Life on the Other Side of Fear
Look closely at David Leitch’s left arm and you’ll find the words, “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” The tattoo is a personal creed, his production company’s motto, and his advice for current CLA students as they navigate their understanding of the world.
And he should know. The stunt double-turned-director has made a career out of taking bold chances and telling big stories. His latest film The Fall Guy, starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, was hailed by NPR as “a tribute to stunt performers and the often unrecognized risks they take.”
But before there was Hollywood, there was life at the University. Read on to learn how Leitch’s international relations degree and liberal arts education prepared him for the film industry.
In your own words, what do you do?
I’ve spent nearly 30 years working in the film industry. The last decade I’ve been a movie director, getting to tell stories for the big screen, which is really the best job in the world, second to being a stunt performer. I rose to directing in a pretty non-conventional way; a lot of directors either study film or come out of film school, but I sort of learned on the job. I built up my career apprenticing and had an eye for the chair.
Walk us through a typical day.
What’s a typical day in my life when I’m not on a movie? I have a pretty fun life. My wife Kelly is my producing partner and fitness is a cornerstone for us, we’re always doing something in the morning to workout. Together we have three rescue pitbulls—Junior; Daisy, named after the beagle in John Wick, and Ladybug, named after Brad Pitt’s character in Bullet Train—they are our pride and joy. They come with us on location everywhere we go.
In between, we’re constantly reading materials, analyzing stories and scripts that we think we have the potential to produce or direct within our production company 87North.
Brad Pitt’s stunt double. Multiple times. How does that happen?!
Preparation plus opportunity equals miracles.
After finishing my undergraduate degree in international relations, I earned my master’s degree through an accelerated program in education at the U and taught second grade at Oxbow Creek Elementary School in Champlin. I knew I was going to LA, so I spent my summers training martial arts and met a core group of people who were stunt performers and martial arts performers.
A year into teaching, I felt like my athletic career wasn’t over. I had the bug. It is a business, though, and it’s hard to crack into. It’s all about finding connections, finding a mentor. There is no school for stunts, it’s all learned on the job or you apprentice under someone. In that way, it’s a lot like the circus. A lot of stunts and gags are passed down from generation to generation.
If I was in the apocalypse, I’d want to be on a movie set. There are so many can-do people there!
I had been in LA for three years and one of my martial arts connections was the fight coordinator on Fight Club who told me they needed a stunt double for Brad Pitt. I was working in television and was really green; I hadn’t cracked into the business very big yet. But they brought me in, stood me next to Brad, and said, ‘same height, same hair, same body composition’ (though maybe not so much anymore!).
I met director David Fincher and ended up working on the choreography. Back then, there were very few stunts, it was more about the design, keeping everyone safe, then training in the actors. We'd rehearse, and then the actors would come in and do the stunts.
Getting to double the biggest actor in Hollywood was truly a rocket ship in the stunt world. I also developed a great relationship with Brad; he liked the work I did, so he brought me into a movie called The Mexican, then Troy, then Mr. & Mrs. Smith. I doubled him for five years and learned that I loved the carnival life of movies, the camaraderie of the set, and collaboration of the artists. If I was in the apocalypse, I’d want to be on a movie set. There are so many can-do people there!
I realized, I want to do this for the rest of my life.
What does success look like for you?
As an artist, you’re often conflicted. You want to make something that’s true to yourself, that’s the only way anyone’s going to love it anyway, while also making sure that you’re servicing the audience. I like to hear the audience laugh and gasp and applaud—that feels like success to me. Did you laugh? Cry? Have the feels? Other filmmakers might have a different metric, but success for me is if the movie is successful.
My last movie Fall Guy was sort of a culmination of my journey in filmmaking. It had all the components of what I would do as a filmmaker: romance plopped in the middle of this bombastic movie, a sweet, beautiful, classic Hollywood film. During the screentest with the audience, it was testing in the high 90s with all these different demographics; females and males love this crazy movie. It felt tremendous.
Stunt performer turned director walks away mostly unscathed from fights, flipped cars
"Two concussions. A broken ankle and wrist. A torn meniscus (... actually make that two). A lost front tooth. Former Hollywood stunt performer David Leitch is no stranger to on-the-job injury. He says pain tolerance and being "a little bit tough" can come in handy when you get thrown out of windows for a living."
The Oscars are considering a possible stunt category. What do you think has taken so long?
I’ve been heavily involved in the past couple years, internally at the Academy, and it is a really complicated infrastructure. Things move at a glacial pace and there is constant turnover of board members, so by the time you’ve lobbied everyone for change, the board is new.
The other part has been the perception of stunt performers—some actors probably didn’t want there to be a stunt branch. It keeps the illusion alive, you don’t want to break those characters, you don’t want to disrupt movie magic.
But action has been at the heartbeat of cinema since the beginning. Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin were stunt performers. Whether it’s comedy, romance, action, there isn’t a movie where there’s not a stunt coordinator. So the tides are really turning and it’s becoming clear inside the Academy that they’ve neglected this issue for far too long. If we’re really going to be an organization that represents the craft of movies, we can’t be that without recognition for stunts.
Did you discover martial arts at the University of Minnesota?
I grew up really obsessed with martial arts, trying to teach myself from books. When it came time to apply for colleges, I learned that there was a martial arts school right off-campus that taught Jeet Kune Do, the style of martial arts that Bruce Lee invented. I’m an early bird, so I’d schedule all my classes in the morning, get done with my day by 2pm, and be in the martial arts gym for hours. It became an obsession. I was an RA in the dorms, too. My residents probably wondered where I was.
Why international relations?
I always loved talking about politics, loved the idea of traveling and exploring different cultures. Part of that was my enthusiasm for martial arts; it felt like something that made sense to me. I also knew that I might want to get into teaching and international relations seemed like the right idea.
In hindsight, it was great as a filmmaker. I’ve traveled all over the world: Thailand, China, Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Australia—that degree gave me a great base of appreciation for the world.
Learning to learn and learning to love learning is so important, if you’re fostering that in yourself, honing those skills, you’re just going to amplify your opportunities in the world.
The liberal arts. Hollywood. Would you say these two things are synonymous?
Yes, definitely. The eclectic nature of the liberal arts education that I got helped me as a storyteller, helped me communicate the stories I would eventually tell. Did I know that when I was doing it? No. But I'm so grateful that I have that education now.
Learning to learn and learning to love learning is so important, if you’re fostering that in yourself, honing those skills, you’re just going to amplify your opportunities in the world.
What advice would you give to current CLA students?
Everything you want is on the other side of fear. As a stunt performer, this is obviously true. You’re going to want the accolades of having achieved it. But it’s true in life, too. Take the chance. Try this job.
Always be willing to learn. Investing in your education is a worthy investment. And investing in bettering yourself is a worthy investment, too. Give yourself time to explore the things that you’re interested in, you could find something that you’re exceptional at.
Your liberal arts degree will give you confidence and an understanding of the world. Go out and try something new. Take those risks.
Everything you want is on the other side of fear. As a stunt performer, this is obviously true. You’re going to want the accolades of having achieved it. But it’s true in life, too. Take the chance. Try this job.
What’s next?
I’m working on a documentary presentation right now, using it as a pitch inside the Academy to show the different branches exactly what stunt coordinators do. Most of the branches—costume, hair, makeup, visual effects—all work with stunt coordinators every single day. But some, like post-production and sound, may not understand the contributions or physical productions of stunt design.
We also just released a series called Action on Peacock which is a docu-series about stunt performers. Kelly McCormick, my wife and a prolific producer in her own right, produced Nobody and is preparing to be in Winnipeg making Nobody 2.
