and it's rolling downhill on its own if you can, you know, kind of deal. And so, um, but you just want to start with that small snowball and just keep packing on snow and just keep taking opportunities and and doing your best with them. And uh, and if you're doing your best, um whether like you obviously you're not you don't want to be a failure, but some people are gonna be happy with what you do, and some may some people may not be happy with what you do. And as long as you're giving it your full effort, you're giving it your your you train for it, you do your best, you get there, you do the best of your ability, then that's all you can do is your best. If they if they weren't happy with it, you can't be too concerned with they weren't happy with what happened because you did your best. You can only do your best. And so if you're always doing your best, more times than not, you're gonna come out on top and on a head. So just um do your best. Don't try to convince other people that what you how good you are by your words.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

Yeah. Oh, I love that. Yeah. Um yeah, so uh my final question for you is um today, what are you most grateful for?

SPEAKER_00 37:13

What am I most grateful for? I am most grateful for meeting my wife and and building a family with her and that kind of stuff. Um, as a family, I'm grateful for um being blessed enough that I have made a living in this career, especially for as long as I have, because I don't feel like I've worked. I I've put in the work, but I don't feel like I've worked. Like I feel like I enjoy what I do so much that it doesn't feel like a job. And so um I've been able to pretend and play and and enjoy the people I work with, and especially the people I work with. I've worked with so many people um repetitively on separate on different shows, and they feel like family to me. And so if I'm working on a project with the people I enjoy being around and making it a phenomenon to provide for my family, then that that's the dream. And it's like I said, it doesn't feel like work. I've been blessed to um really love my my profession and and my job. And um, you know, that obviously there's aspects that you you wish weren't the same, but um overall I've I've I've thoroughly enjoyed being able to do what I do and provide for my family and have my family be a part of it on occasion um when I can bring the kids out or or they share in the the final product and when we go watch the movie and stuff like that. So uh my son now wants to get into stunt, so we're starting in the training process with him and um seeing what he'll what he'll be able to do. So maybe I'll be doing my profession with him, but you know, and not not too distant future. So we'll see how it works out.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

Wow, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 38:54

Yeah, it's it's a blessing.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

Yeah. Yeah. Um, well, that was um my final question for you. Um thank you. Thank you so much for joining me. Um, I've loved talking with you again. It was so fun meeting you in LA, and I'm so happy to be talking with you again. So thanks.

SPEAKER_00 39:19

It was a true pleasure, Maya. I I can't uh tell you how much I appreciate you inviting me on and and doing this. Like I said, not done a lot of interviews. Most of my stuff is all action-based, it's physical, and so words really aren't my thing, but uh you made it very easy. So I thank you for for the time.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Thank you. Um yeah, thank you so much for taking your time, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.

SPEAKER_00 39:47

I appreciate it. You as well.

unknown 39:49

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 39:49

Thank you. Um, and that's a wrap on today's edition of the latest to admire.