ABOVE: LEFT TO RIGHT
Russell Towery
Age: 51
Years pro: 28
Residence: Grapevine
Career highlights: All three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, RoboCop; TV: Dallas; Prison Break; Walker, Texas Ranger
Doubled for: Woody Harrelson, Kiefer Sutherland, Billy Bob Thornton, Peter Weller
Favorite job: He loved working on RoboCop, where he says the stuntmen were the “big cheeses” on the set.
What he says: “You slow down a little bit the older you get. But I still hit the ground like the young kids; I just don’t get up as fast.”
Bryon Weiss
See below
Victor Quintero
Age: Won’t say
Residence: Carrollton
Years pro: 27
Career highlights: Master and Commander, Pirates of the Caribbean (Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End), Ocean’s Eleven, Traffic; TV: Prison Break; Walker, Texas Ranger
Specialty: Fighting. He has battled Orlando Bloom, Russell Crowe, Keira Knightley, and Chuck Norris.
Injuries: Blew out his ankle when eight men fell on him during a battle scene for The Alamo, nearly lost his sight after cracking his racing helmet on an uncovered piece of roll bar during a car stunt
What he says: “You have to know your limitations. That separates a daredevil from a stuntman. There are calculations that a stuntman will do, and we will try and lower all the risk variables before we do the stunt.”
Johnny Echavarria
Age: 46
Years pro: 10
Residence: Dallas
Career highlights: The Alamo, Selena; TV: Walker, Texas Ranger
Speciality: Precision driving, car stunts
Injuries: Concussion, cracked collarbone. In a scene for Walker, a Molotov cocktail exploded, throwing him about 40 yards, though he wasn’t seriously hurt.
What he says: “Working as a stuntman in Dallas has been great for me. There are very few Hispanics in Dallas that do what I do.”
Shanna Lynn
Age: 40
Years pro: 22
Residence: Lucas
Career highlights: 2 Fast 2 Furious, Bad Boyz II, Hellraiser III, Miami Vice; TV: ER, Friday Night Lights
Doubled for: Catherine Bell, Britt Ekland, Sharon Stone, Charlize Theron
Injuries: She gets a black eye about once a year and has broken her tailbone a few times.
What she says: “Doing stunt work is just an awesome feeling. It’s kind of like skydiving. It’s an addiction. It’s an adrenaline high.”
BACK
Eric Rocks
Age: 25
Years pro: 5
Residence: Fort Worth
Career highlights: Exit Speed
Specialty: Sport bike freestyle
Injuries: All his hard crashes have come on his personal time, practicing.
What he says: “I’m pretty open-minded. As long as I have my stunt team family with me, I’m open to trying anything.”
FRONT
Clay Dix
Age: 27
Years pro: 1
Residence: Fort Worth
Career highlights: Friday Night Lights, Prison Break
Specialty: Motorcycles
Scariest stunt: Played chicken with a Greyhound bus while riding a wheelie in a scene for Exit Speed
Injuries: Broke his foot in four spots and severed part of his little toe while practicing motorcycle stunts
What he says: “There’s really nothing I wouldn’t try as long as I got someone good on my side there.”
LEFT
Bryon Weiss
Age: Won’t say
Residence: Arlington
Years pro: 20
Career highlights: Beverly Hills Cop II, Live Free or Die Hard, Sin City; TV: ER; Prison Break; Walker, Texas Ranger
Doubled for: Benicio del Toro, Ray Romano, Kevin Sorbo, Goran Visnjic
Specialty: Considers himself versatile
Behind the scenes: In The Time Machine, he wore a Morlock costume that cost $100,000.
What he says: “I prefer my kids not to be stunt people. I tell them to be
producers or directors so they can hire me.”
RIGHT
John Cann
Age: 44
Years pro: 25
Residence: The Colony
Career highlights: The Alamo, Batman Forever, Miss Congeniality, Predator II; TV: Walker, Texas Ranger
Doubled for: Luke Wilson, Chuck Norris
Specialty: Exotics (air rams, ratchets) and high falls
Injuries: In his entire career—knock on wood—he’s never been seriously hurt, though he has gone to the hospital twice for stitches from broken glass.
What he says: “This is a family business. You’re either born into it or you find someone to adopt you.”
ADDITIONAL CREDITS: Photographer’s assistant: Jeani Vichayanonda; stylist: Alexis Pond; hair and makeup: Angela Angel; clothing provided by Stanley Korshak and LFT; production
company: Pinpoint Ideas and Solutions; location provided by Jack Stadtman; special thanks to Julie Blacklidge, John Gay, Ashley Gibbs, and Josh Kinzie.