WILD HOGS STUNT SECRETS

The stunt coordinator for Wild Hogs reveals how some of the stunts were done.

Wild Hogs rode to the top of the box office earning 38 million over the weekend and a lot of that Harley love can be attributed to the stunts in the film. During one scene John Travolta’s character cuts the fuel line to Ray Liotta’s biker gang setting off an explosion that appears to take out Liotta and the other Del Fuegos.

Stunt coordinator Jack Gill reveals the secret of the stunt to make it safe for the stuntmen.

“If we can’t get ‘em close then we’ll make it work for the camera and the lenses because we can cheat the audience. We can put the guys a little further away and compress the lens with a long lens and make it look like they’re right on top of it. So there are things we can do to fool the audience with the camera lenses but then again there are other spots where these guys are gonna be in danger and that’s why there are stunt people.”

Jack Gill says that with the magic of stunt choreography, blowing up the Del Fuegos’ hang out looked dangerous but was played for laughs in the film.

“The comedy part of it is a major aspect when you’re designing it because it’s all body language. I mean I can shoot the same exact stunt with the same exact explosion and tell the stunt guys to do different things and it would look lethal. Whereas in this one we wanted it to look comedic like they’ve lost their drinking place, their drinking hole. And so it’s all gonna be the way the stunt guys are choreographed, nobody is gonna fall to the ground. They’re all gonna start throwing their jackets down in disgust. It’s more gonna be like, ‘you blew up our favorite place that we’ve been drinking at for 20 years.’”

Jack Gill also coordinated action stunts for Déjà vu, The Day After Tomorrow and the upcoming film The Reaping.