Angelina Jolie is no stranger to stunt work. Anyone who has watched her laying across the hood of a car in Wanted, or swing from cliffs in the Tomb Raider video game adaptations know that she has embraced stunts in an effort to build out her resume, and even as she matures as an actor and a filmmaker, she’s still willing to test her physicality. Those Who With Me Dead is her latest example.
In Taylor Sheridan’s new film, Angelina Jolie plays a firefighter from Montana who has skeletons in her closet thanks to a past accident. But she must put those fears behind when a young boy (Finn Little) ends up in her forest, bloodied and scared, because assassins are on his tail -- for reasons I won’t explain in this story. The stunts are rough, and they involve bullets, massive falls, and fire. Lots and lots of fire. When CinemaBlend got the chance to interview Jolie and her young co-star, we talked stunts, and the actress’s experience. The conversation is above.
Naturally, this is a Hollywood production, and Taylor Sheridan wasn’t dropping his actors into the middle of a burning forest. But that doesn’t mean Angelina Jolie and Finn Little weren’t pushing the envelope to make their stunts look realistic. They were running across open fields dodging lightning bolts. They were plunging from the heights of a fire-spotting station. And they submerged themselves in water to avoid flames.
Finn Little opened up about the advice that Angelina Jolie gave him about how to “survive” a series of movie stunts. The young actor told CinemaBlend:
She sort of just said ‘Trust the gear.’ And I completely did. There were some pretty awesome stunts on set that were physically demanding, but I absolutely put faith in Wade Allen. He was my stunt coordinator. Man, it was amazing to be in that actual forest that they built. They would light those trees up. But that’s the magic about Taylor Sheridan, the director. He really creates an environment for his actors to work in, to help them be in there and in that scene. It was just amazing to work on.
You can see some of the dangerous scenarios that Angelina Jolie and Finn Little found themselves in as part of the Those Who Wish Me Dead trailer:
And the great news is that you don’t have to wait very long to see the film! It’s open now in theaters near you, and also available on HBO Max if you have a subscription to that streaming service. This is part of the deal that WB made to split its releases on a day-and-date release pattern between theatrical and streaming. So far, it has led to great awareness for movies like Mortal Kombat and Godzilla vs. Kong. It should help Those Who Wish Me Dead, as well.
