Post by LongBlade on Jun 17, 2008 12:11:51 GMT -5
from Lubbock Online:
Hollywood stuntman returning to Lubbock as guest instructor
By William Kerns | A-J ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Story last updated at 6/14/2008 - 2:17 am
Even after mastering stage combat, falling off running horses at jousting matches and captivating tourists with 40-foot falls into water at Universal Studios' "Waterworld" attraction, Trampas Thompson never considered becoming a professional Hollywood stuntman.
One reason is because he grew up on a working Texas ranch outside Channing.
The town's population, he said, totaled about 300, and fewer than a dozen students were in his senior class.
"People from towns like Channing don't make movies. That's what I thought," Thompson, 37, and a Texas Tech graduate, said Wednesday.
That's no longer so.
In the past seven years, he has been featured heavily in the making of all three "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, "Resident Evil: Extinction," "National Treasure," "Leatherheads," "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and more.
He will return as a guest instructor and stuntman for Chris Caddel's weeklong (Sunday through June 21)
Filmmaking 101 workshop at the Underwood Center, 511 Ave. K.
(Registration is accepted through today at 252-2357.)
"This is my opportunity to give back," Thompson said. "I have something valuable that I can teach, and I'm happy I can be of service."
Diane Thompson, Trampas' mother, said she initially preferred learning about her son's dangerous stunts only after they'd been completed and he had walked away safely.
His is not a career she and her husband, Allen, expected.
"Trampas was a wonderful artist when he was in school. He said he wanted to draw for Marvel Comics," she said. "But we thought he would settle on the theater (acting)."
She said her son, who was named after the character played by Doug McClure on NBC's "The Virginian," always had been a risk-taker.
"Trampas was skydiving just for fun the time he broke both legs," she said. "He said there was a beautiful sunset and told me that the jump was fantastic until the last 20 seconds."
Thompson declared commercial art as his major when he enrolled at Texas Tech. He graduated in 1995 with a degree in theater arts. He also studied a semester at New York University and gave animation a brief try, traveling to Ireland to study with Disney.
Caddel said Thompson was able to earn his stuntman certification at a young age by doing well in Tech theater department chairman Richard Weaver's stage combat class.
"Trampas was a very good actor and designer," said Caddel. "But he was absolutely a wizard at stage combat."
Indeed, Thompson may have grown up riding horses on a cattle ranch, but he never intended to stay a cowboy.
"When I was growing up, I wanted to be Luke Skywalker with a light saber. And I also wanted to be a pirate," he said. "I was 5 when we moved from Jackson Hole (Wyo.) to Channing, and I never wore a cowboy hat again after that. ... I could not wait to leave."
As a Tech freshman, he immediately joined the fencing club and fencing team.
"If I'd told my dad, I think he would have told me to come back home and start digging post holes if I wanted to do some fencing,' " he said.
Thompson first audited the stage combat class, which was intended only for upperclassmen, and then wound up assisting the instructor.
He never stopped practicing with swords and rapiers.
Who would have dreamed, asked Caddel, that, years later, so many stuntmen would be sought to do swordplay in "Pirates of the Caribbean?"
Even then, one of his friends had to talk Thompson into auditioning.
"I assumed everyone was as well trained as I was," said Thompson. "I guess I was taking myself for granted."
Handpicked by director Gore Verbinski during his first audition, Thompson's first credit as a movie stuntman was the 90-day assignment on "Pirates."
He was respected and well liked. Word of his skill spread.
James Marsden later asked Thompson to provide him with swordplay training for "Enchantment," and Thompson stayed to take part in the film.
Even today, Thompson recalls one break in filming during "Pirates of the Caribbean" when he and a buddy rested in the Black Pearl's ship rigging.
"I felt so good. My life had become a dream come true. I thought, literally, if I never worked again, this is the coolest thing I'd ever done," he said. "No kid in Channing ever wanted to be a stuntman. But I'd sure wanted to be a pirate."
Thompson added, "I turned 32 while making that movie. The cast and crew celebrated my birthday on the pirate ship. I said, God, I've waited 30 years for a pirate birthday.' "
His secret to being in so many scenes, said Thompson, is to never lose sight of his gear, and never say no when asked if he's available for another take.
He performed plenty of stunt work in the new Indiana Jones movie, but also was cast as a nameless Russian soldier under Cate Blanchett's command.
"Finally, in the last big scene, there are only 10 people left: six movie stars, two Russians and me and another stuntman who were the extras who wouldn't die," he said. "I wound up surviving every scene in that movie until I got sucked into the interdimensional hoo-ha at the end."
This wasn't the first time his parents would recognize him on screen. In George Clooney's "Leatherheads," Thompson portrayed the referee who gets socked by a player.
The scene is in the trailer and was shown during Super Bowl commercial breaks.
So much for his stuntman's anonymity.
There are times, he said, "when I struggle with my job lacking meaning. I make a good living; I have a lot of fun. But it's a business, not art.
"Then I see a 5-year-old who leaves the theater wanting to be Indiana Jones. And I'm proud that I could play a part in awakening something like that in that kid."
Hollywood stuntman returning to Lubbock as guest instructor
By William Kerns | A-J ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Story last updated at 6/14/2008 - 2:17 am
Even after mastering stage combat, falling off running horses at jousting matches and captivating tourists with 40-foot falls into water at Universal Studios' "Waterworld" attraction, Trampas Thompson never considered becoming a professional Hollywood stuntman.
One reason is because he grew up on a working Texas ranch outside Channing.
The town's population, he said, totaled about 300, and fewer than a dozen students were in his senior class.
"People from towns like Channing don't make movies. That's what I thought," Thompson, 37, and a Texas Tech graduate, said Wednesday.
That's no longer so.
In the past seven years, he has been featured heavily in the making of all three "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, "Resident Evil: Extinction," "National Treasure," "Leatherheads," "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and more.
He will return as a guest instructor and stuntman for Chris Caddel's weeklong (Sunday through June 21)
Filmmaking 101 workshop at the Underwood Center, 511 Ave. K.
(Registration is accepted through today at 252-2357.)
"This is my opportunity to give back," Thompson said. "I have something valuable that I can teach, and I'm happy I can be of service."
Diane Thompson, Trampas' mother, said she initially preferred learning about her son's dangerous stunts only after they'd been completed and he had walked away safely.
His is not a career she and her husband, Allen, expected.
"Trampas was a wonderful artist when he was in school. He said he wanted to draw for Marvel Comics," she said. "But we thought he would settle on the theater (acting)."
She said her son, who was named after the character played by Doug McClure on NBC's "The Virginian," always had been a risk-taker.
"Trampas was skydiving just for fun the time he broke both legs," she said. "He said there was a beautiful sunset and told me that the jump was fantastic until the last 20 seconds."
Thompson declared commercial art as his major when he enrolled at Texas Tech. He graduated in 1995 with a degree in theater arts. He also studied a semester at New York University and gave animation a brief try, traveling to Ireland to study with Disney.
Caddel said Thompson was able to earn his stuntman certification at a young age by doing well in Tech theater department chairman Richard Weaver's stage combat class.
"Trampas was a very good actor and designer," said Caddel. "But he was absolutely a wizard at stage combat."
Indeed, Thompson may have grown up riding horses on a cattle ranch, but he never intended to stay a cowboy.
"When I was growing up, I wanted to be Luke Skywalker with a light saber. And I also wanted to be a pirate," he said. "I was 5 when we moved from Jackson Hole (Wyo.) to Channing, and I never wore a cowboy hat again after that. ... I could not wait to leave."
As a Tech freshman, he immediately joined the fencing club and fencing team.
"If I'd told my dad, I think he would have told me to come back home and start digging post holes if I wanted to do some fencing,' " he said.
Thompson first audited the stage combat class, which was intended only for upperclassmen, and then wound up assisting the instructor.
He never stopped practicing with swords and rapiers.
Who would have dreamed, asked Caddel, that, years later, so many stuntmen would be sought to do swordplay in "Pirates of the Caribbean?"
Even then, one of his friends had to talk Thompson into auditioning.
"I assumed everyone was as well trained as I was," said Thompson. "I guess I was taking myself for granted."
Handpicked by director Gore Verbinski during his first audition, Thompson's first credit as a movie stuntman was the 90-day assignment on "Pirates."
He was respected and well liked. Word of his skill spread.
James Marsden later asked Thompson to provide him with swordplay training for "Enchantment," and Thompson stayed to take part in the film.
Even today, Thompson recalls one break in filming during "Pirates of the Caribbean" when he and a buddy rested in the Black Pearl's ship rigging.
"I felt so good. My life had become a dream come true. I thought, literally, if I never worked again, this is the coolest thing I'd ever done," he said. "No kid in Channing ever wanted to be a stuntman. But I'd sure wanted to be a pirate."
Thompson added, "I turned 32 while making that movie. The cast and crew celebrated my birthday on the pirate ship. I said, God, I've waited 30 years for a pirate birthday.' "
His secret to being in so many scenes, said Thompson, is to never lose sight of his gear, and never say no when asked if he's available for another take.
He performed plenty of stunt work in the new Indiana Jones movie, but also was cast as a nameless Russian soldier under Cate Blanchett's command.
"Finally, in the last big scene, there are only 10 people left: six movie stars, two Russians and me and another stuntman who were the extras who wouldn't die," he said. "I wound up surviving every scene in that movie until I got sucked into the interdimensional hoo-ha at the end."
This wasn't the first time his parents would recognize him on screen. In George Clooney's "Leatherheads," Thompson portrayed the referee who gets socked by a player.
The scene is in the trailer and was shown during Super Bowl commercial breaks.
So much for his stuntman's anonymity.
There are times, he said, "when I struggle with my job lacking meaning. I make a good living; I have a lot of fun. But it's a business, not art.
"Then I see a 5-year-old who leaves the theater wanting to be Indiana Jones. And I'm proud that I could play a part in awakening something like that in that kid."