'The Blacklist' Season 3 Spoilers & Cast News: Do Liz, Red & Ressler Act Out Their Own Stunts?
There's never a dull moment during "The Blacklist" and the hit show doesn't lack in the stunt department either.
Emmy Award-winning stunt coordinator Cort Hessler, who won for work on the first season of the hugely popular show, revealed that the cast is made up of a bunch of tough cookies and they like to take their acting skills to a whole other level.
"The actors do a lot of their own stunts, and that's what helps us here. There's a disconnect with just stunt people doing stunts and the actors not doing it, so everybody on our show -- Megan (Boone, who plays Liz), Diego (Klattenhoff, who plays Ressler) and James (Spader, who plays Red) -- they've all done the fights, they've all shot people, they've all stepped in and really do it," Hessler explained to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Having that fluidity on set and willingness to take on stunts is reflective of a cast that doesn't have diva attitudes and wants to roll up their sleeves.
While some CGI is used, Hessler points out that there's not always enough time to use it and that you can't solely rely on it.
He explained that the show uses "as little as possible" due to the "turn-around time."
"Mostly, I'd say 80 per cent of the time, you're seeing what the final product is right then," he added.
When it comes to using CGI in stunts, Hessler says that "You have to use it as a tool; it can't be the whole product."
At the same token, it also makes for a safer environment.
"Back when I started doing stunts in the 1980s, we were on little tiny cables that they didn't want to see, but they'd break," he explained. "Now we use bigger cables, like the width of my thumb, because it's easier to track and paint out. To go total CGI, you gotta make the crowd believe it, and they're gonna believe a person being yanked out of the room on a cable more than a CGI person being yanked out of the room. There's a difference; you know it when you watch it."
In Season 2 of "The Blacklist," it's a Bonnie and Clyde-type of situation where Liz is on the run with Reddington (aka 'Red'). She's trying to clear her name while running from the FBI.
Cooper was given the ax by the FBI and was replaced by Agent Donald Ressler. Tom Keen was torn on whether or not he should join Red and Liz or switch over to the FBI and help them hunt the duo down.
"The Blacklist," Season 3 will return to NBC on Thursdays in the fall.
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