The original Die Hard remains my favorite movie of all time. Of all time. Realistically, I’ve watched it hundreds of times. And one of the games I’ve come up with on repeat viewings is singling out Bruce Willis’ stunt double. He doesn’t really look like Willis. And it stands out in key scenes. Go back and watch John McClane’s brutal fight against Karl (Alexander Godunov) near the end of the film. You’ll be able to spot the stand-in at regular intervals.
The stunt doubles photographed alongside the actors they are hired to play look much better. A gallery of 15 stunt doubles has been posted to TwistedSifter.
I’m not sure I can tell which is the real Kate Beckinsale and which is her double in the above photos. I’m also not sure how flattered Jennifer Lopez should be by the fact that her stunt double is played by a man. And then there’s Portman, who suffered some harsh criticisms for Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan as Oscar voters tried to figure out how much ballet dancing the actress did on her way to winning a Best Actress trophy.
My favorite story from the stunt people featured on the site, though, has to be Zoe Bell, who has graduated from brave stunt actor to actual actor, thanks to chances from Quentin Tarantino (who used her to great effect in his Grindhouse movie, Death Proof). She’ll appear as Tracker Peg in QT’s Django Unchained later this year. But she also was incredibly charming as Bloody Holly in Drew Barrymore’s Whip It, and she has tremendous potential as a leading lady. Give her more chances, Hollywood!
