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Dear Readers,
Firstly, big thank you for all your feedback. We’ve been working closely with Vic to bring you what you’d like to see and we’re happy to have made several key changes to the website.
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The VicArmstrong.com Team
Here is a photograph of me and a group of stuntmen covering many years of the British stunt business.
Jimmy Lodge and the gang
From the left to right we have Gerard Naprous, Tony Smart, Myself, Jimmy Lodge and George Leech.
Gerard and Tony are from my era and we all started around the same time. Jimmy Lodge is the Gentleman that got me started as a stuntman in 1965. George Leech is my Father in Law and one of the first stunt men in the UK back in the day.
Jimmy was a very good amateur steeplechase jockey and was the number one horseman in the film business in the 60’s. When I met him he had just come back from Spain where he was working with Yul Brynner on “The Long Duel”. Jimmy used to come and exercise my fathers racehorse to keep himself fit and one day he asked me if he could borrow one of our horses for a movie called “ARABESQUE” of course I said yes. Jimmy was doubling Gregory Peck in this big chase sequence and the horses they had from the usual horse hirer just could not jump the fences that were required. Jimmy new the horse that he wanted to borrow from me could jump anything you put in front of him. The next day Jimmy called and said we need another rider do you want to do it, so I said “you’ll have to give me about two seconds to think it over”. I went to work for Jimmy and got the fantastic amount of £20 a day as a riding stunt double which was a Kings ransom in those days and actually more than the average persons weekly wage. The rest is history as they say, I just loved the work and luckily at the time they were making a lot of “horse operas” as they were nick named like “Mary Queen of Scott’s” Macbeth” “Young Winston” and being one of the only young stunt guy’s in those days I worked on them all. I soon branched out into other aspects of stunts such as fights, falls and driving and got an impressive resume very quickly.
The bottom line is I owe it all to Gentleman Jimmy Lodge, he taught me how to handle productions and how to negotiate and how to stand firm for what was safe and right and the many things a successful stuntman has to know, he also introduced me to his tailor because I was always in awe of Jimmy’s immaculate dress sense and later on when I could afford it I had my clothes made by the same tailor Bernard Wetherill of Windsor.
iPhone Junkies! VicArmstrong.com is now iPhone / iPod Touch enabled using the fantastic WPtouch Plugin by BraveNewCode, meaning you can read and contribute to Vic’s journal on the move.
Not only this, but you can subscribe to RSS content feeds to make sure you stay updated.
Please keep in mind this is all early work so there will be changes along the way however your feedback is highly appreciated.
Enjoy!
I am New York in the office prepping my next picture and I came across this picture of myself with the stunt legend Terry Leonard who has been a great buddy of mine since we met on “RAIDER’S of the LOST ARK”. Terry was one of the best stuntmen there has been and is now one of the best Action Unit directors out there.
I last saw Terry in Victorville California where I was shooting a sequence for “VALKYRIE” in the desert. Terry walked into the same hotel one night and it turned out he was shooting a sequence for the latest “FAST & FURIOUS” movie on a dry lake bed just down the road from where I was shooting. We had a nice early dinner together and reminisced a little about the old days and I promised to send him a copy of this picture which was taken at the last TAURUS WORLD STUNT AWARDS. We then turned in early because we both had to leave at the crack of dawn the next morning, it sure wasn’t like the old days!!
I will endevour to answer all your letters and requests over the next few weeks so kep them coming in
Chow Yun Fat & Vic
Happy New Year Everybody
I thought I would start the New Year with a picture of one of last years jobs. This is the fabulous actor Chow Yun Fat who I had the pleasure of working with last year in Bangkok when we shot “SHANGHAI” . I had sequence to shoot a sequence in a night club which involved Yun Fat shooting a few assasins and he said it was the first shoot up he had done since “REPLACEMENT KILLERS” which was an honor for me.
I am now in New York prepping a film that i will tell you more about as we progress
Gong Li
Here is another picture form the same movie of the gorgeous Gong Li. She was absolutely wonderful to work with and again it was a great honor to work with these superb Asian actors
Congratulations to everybody that worked on "BATMAN" it is turning into a record breaker. Paul Jennings the stunt coordinator and all his crew have done a great job. Chris Corbould and the special effects crew also have pulled out all the stops and made a major contribution to the movie, it would not be anywhere near as good without their combined talents. Chris's crew also built the enormous BAT BIKE which is a revolutionary machine and stunning to look at and a marvel of engineering. It was piloted by Jean-Pierre Goy one of the great motor cycle stunt riders around today. J-P rode the BMW for me on "TOMORROW NEVER DIES" in 1997 with my wife Wendy sitting on the handle bars and various other positions doubling Michelle Yeogh while he did some absolutely amazing tricks with the bike including wheelie's and the jump over the helicopter at the end of the chase, which is still considered the best bang for your buck as far as chases go. J-P said to me one day "Vic I am so honored that you trust your wife's life to me during all these motorcycle stunts" and I answered him "yes J-P but you do not know how much I have her insured for !!!" It is so sad about Heath Ledger he was such a talent and after I worked with him on "THE FOUR FEATHERS" I tipped him as the next Harrison Ford. Jordi Casares and myself worked with him on his horseback riding and got him to do a pony express mount in amongst the 200 hundred charging dervishes during the battle sequence, you see him get off the ground, catch the loose horse, vault on and gallop into a close up. I was so impressed that I included the stunt in my show reel which you can see on this site.
From left to right, Jean-Pierre Goy, Wendy, Myself, Seng & Jordi.
Jean – Pierre has a website where you can see his amazing array of talents, to access it click on the LINK opposite or go to:
Hi everybody, I first must apologize for taking time off from updating the website. Wendy & I spent some time at our place in Los Angeles and did some house remodeling. I then did some work with Tom Cruise and it was great fun seeing him again and he is as game as ever doing his own stunts, if I had stayed longer I would have asked him for tickets to the LA Galaxy to see his mate David Beckham play, maybe next time. While I was in town I saw several cuts of MUMMY 3 with Rob Cohen and the more I saw the more excited I was about the final film, it really zips along at a great pace and Rob has done a fantastic job in a) directing it, and b) in editing it, he has given it his distinctive look and feel as you would expect from the director of "xXx" and "FAST & FURIOUS". I am currently in Bangkok and there are posters everywhere advertising it and the locals are dying to see it.
Talking of Bangkok, I am here for Harvey Weinstein working an on a movie called "SHANGHAI" which is directed by a very talented director called Mikael Hafstrom who's last film "1408" was a big hit. This movie is set in almost the same period as MUMMY 3 but deals with the Japanese invasion of Shanghai. In the photo above I am with some Thai friends, on the left is Prachya (Prach) Pinkaew, Prach directed the amazing Thai action movie "ONG BAK" between him and myself is my great friend for over 15 years Kawee (Seng) Sirikhanaerut, Seng is my stunt coordinator here in Thailand, he is the #1 and has worked on many international movies around the World, on my left is Panna (Kitt) Rittikrai, Kit is Seng's teacher and mentor and was the fight choreographer and action director on "ONG BAK". This will be my 10th show in Thailand and the last time I was here I directed a commercial for RANGE ROVER that went on to win several awards and it is always fun to come here and meet all my friends again, many like Seng have now moved on to much higher positions. It is also great to see how the Thai film industry is expanding and coming on par with the rest of the World as far as technicians goes, the locations Thailand has to offer are as before also stunning. Plus the tropical hot and humid conditions help my aching bones and I play some of my best golf here !!
All for now FOLK's but I promise I will keep the site up to date regularly
Here is a fun little movie on YOU TUBE that Mark Sung did of me while we were shooting the last couple of days of MUMMY 3 in Shanghai, hence my bow tie !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj_A-DQ8PAA
Enjoy
