One of Worlds Best Stunt Men From Australia
Date: 2008-10-11 07:17:08
Source: http://www.tv3.co.nz/News/EntertainmentNews/Kiwist...
Submitted By: Come Get You Some
In today's action-packed movie blockbusters the stunts have become bigger better and more dangerous. Designing many of these bigger and better stunts has been the job of Kiwi stuntman, Markos Rounthwaite. He already has Casino Royale, the Bourne Ultimatum and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on his CV, and has just returned home after working on the new Matt Damon film Greenzone. At 65, Harrison Ford was not afraid to do his own stunt work. But helping to design, set-up and co-ordinate his action, was Rounthwaite. And he was pretty impressed with Dr Jones. "He gets stuck in, not scared to get dirty," Rounthwaite said. "If I was 65 and could do half the stuff he does, I'd be happy man." Indiana Jones is not the only blockbuster hero Rounthwaite has ordered around recently. He worked on the last Bourne, and with the new Bond. The new Bond got his fair share of bumps and bruises in Casino Royale and many had Rounthwaite's name on them. The opening crane sequence on Casino Royale took six weeks to set up and also featured fellow Kiwi stuntman Ben Cooke as Bond's stunt double. He went on to win a World Stunt Award for his death-defying efforts. Casino Royale did not just break box office records, it set a world record as well. 007's Aston Martin rolled seven times during the film - a Guinness World Record for a single take. "It was all about the prepping," Rounthwaite said. "Prepped the vehicle, the performer, get all the safety aspects there. Seven total turns and coming away smiling. That in itself is a successful shoot." From one secret agent to another, Rounthwaite's stunt team moved from Bond to Bourne. The Bourne Ultimatum delivered wall-to-wall stunts, including an intense Moroccan rooftop chase scene. "It was a shot where we wanted to have the camera follow through, but we couldn't rig the camera through such a small opening," Rounthwaite explained. "We went over there, prepped for the jump, then the suggestion was we give one of the stunt guys a camera and he can do the jump with it." All of that effort does not go unappreciated by the people who get all the glory. "They're asked to do the things that are really dangerous," Matt Damon said. "The things I do aren't dangerous at all, they're exhilarating. The Bourne Ultimatum proved to be an award-winning outing for both Routhwaite and Ben Cooke. They won a SAG award. The Elite strike force of Kiwi stunt performers also of course included Zoe Bell, who transcended stunt double for Uma Thurman to a credited role herself in Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. Rounthwaite's latest project might look like a war-zone, but it is supposed to. He has been in Morocco to work on his much talked about new Iraq War movie Green Zone. Green Zone stars again Matt Damon and is the first war movie Rounthwaite has worked on and his first teaching stunts to real soldiers.














