Nash Edgerton
Nash Edgerton has made a name for himself working in film stunts with movies such as Knight and Day, Rogue and I Am Number Four under his belt.
Earlier this year he doubled from his brother Joel Edgerton in Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar nominated Zero Dark Thirty.
We caught up with Nash to chat about the movie, how he got into stunt work and his directing career.
- Zero Dark Thirty is about to be released on DVD here in the UK and you are your stunt double in the movie so how did you get involved in the project in the first place?
My brother (Joel) had been cast in the film and then Greg Frasier, who shot the film, has shot movies that I have been in before and when Kathryn (Bigelow) was casting Navy Seals and looking for physical performers Greg suggested me.
He told her about one of the short films that he had shot for me that I am in and she was like ‘I love that film. He would be great’. And so I was cast (laughs).
- You play a Navy Seal in the film so what sort of preparation did you do before filming started to get you ready for this? Was there some form of military training?
Basically myself, the other actors and the other stunt performers were taken to a military camp and did training with some Navy Seals and other military personnel. It helped us all get to know each other but it also helped us get familiar with the way that they move, talk and operate.
There were elements of it that I enjoyed a lot and there were other elements that made me so glad that I am not actually in the military (laughs).
We would be carrying packs of heavy gear and marching and staying with guys in dorms. It felt like very strict summer camp.
- As I said you are serving as the stunt double for your brother Joel in the movie so how much is it a collaborative process between the pair of you, and the stunt co-ordinator, as you are working on this scenes?
It is very collaborative. Joel and I have been working together for a long time and a lot of the stunt guys that are on Zero Dark Thirty I have worked with before.
Getting to work with films is my brother as we are the best of friends and the fact that we end up on a lot of the same films is great.
- A lot of people won’t know what goes into putting s stunt scene together so can talk about how you would go about planning and executing a scene like that?
Someone has written a scene and then you talk about how they want to shoot it and how they want to achieve it.
A lot of the time you do try rehearse as you need to work out elements such as special effects, costume and art department. A lot of planning goes into something that may only last for a couple of seconds on screen.
- Kathryn Bigelow is as a terrific director so how did you find with working with someone like her? And how involved would she be in the stunt preparation process?
Kathryn was wonderful to work for as she is very appreciative of everyone’s time and work that they put into the film.
She is a very good communicator and she is very clear about what she wants. So it really was a complete pleasure to have the chance to work with her.
- How did you get into stunt work in the first place?
I got the idea that I wanted to be a stunt man when I was about eighteen. I didn’t know anyone in the film industry so I just looked up ‘stunt’ in the phonebook and found an agency that represented stunt people.
When I called them they told me it was very difficult to get into and told me not to bother laughs). But I kept calling and calling until I got the chance to meet some stunt people - I was just a persistent kid really.
I kept calling this lady who ran the agency and then I drove into the office to see her and tell her that I was very serious about wanting to make this a career.
I basically just kept calling her every week and she got so sick of me calling that she put me in touch with a stunt co-ordinator who was working on a film in Sydney.
So I got the opportunity to go onto a film set and met him and met some stunt performers - so I was able to get their numbers. I would hear that they were going training so I would go training with them. I played a lot of sport and was very physical in school so I kept applying that with training with these guys.
I kept doing work experience on film sets carrying pack bags and making coffee for people to a point where I became useful to people that I started getting offered work.
- You have got a very busy year and there are plenty of projects hitting the big screen that you are involved in including The Great Gatsby and The Bling Ring. The Wolverine is another film so how did you find stepping into a big budget superhero film?
It is great. It was shooting in Sydney and there were plenty of stunt performers on board that I have worked with before.
Bigger films take a lot more time to shoot but when they have the time and the money to do stuff and there are lots of stunt people on board they really are quite a lot of fun to be involved with.
- With a movie like that there is lot of special effects, CGI and green screen so how does that impact on how you do your job? And how much is that an aspect of making a film that you enjoy?
It is interesting because when that stuff started happening people thought that there was going to be less work for stunt people.
Actually I think that it has created more work as people have realised that more things are possible with wires and green screen and you need stunt riggers. Also you can do bigger stunts but everything is much safer.
I enjoy the technical aspect. For me filmmaking is problem solving; someone writes an idea of what they want to do and then you try and work out how to achieve that in a safe way and make it look dangerous.
- As well as all the stunt work you have done you have also had a whole host of acting roles and you have some coming up this year as well. So how much has acting been something you wanted to pursue or has it just been a natural progression?
It’s funny because I don’t really pursue it. I enjoy it because I find it really challenging - I don’t think of myself as an actor but I do like performing. It has just happened naturally over the last little while. I enjoy it.
- You are a founding member of Blue Tongue Films and you have directed a whole host of short projects but are there any plans to move more into feature film?
Yeah definitely. I have made one so far and my brother and I are writing another one at the moment. They just take a bit of time and I am quite picky about what I make.
When I get short ideas I make them just to practise directing. I can’t fall down stairs and get hit by cars forever.
- What made you want to move into the director’s chair? And how have you found the transition to behind the camera?
When I started out I was trying to get work as a stunt man I had this idea that if I shot sequences that looked like I had worked on a movie then people would give me work.
Through shooting those sequences I enjoyed the actual making of and so that is really what has sparked by directing interest.
I definitely have this weird balance where I will do some directing, I will do some editing, I will do some stunt work, I will do some acting and I just cycle through all of them. I can’t seem to pick one as the main thing that I do as I like doing a little bit of everything.
I go on set as an actor or a stunt performer for someone else and I get to watch another director work and that becomes my film school.
- How has working in all these different areas informed your stunt work? And how does you stunt work inform you as a director?
Every experience on a film set is a learning curve as you get to see how someone gets something right or how someone gets something wrong. I am like a sponge and will soak in every bit of experience that I can.
The best stunts in films are the ones that are part of the story and they are not just stunts for the sake or being stunts. They have to rack up the tension and the drama if they are incorporated in the right way and fell organic and part of the story then it just enhances the experience.
- You have mentioned already that you are working on a script with you brother but apart from that what is next for you?
I have just finished working here in Australia on a film called Son of a Gun - I literally finished that a few days ago. I am literally figuring out what I want to do next.
Zero Dark Thirty available on Blu-ray, DVD with Ultraviolet from June 10th.
Click here to pre-order Zero Dark Thirty on DVD
Click here to pre-order Zero Dark Thirty on Blu-Ray