project, Bond 20, a.k.a. Die Another Day. "I'm very, very proud of my input
on the Bond movies."
After only a few years working as a stuntman, Armstrong had earned
a reputation for his precision and talent with complicated stunts. While
working on Figures in a Landscape in Spain, the stunt coordinator left the
project to work on another picture, and Armstrong was promoted to the
position. "I became a stunt coordinator, which is much more creative,
because you devise the stunts:
A) you work out what the
stunt will be; and B) you then
break it down and work out
how it's going to be achieved.
Let's say you've got somebody
jumping off a 200-foot build-
ing. We know you can't do it
for real, but want it to look as
though they jumped off and
landed in the back of a pickup
truck, for instance. We would
devise all the methods that you
would need to safely visually
transport somebody from the
top of the building to the
bottom, to get in the truck,
and drive away."
He worked steadily on A
Touch of Class, A Bridge Too Far,
Young Winston, and the first two
Superman movies, in which he also doubled for Christopher Reeve and
met future wife, stuntwoman Wendy Leach. By the late '70s, he was
second unit director on the Bette Davis movie Watcher in the Woods.
His resemblance to and friendship with Harrison Ford, established on
the film Raiders of the Lost Ark, earned Armstrong the opportunity to
double for Ford and stunt coordinate on Indiana Jones and the Temple of
Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He also served as a stunt
double for Ford on Witness, The Mosquito Coast, Frantic, Working Girl,
Regarding Henry, and Patriot Games.
Armstrong's work on the Indiana Jones movies impressed George
Lucas, earning him work on all three seasons of the television series
Young Indiana Jones. He made his directorial debut on the second season
premiere, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. The following year, he
directed the internationally successful Joshua Tree.
What do you like
least about your job?
"What I hate about it
most is the unfairness
of life and the bullshit."
--Vic Armstrong
What do you love most
about your job?
"I love the creativeness. I thoroughly enjoy
carrying out a sequence that people go, `Wow,
I really enjoyed that motorcycle chase in
Tomorrow Never Dies.' Or, `I really
enjoyed the stunts with the girls in Charlie's
Angels.' `The battle on Henry V looked so
realistic.' I love the creativity of actually
telling a story on film."--Vic Armstrong
VOICES OF
EXPERIENCE
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