Is there an ambitious stunt you want to tackle but haven’t yet? They are equally as important as any department on most movies. It’s going to happen eventually, and it should happen. Hopefully, sooner rather than later we can have some bigger voices get involved and help us push this over the finish line. LEITCH There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes within the Academy. What’s the latest on the stunt community pushing to have a category at the Oscars? Seeing David in there, mostly as moral support but also - “if you guys want to try this angle” - it literally felt like he was in the action sequence. We rehearsed it a million different times. Ilya and the guys really workshopped what we were going to do. MCCORMICK What was really fun about the bus sequence in Nobody, for David, is he actually was really deep into it the whole time. It can also be really hard on the body, don’t get me wrong. LEITCH I don’t miss the big hits, but fight scenes can be fun. Brad is from this old school where he is buying into the vision, and he wants to support that vision and be additive.ĭavid, do you miss taking the hits as a stuntman? Sometimes you work in movies where you don’t have that big creative force that is supporting. LEITCH He was supportive of me and my directorial vision from the beginning. It was kind of cute for them to figure out their lane and get into a rhythm and then for them to really form a partnership. MCCORMICK I think David was a little intimidated at the very start of the first week because they had such a different dynamic and relationship from before. It’s something special that you haven’t seen from him or me. It was really cool to come back in this new relationship where I’d grown as an artist, he’s grown as an artist and we are doing something that is leaning into both of our strengths. There were many times on set where I’d sit there and go, “That’s Brad Pitt!” We have a relationship and a friendship from the movies we did together. David, given your history as a stuntman for Brad going back to Fight Club and Troy, how was that transition? You just wrapped Brad Pitt’s Bullet Train. I was thinking to myself, “This is great and it may never get made, but they will have some fun.” They connected early on, two years before we got it made. He was really excited, and probably a little nervous, but really serious about it. MCCORMICK Before the script was finished, he was already jonesing to figure out how he was going to become an action star. Was that because of his busy Better Call Saul schedule or because he’d never done anything like this before? That’s a testament to the fact that leaned further and further away from Wick as we got to know the character and the cut came together.īob Odenkirk trained for nearly two years for this movie. It didn’t find a home in the rest of the story we were trying to tell.
DAVID LEITCH DEBUT MOVIE
Most of it is the world-creation kind of stuff that is more Wickian than this movie is. MCCORMICK I was looking at some home entertainment materials of stuff that didn’t make the cut. Keanu Reeves is already an action star, and I love him, and he played a great empathetic character and continues to. After co-directing the first film with fellow ex-stuntman Chad Stahelski - who went on to solo direct the sequels - how did you make sure this was different?ĭAVID LEITCH It leans into the grounded action that Wick would have, but the character is vastly different. You reteamed with John Wick writer Derek Kolstad for Nobody. To have somebody you trust - whether it be in the womb or in the home growing up, or the partner you’ve chosen in your life - it’s just a real luxury to have that safety net. There’s so much to think about, there’s so much to strategize about, and there are so many people you have to navigate. Siblings and married couples tend to make good filmmaking teams. Leitch took a break this month from working on his first cut of Bullet Train so he and McCormick could Zoom with THR from their southern Nevada home and headquarters, which they share with their dogs, who are known for traveling with them to far-flung shooting locations. Now as producers, they’re celebrating the March 26 release of Universal’s Nobody, a potential franchise starter that turns Better Call Saul‘s Bob Odenkirk into an action star and sees the duo reteam with John Wick scribe Derek Kolstad. Before producing, McCormick was executive vp production and acquisitions at Sierra Affinity, where she packaged such projects as Whiplash, Nightcrawler and Manchester by the Sea, while Leitch came up in the stunt world and has taken punches for Pitt as his double.