Forum:Kiefer Sutherland's Stunt Double

Forum: The Situation Room > Kiefer Sutherland's Stunt Double

Last I checked, Sutherland was very much like Harrison Ford where he made sure to never insult the audience's attention by performing a good majority of his own actions (Not something Steven Seagal can ever be proud of, not that he's proud to begin with) but a guy known as Matthew Taylor (who's also doubled for the likes of John Leguizamo, Brad Pitt & Gary Sinise on the latter's "CSI: NY" show) has apparently helped him out five different times it seems mainly in the fourth season.

Again, I'm not one to kill the magic of the show but it might be interesting knowing what is Kiefer and what is a look-alike. He apparently didn't fake the truck scene in Day 6 which makes sense since you see his face the entire time:

http://addictedto24.blogspot.com/2010/05/kiefer-sutherland-i-took-beating-as.html

--Gunman6 19:43, June 23, 2012 (UTC)

Obviously Kiefer didn't do absolutely everything - there are many times a double was used, either for danger reasons or simply because they were doing second unit work and he didn't have to be there. People like Matt Taylor, Erik Stabenau (for the final fight with Abu Fayed), Christopher Leps (getting blown away from the pod thing in Season 8), Troy Gilbert (for driving scenes when you can't see who's in the car), are some examples that spring to mind, that I know of. I'm sure there are more.

As for that truck scene, there is one shot when the truck first drives away that is a stunt double, as confirmed on the audio commentary. But yes, when it was driving along that was Kiefer as you could see his face--Acer4666 (talk) 19:48, June 23, 2012 (UTC)

--Yeah, that's why I said "a good majority" but, yes, driving doubles aren't uncommon as no one wants to risk the production on a star, whether they have a DUI reputation (ironically Kiefer's biggest offense) or if something were to go wrong and the star ended up hospitalized.

Anyway, when did Taylor actually play Kiefer? Would it be if he were walking away but don't see his face? That often happens especially for Tom Morga, who doubled for Spock and Riker briefly, and might happen should the actor not be available that day/scene or whatever misc. reason.

So overall, it's been rather minor. Just one big explosion dive (the rest of the time, it's apparently him in Day 6 & 7).--Gunman6 19:57, June 23, 2012 (UTC)

I don't know for certain when Matt Taylor doubled for him and when he didn't. I think maybe in the shootout scenes for the rescue of Heller in Day 4, there might be a shot of the marines killing some terrorists and you see the back of a blond head, that would be him. I only know that for certain because of the documentary Lock and Load, where you see the shots of the marines were all done second unit on a different day to the other stuff, and Matt Taylor was there but Kiefer wasn't.--Acer4666 (talk) 20:16, June 23, 2012 (UTC)

That would add up then. Everyone always wonders why some actors don't do certain, simple scenes like that but since movies and TV are always filmed out of order, whether due to convenience or some other miscellaneous order, Kiefer might've easily not been on-set that day or been filming another episode prior to that. As mentioned before, the Trek wiki has plenty of these guys floating around.--Gunman6 21:40, June 23, 2012 (UTC)

Some actors prefer doing their own stunts. However, contracts often have paragraphs about this and especially for leading actors there are always rules which do not allow them doing their own stunts. Imagine: An actor is doing his stunt is hurt and cannot complete filming. The production is on hold and a financial loss is pre-programmed. For Matt Taylor: His resume says he worked as stunt performer / stunt double on the first four seasons of 24 and as stunt coordinator on the fourth season. [1] Tom 17:35, June 24, 2012 (UTC)

Yes, there's always going to be that factor but I was mainly talking about just simple stunts like walking down the hallway with one's back to the camera. Those are the ones I'm theorizing about, the rest are a given because again, the stuntmen are built to make the picture (the celeb in this case) look spectacular on the package they're labeled on. Severely injured star = No finished product. Either way, the only time I can think of Kiefer being doubled in Day 1 might be when he's trying to avoid being shot by John Hawke's character while the female officer gets gunned down.--Gunman6 20:12, June 24, 2012 (UTC)

I dunno if you have the Season 2 DVD, but if you check out the special feature 24: Exposed you'll see that in all the rehearsals for the fight between Kiefer and J. J. Perry, Matt Taylor is there learning Kiefer's moves (and performing the wall jump thing). He's also there on the day of shooting, although it appears that Kiefer does the entire fight that day. But being a stunt double doesn't always mean appearing in front of the camera - it's just being there in case you're needed to swap in. Look at Omid Abtahi's article, where I added some info about his stunt double who didn't actually perform any stunt--Acer4666 (talk) 23:40, June 25, 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, I saw that featurette on 24Spoilers.com (despite having Seasons 1-7 on DVD, I've only actually seen the Day 4-7 features), I've seen the rest of the cool material either online or on here.

But it is wacky but not uncommon for various people to be hired yet not do much of what they were paid to do in the end, either because it wasn't as involving as one deemed or was just another precaution. Sometimes, the actor/actress works up courage to actually perform the stunts while other times they just don't have a choice regardless of whether their contract forbids it or not.

Also, talk about multiple performers, Obtahi coincidentally also is one of the few to have also played different roles all on the same show. He's best known for the acclaimed Over There, NCIS and Sleeper Cell but he can make a difference in any role. I saw him as one of the main villains who challenged Haysbert's protagonist on The Unit, where he's mentioned and talked about, while only having a few minutes of actual screentime and dialogue and yet made such an impact in such a short scene before the actual showdown. Talk about unheard talent, this man should be all over the place.--Gunman6 05:37, June 26, 2012 (UTC)

Darin Fujimori (best known as the gatling gun operator in The Last Samurai and for being a local Hawaiian stunt guy who's credits include the new "Hawaii Five-O" and the box office bomb Battleship) is credited as being the stunt double for Kenneth Choi, which is strange because I'm not sure when this would've taken place. Would anyone be able to get a snapshot comparison or see if it's a valid information, maybe even create a page if results are valid ...?--Gunman6 06:59, July 12, 2012 (UTC)

Alright, remember the factory raid in Day 4 by CTU troops? In the various bomb explosions, Kiefer dives away but it looks almost exactly like him? Any commentary or anything else confirming this?--Gunman6 (talk) 17:03, September 17, 2012 (UTC)