Plane’s Gerard Butler and Mike Colter explain the gnarly stunts

The new movie level promises even more than it says on the tin, because the tin only says level And the film actually has a lot more to offer.

In levelCertified Hollywood run-and-gunner Gerard Butler plays Brodie Torrance, a pilot whose worst-case-scenario day begins with a plane crash and ends with a battalion of Filipino separatists chasing him and the passengers through the jungle of a remote island . At his side is Louis Gaspare (Luke cage‘s Mike Colter), an accused murderer who was transported on the ill-fated flight. There are obvious shades of Con Air to the whole thing, but eventually Colter gets the seedy action movie he deserves and with an old reliable like Butler as an anchor.

level is not a film that audiences will flock to for the tightly knit drama and Shakespearean soliloquy. But it’s a hell of a time at the movies because Butler and Colter hit the mark and sell the hits. Action acting is one thing, and these two do it well. But what does it take? Polygon asked the couple to explain what it takes to make a movie like this level lift up.

How to make airplane actions look legitimate

Gerard Butler: For this we built the whole body of an airplane and put it on a gimbal, which spun us around and plunged us down. I really thought we were going to fall over. At one point, a cameraman literally fell over the railing. He was strapped in because it was so intense. I think that makes the viewers feel like they’re really in the cockpit with us.

Mike Colter: For Gerry, a lot of the anxiety you feel is because of the how [director] Jean Francois [Richet] shot it, but all the actors also believe in this idea that we’re going to die. We respond to this shifting, unpredictable quality that the gimbal gives us. lily [Krug] and Kelly [Gale] and Joey [Slotnik] and Otis [Winston] and Danielle [Pineda] and all these guys, every flight attendant, everyone believed in this idea of ​​selling this fear.

How to kill an action movie jerk with a sledgehammer

Photo: Kenneth Rexach/Lionsgate

Rage: How does it feel to smash a guy’s head like a watermelon? Well it was great. But have you ever held a sledgehammer in your hand? It’s really hard. And I don’t know if I’ve ever used it to hit anything other than a few rocks.

Servant: You do not remember?

Rage: If you pick it up, say, “This is going to beat someone to death.” You realize how blunt this thing is – it’s lethal! Just to pick it up and swing it. So listen, full disclosure, they must have fake sledgehammers and real sledgehammers on set. And a fake sledgehammer is hard to make look real. So I decided to use the real ones as much as possible because you can’t fake the heaviness. Then, upon contact, it should obviously be a fake.

Servant: Allegedly?

Rage: The weight when you swing it you have to make sure it doesn’t hit the person’s head. I remember it was really hard to stop it and so it was really hard to make it look like it was going to hit, so look – we kind of managed it. That was [stunt coordinator James M.] Churchman’s idea. He wanted the killing to be really quiet. How you do that? sledgehammer.

How to fire a loud, lumbering rifle and still look badass

Servant: You train for something like this. We bring together the best of the best to show you how. Often they are special units. But Mike, you had to know what you were doing.

Rage: It’s all about earplugs. Earplugs are key. This is a noisy machine when it starts up. Having earplugs is half the battle. The kicking and recoil you get used to after a while and once you’ve done it enough you’ll get comfortable, but listen, no one takes a gun and just lets it fly without earbuds.

Servant: I’ve done so many takes surrounded by gunshots and then at the beginning of this take I realized I didn’t have my earplugs in and you have to do a whole take and it feels like one alone has 10% of my hearing taken away. I had a set piece in it London has fallen, and an explosion went off and I had ringing in my ear for two months. The problem is that you don’t want to say, “Cut! Stop!” I literally lost 30% of my hearing easily from this stuff.

Rage: Yeah, that’s why Gerry claims he never hears me. He lays the foundation.

How to fight with meaning

Photo: Kenneth Rexach/Lionsgate

Servant: Our fistfight in that movie was… sort of a real fight.

Rage: Yes, the other guy was a local and really didn’t like Gerry’s films. He showed up to the set and you guys just started fighting and we recorded it, right?

Servant. We ended up becoming friends. But no, part of the cool thing about this movie is that we’re not dealing with superheroes. We are dealing with ordinary people in incredible circumstances. So as I fight in this moment, I remind myself that everyone’s life depends on my survival. I’m not just fighting for myself, I’m fighting for the lives of all passengers. So it’s desperate and it’s messy and it’s exhausting. And we did everything at once, which rarely happens; We usually break this stuff up. so that it was messy and it was stressful. And most of the time it was literally just pushing with power, and to me that’s a lot more believable than a stunt – punch, kick. i love this fight

How to make a really great action movie instead of a good one

Servant: The difference is Yes, really believe in the story. With a lot of passion for it. And I don’t want to be embarrassed when the movie comes out! You don’t want anyone to think, “Oh, this moment is auspicious,” “This moment isn’t honest,” “This moment isn’t funny.” So we capture all these moments and make them so exciting, so entertaining, like that moving, as surprising as possible and ultimately something people can relate to. You ground every moment. These are ridiculous situations, but you play them as believably as possible.

level is in cinemas now.