You’ve probably heard of Gareth Evans’ cult classic action movie The Raid and you’ve most definitely likely heard of the Hollywood actor Tom Hardy, but can you say the same for Jude Poyer?
The stunt director has worked on hit movies and TV shows like A Private War and Gangs of London, architecting the whipsnap and hyperrealistic action sequences that make us all wince and shudder.
Poyer’s latest project is the new Netflix movie Havoc, where Tom Hardy plays a hard-boiled detective tasked with protecting a politician’s son after a drug deal goes wrong. Such a plot may call for fast car chases, shootouts and explosions, but interweaving this into a film takes considerable consideration.
“Fundamentally, whenever we design action for a film, I don’t prescribe to the idea of ‘we’re on page six, we need an action scene’,” Evans said. “It’s always got to feel like it comes organically out of the story and out of the characters. That’s the first leaping off point.”
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Before designing an action scene like the ones you see in the hit Sky Original series Gangs of London or one of the best Netflix horror movies, Apostle (two projects the pair have previously collaborated on), Evans works with Poyer to dissect the characters involved to help inform how a scene might play out.
“The first questions that Jude Poyer, the stunt coordinator, always asks me whenever we work on any scene are ‘who is the character?’, ‘what is his personality?’, ‘what is his background?’, ‘does he have a fight discipline?’, ‘how do they react to violence?’, ‘have they killed before?’”
“All of the questions he’s asking are to build up a psychological profile of the person so that we can understand how they would behave, respond and react within an action scene. That always is a fundamental part of any kind of design process.”
Crafting epic action sequences, not just moments of spectacle
There’s no doubt that Poyer’s influence in making action sequences that stick with audiences long after the credits roll is a crucial part of the filmmaking process for directors like Evans.
“What I’ve been striving to achieve and what I feel like we have achieved within Havoc is that the action sequences are there to propel the story and characters forward, [they’re] not moments of spectacle. That’s always been a key component,” Evans said.
That attention to detail and thoughtful deliberation seems to have paid off tenfold, because Poyer has been singing the high praises of Evans in the lead up to the film’s premiere this week.
In an Instagram post from early April, Poyer said that “Havoc features some of my favourite, most ambitious fights and action sequences to date,” so you can expect this to be some of the fight coordinator’s finest work.
Indeed, many praise the pair’s previous action stunts from The Raid as being some of the best fight sequences in cinema – not least because they’re credited as being the influence for epic action blockbusters like John Wick.
The incredibly influential stunt work is also partly why actors like Hardy are drawn in to work on action flicks made by the pair. “Part of the enticement and a complete side lateral of a movie for me like Havoc is the celebration of that entire department, that world of performers and athletes within the stunt community,” Hardy said.
To be clear, Hardy doesn’t perform his own stunts, which means a lot of the intense scenes where he’s fighting in nightclubs, shooting through streets and generally being a one-person-army throughout Havoc are done by his stunt double Jacob Tomuri.
Hardy (unjustifiably) likens his acting to a clown performing with a yo-yo in the Cirque du Soleil. “For the guys that do the acrobatics [in Cirque du Soleil], that’s what I am [as an] actor in Havoc in some aspects. There are things I can do, like some elements of punching, kicking, movement and athleticism. But there are things, which are really dangerous that people who are incredible with their bodies can do.
“This is really a world and a genre that allows [stunt performers] to fully run riot in many aspects to show off a showcase of things that are just wishful [thinking] for mere mortals like me and possibly Gareth,” a humble Hardy said.
High-stakes performances like those seen in Havoc from Tomuri aren’t possible without the expert crafting of directors like Poyer and Evans, which is why it’s great to see that their work can finally be more widely recognized with the Academy Awards introducing a Best Stunt Design category for next year’s ceremony.
Let’s just hope the incredible wire and rope rigging work that was used to elevate the fight sequences in Havoc, not only makes it one of the best Netflix movies but earns itself a nomination for the new prestigious Oscar category.
Havoc will premiere exclusively on Netflix, one of the best streaming services, this Friday April 25.
