Mark Wagner, who was a stuntman on the set of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, detailed a harrowing incident that occurred while filming a scene in which Leonardo DiCaprio uses a flamethrower. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was written and directed by filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and premiered on July 26, 2019. The film follows a fading actor, Rick Dalton (DiCaprio), and his stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), who struggle to remain relevant in a vastly changing Hollywood scene.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was a success, receiving a largely positive reception and attaining critical acclaim. Audiences enjoyed the film's nuanced commentary on shifting Hollywood culture, as well as the nostalgic way it reminisced about Hollywood's Golden Age. The film also delved into the mind of Dalton and created an extremely detailed fictional career for him. One of his roles in a war film saw him utilizing a flamethrower to incinerate Nazis, and he would later use that same flamethrower for another purpose. While DiCaprio's flamethrower scenes have become iconic, they were fairly dangerous.
In an interview with set of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood while filming the Nazi flamethrower scene. Wagner detailed the process that was used for the scene which included him and several stuntmen being fitted in protective hoodies and briefly set on fire before the flames were safely put out. However, things went awry when DiCaprio's nerves caused him to pause too long on Wagner and another crew member, setting him on fire. Fortunately, he walked away from the incident with only a minor burn on his arm. Check out his statement below:
We did [the flamethrower] three times. The first time, because Leo was a little bit nervous with the flamethrower, he was going really fast, so it didn’t light underneath the table. So the second time he went too slow, and on that one, he stopped on me and Travis [Fienhage], on our backs, and all I see is orange. I’m like, ‘What’s happening? What’s happening? What’s happening? I’m getting really warm.” And they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, stop stop stop!’ you know, I can hear everybody yelling, like, “Mark, go to the ground!” And they put me out, and they’re like, ‘Okay, roll over,” and I’m like, wait, I’m stuck to the ground. So my costume had melted, and I was stuck to the ground and I couldn’t roll over. I finally peeled and rolled over, and I just said to the guys, “Hey everybody, I’m really hot, get everything off of me right now.” And they pulled all my clothes off, minus my underwear, but all my clothes off as fast as they could, and I had a little burn on my arm, just like a little second-degree blister, and I was like, “Yep, I felt that!” They’re like, “Are you okay to do it one more time?” I’m like, “Yes, we’re doing this again, we gotta get this right!
This Story Proves Why OUATIH Is Right To Celebrate Stuntpeople
Wagner was very calm as he told the story, explaining that numerous safety measures go into fire stunts. His story shows how important stuntpeople are and the amazing, and sometimes dangerous, work they do to bring a film to life. This same sentiment is also captured in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Pitt's stuntman character, Booth, was actually inspired by two real-life stuntmen, Hal Needham and Gary Kent.
In this manner, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood paid tribute to stuntpeople, highlighting and celebrating their work and drawing attention to the fact that they don't get enough credit. Wagner's story corroborates this narrative by providing a real-life example of stuntpeople performing a stunt that seems unimaginably dangerous to outsiders, but that is just a regular day of work for them. While DiCaprio's usage of the flamethrower became an iconic scene that will forever live on as a piece of Hollywood and film history, it wouldn't have been possible without Wagner and the other stuntpeople on set. They ensured that the stunt was done safely and also didn't balk at performing a scene with a real flamethrower and a nervous DiCaprio. Just as Once Upon a Time in Hollywood reiterates, stuntpeople are unsung heroes in Hollywood.
Source: Corridor Crew
