JASON WHITE INTERVIEW
MANE EVENT White worked with the cast of Peaky Blinders to ensure they felt safe around horses
F rom a two-ton house collapsing around Buster Keaton in 1928’s Steamboat Bill, Jr (all done for real) to the thunderous chariot race in Ben-Hur , stunts have been part of cinema’s DNA since its earliest days. Today, they’re bigger, bolder and more refined than ever – a craft demanding superhuman physicality, razor-sharp technical precision, endless innovation and, sometimes, nerves of absolute steel. Few know this adrenaline-charged world better than Jason White. With more than four decades in the stunt industry, he’s seen it all and walked away with some incredible stories to tell. His career spans everything from Peaky Blinders to the Harry Potter films, but the seasoned stuntman’s road to finding his dream job wasn’t always smooth. “I struggled in school because I was dyslexic and had ADHD,” he shares. “I ran everywhere – and I got bored quickly.” In sports, hands-on skills and the arts, though, he excelled. After exploring a handful of trades, he settled on acting, attending Morley College in London to study drama. His introduction to stunt work came at a Tower of London jousting event, where a chance meeting with established stuntmen turned into an apprenticeship of sorts. Despite witnessing one of the jousting team getting a lance stuck in their eye, White
was hooked and immediately enquired about work experience. “They kitted me out and gave me a job. For a week, I got to try different positions and do different things – all very exciting! After that, they invited me to go on tour,” he recalls. White eventually assisted with production management and tapped into his trade skills to build safer props for the team, including breakaway lances and a redesigned helm. “From the start, I was very safety-conscious, especially after the experience seeing the jouster get injured,” he explains. Eager to formally join the stunt register, he spent two years earning the requisite six qualifications, focusing on sports including judo, riding and trampolining. From there, he found work immediately, with early highlights including A Bridge Too Far and Who Framed Roger Rabbit . Right from the start, he “realised the importance of acting,” he says. “I’m always stressing this to young stunt personnel; there may be a time when you need to double for a principal.” DOUBLING THE GREATS Over the years, he’s doubled Roger Moore in A View to a Kill and stepped in as a Russian character in Octopussy , but one of his favourites was standing in as Christopher Lloyd in Who Framed Roger
Rabbit . “That was so much fun – it was a sequence in the Acme factory where Judge Doom dies in the Dip.” Donning full prosthetics to depict Doom melting into a pool of acidic sludge, he looked identical to Lloyd: “There are even parts of the sequence which are shot full frontal, and you can’t tell us apart,” he laughs. He also fondly remembers his time working with Tom Cruise on the movie Far and Away . “Tom is a great actor; he’s tremendous in his belief in what he does physically,” enthuses White. “I remember he had to pull this carpet from under my feet, and I did a backflip, landing on my back. Tom was impressed, and he held his hand out, pulled me up and said, ‘That was great, let’s have a cup of tea!’ He was a lovely guy – very real.” A memorable challenge came while working with Richard Harris on Maigret . White was tasked with doubling both Harris and another actor, Patrick O’Neal, while also directing an action sequence set below decks in a ship’s engine room. The producer approached him with a concern that the director was struggling with claustrophobia. “He asked me: ‘Can you direct this? You’ve got four hours,’” White recalls. White dove into the task, mapping out a chase scene and fight sequence that would climax in a confrontation between Harris and O’Neal’s characters. “I started
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