Questions by GandalfDC

1. What type of stunts did you perform on Superman 1 and 2 ? Specific scenes ?

Flying into the prison yard from 250feet carrying Lex Luther's double and the other little fellers double. And then I also flew out of the swimming pool through the roof of grand central station. We did this by building the set upside down with the ceiling over a pit in the studio floor and placed the camera upside down and I dove from the roof of the studio through the ceiling piece into my catch rig, I only had 3 feet to turn from a vertical dive onto my back once I had gone through the ceiling piece before I hit the catch rig. Any others stunt that involved Superman was performed by me. I will also have some pictures developed any day now that I have just found of the fly into the prison courtyard

2. Did you perfrom stunts which you hadnt done before ?

The Upside down set mentioned above and I had never done the acrobatic flying that I performed on the shoot before, so we had to go to a swimming pool to learn a lot of the free ariel moves before performing them over catch rigs.

3. Were you aware of any problems between the producers and the director on the first film ?

No more than the usual Director / Producer fights over time and money

4. What did you think of the production of the films in terms of quality ?

Superb, the quality of the production still stands the test of time

5. How does one become a stunt man ? What unique skills does one need for this type of work ?

A stuntman has to be qualified in a number of skills determined by Equity the Trade Union, but primarily a stuntman should posses a unique skill that is over and above the average person be it a :high diver, sword fencer, motor cyclist, horse rider, car driver,Gymnast. Because to perform a stunt under the pressure we normally are under requires great ability and mind set.

6. How long were working on the first 2 films ?

12 months

7. What kind of problems did you encounter on set ?

None Dick Donner was superb in his direction and vision and encouraged suggestions and input , any problems would have only been the cost etc with the production.

8. 2 people tragically died on Superman The Movies production, did that effect your work ?

I can only remember 1 death on the shoot. and it is always a terrible time to go through.

9. Which film you have worked on is your favourite ?

The Indiana Jones Trilogy were probably my favorites, But many more have been fun like the Young Indy series which I directed some of and the Joshua Tree which I also directed and the Mission also the Bonds have been great fun. I basically enjoy my job on 90% of the movies I work which is over 200 now.

I would like to thank Vic for taking his time to answer the questions and also Stunts Incorporated webmaster, Nick Rennie.

RELATED LINKS - http://www.stuntsincorporated.co.uk by Vic Armstrong