YIPPEE KI-YAY!

From the original Star Trek to Die Hard and Fast and the Furious, one man has seen it all in Hollywood. Roger Crow chats with Charlie Picerni, arguably Tinseltown’s greatest stunt arranger/action director, who reflects on a life in the business...

Charlie standing in for Bruce Willis in 1988’s Die Hard, or rather falling in for him

It would become one of the most iconic stunts in film history: the third act of Die Hard and director John McTiernan needs an explosive finale for his thriller. He’s on the roof of the Fox Plaza skyscraper in Los Angeles, and is planning a way of making Bruce Willis look like an action hero in a life-or-death jump. Special effects could have reduced the spectacle’s risk, but they would make the ‘gag’ look phonier than a six-dollar bill. Luckily McTiernan had an ace up his sleeve.

Step forward Charlie Picerni. If stunt guys were blades, he’d be a Swiss Army penknife, with more assorted skills than you can shake a stick at. Those outside of the film and TV industry may never have heard of him, which is just the way movie stars like it. They want to perpetuate that myth of their ‘superhuman’ abilities, and keep stunt doubles out of the spotlight.

But credit where it’s due. Charlie has spent decades making projects like Die Hard, Demolition Man and the Fast and the Furious saga look phenomenal. Long before that, he was honing his skills as an extra in the original Star Trek, Batman and countless other shows. Remember the opening titles of Starsky and Hutch with the airborne dune buggy? That was Charlie at the steering wheel. (The actual wheels apparently fell off when they landed).

Name any major US show of the past few decades and chances are Charlie worked on it, whether showing stars how to look good in a fight or advising rookie directors on their first movie. So how did this kid from New York become one of the hottest all-rounders in Hollywood?