The most expensive stunts in cinema history (1 photo + 8 videos)

Stunts are one of the most expensive items in film production. The participation of stuntmen, solid insurance, expensive equipment - all this adds up to a tidy sum. But for the sake of entertainment, directors are ready to spend even very high costs - as, for example, in these cases.



Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol, directed by Brad Bird, was a hit in 2011. The film starring Tom Cruise also features one of the best stunt scenes in the history of cinema - Tom Cruise's character climbing the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai. It is known that the actor himself performs most of the stunts. The use of stuntmen could have significantly saved the curtain's budget, but the significant insurance costs for Cruise made this scene one of the most expensive in cinema.

The Spy Who Loved Me



The Spy Who Loved Me is part of the James Bond franchise and is very popular among fans. The classic 007 action film was produced in 1977 by director Lewis Gilbert. The jump scene from a kilometer-high height became the most iconic of all the film's stunts. Creating this stunt was an expensive undertaking - the stuntman's fee alone cost the director approximately $30,000 in 1970s prices.

The Matrix Reloaded

 

In all of the Matrix films, a significant portion of the budget was spent on stunt shooting. The film "The Matrix Reloaded" was released in 2003. The film's production budget was over $127 million. A significant portion of the money was spent on action scenes. Of that, $2.5 million was spent on highway construction at the abandoned Alameda Point Naval Station in California, where chase scenes and car collisions were filmed.

Password "Swordfish"

 

"Password Swordfish" is an action film directed by Dominique Sena, which was released in 2001. This film is known for its brilliant stunt scenes. The most notable of these was the bus hijacking scene, where a huge cargo helicopter picks up a bus full of hostages to escape from the police. This scene was filmed in Los Angeles and cost approximately $15 million.

Iron Man 3

 

The Iron Man films are one of the biggest hits in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film "Iron Man 3" is famous, in particular, for the masterfully choreographed scene in which Air Force One nearly crashes, but its passengers are saved by a superhero. The film's production budget was $300 million, of which nearly $3 million was spent on stunt scenes.

Rock climber



Cliffhanger is a 1993 action adventure film directed by Renny Harlin. The filmmakers spent a fortune on a scene in which a British stuntman climbed on a cable between two planes without a safety net. The stunt was also recognized by Guinness World Records as the most expensive aerial stunt in film history. Stuntman Simon Crane was paid about a million dollars for his participation in this dangerous scene - not counting other expenses.

"Start"



Christopher Nolan is one of the most respected directors in the world of Hollywood, a renowned master of creating multi-layered futuristic action films. One such film is Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Nolan did a fantastic job of creating effects that would draw the viewer into the abstract world of the film. The film's budget was $160 million. The most expensive scene in the film was the fight scene in a rotating corridor, specially built by order of the director. Filming took about three weeks and involved 500 people, including actors, stuntmen and technical staff.

The Dark Knight Rises



Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy has been a classic since its inception. The last film in this trilogy is The Dark Knight Rises, released in 2012. The film's budget was approximately $257 million. Nolan reduced the cost of computer animation as much as possible, trying to film all the stunts live. The most impressive of them was the hijacking of the plane and the escape of the main villain Bane from custody. Here, as in “Cliffhanger,” the stuntmen had to move along cables from one plane to another. One can only guess about the size of their fees, taking into account inflation.