Scorching Stunts: “Ballerina” Stunt Coordinator Stephen Dunlevy on Flamethrower Finesse With Ana de Armas

In the first part of our conversation with supervising stunt coordinator Stephen Dunlevy, we covered the delicate balance involved with establishing the first theatrical John Wick spinoff, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, from an action choreography perspective. Ana de Armas’ titular ballerina, Eve Macarro, unleashes a deluge of ultra-violent a**-kicking as she tracks down her father’s killer, crossing paths with the Baba Yaga himself (John Wick, played by Keanu Reeves) more than once. 

How was the training and choreography design?

The wonderful thing about working with 87Eleven and Lionsgate, and the fact that I was part of John Wick 2 and 3 and stunt coordinated for John Wick: Chapter 4, is that we all understand the time it takes to develop these. Ana was very committed to the process of learning martial arts because you essentially need to do what Keanu did—he gave us all his time and we trained him in multiple martial arts. You essentially commit to becoming a martial artist. On the first day, I sat down with her and was like, ‘Hey, you just got to trust us through this process. We’ll ease you into it, but trust the process.’ From day one, she was so committed to honoring this character and the franchise, which was fantastic. During training, we looked at her ability and designed the fights based on her development. She trained for about six months, plus rehearsals on top of that. Once she got the base level, we started teaching the choreography.

How did the grenade-fu in Prague come about?

One of the highlights was the grenade sequence at the gun shop in Prague, where she meets Frank [the armorer played by Abraham Popoola], when the assassins attack. She escapes through that maze of rooms and finds these grenades. Now she’s in close confinement but has to fight with grenades. A lot of that sequence was done as a “oner,” when she’s fighting, comes around the corner, throws the grenade, then fights a guy, goes into a different room, fights and puts a grenade in his mouth, closes the door, and uses the door as a shield. We had to come up with ways of shielding her from the concussive sound. The team did a great job capturing what it would be like, in a fantasy aspect, to use grenades. We also have the dueling flamethrowers instead of handguns.

Is the flamethrower sequence an homage to the dragon’s breath shotgun in John Wick: Chapter 4?

There’s an element of that. We’re always looking for interesting weapons to add to the Wick series. The flamethrowers came up because, what you don’t see is flamethrowers on some of the vehicles in that village that they use to clear the snow. And also use it as a tactical weapon. So how do you have a dueling gun fight with flamethrowers? What’s the opposite of fire? Water.

I love that vertical dome effect when Eve wields the fire extinguisher against the baddie’s flamethrower. Was that done with practical action?

Yes, that’s all real, the fire hitting the water and all those guys being set on fire, that’s all practical. We did a lot of research and testing on how much pressure and gallons of water per minute were needed, depending on how much fire you’ve got. Lionsgate, 87Eleven, and Len really wanted to do this as practically as possible. So, they gave us the time to do it right. We brought fire trucks out and I experimented, stood there and did it myself so no one else would get burnt. I experimented with different flow rates using water and with various cone sizes. You see in the movie when she adjusts the nozzle straight, but it can also flare out. As it pushes water, it also pushes the air with it. So, as the flame hits, it recirculates and pushes the flame back. Sound was added in post, but the flame and water hitting effects were created practically.

That’s incredible! And it looks amazing. One of the coolest scenes was when Eve straps a grenade onto a bad guy’s neck, chokes him with it, and drags him across a table, then flips the table over to barricade herself against the explosion. How did that sequence come about?

That wasn’t in the original script. It came from the idea of how you would carry grenades and still be able to use your hands [to fight]? We could use a grenade bandolier! And then it’s like ‘What can we do with this bandolier?’ The boys and I were working on it. I went to a meeting, came back, and they’re like, check this out. So that’s how it got incorporated into that explosion. Then the special effects team came back and suggested going even bigger.

Let’s talk stunt doubles!

Our core doubling team for Ana did an amazing job, like Cara Marie Chooljian and Erika Keck. Keanu says it best—he does action but he doesn’t do stunts. So, there’s a definitive line—Ana did as much fighting as we could physically allow her to do. But there’s always a time where a double comes in to protect our actor.

What about your core choreography team?

Jackson [Spidell], Caleb [Spillyards], and Jeremy [Marinas] all did an amazing job, and Kyle Gardiner. It’s always about the best idea wins, no one person’s say is definitive. It’s this amazing collaborative process, and the team worked tirelessly night and day to get this done.

What were some of your personal favorite sequences?

The flamethrower sequence really stands out. We brought in Jayson Dumenigo with Action Factory, who just won an Academy’s Scientific and Engineering Award this year for developing his fire gel. He’s one of our stunt coordinators and fire consultants. Kyle, a friend of mine from Australia, is another amazing stunt coordinator who worked on this. When you’re doing things on that scale and doing close to 200 burns in eight days, you need the best and the brightest. So, all of that fire, all those people being lit on fire, was done practically. With these movies, they’re so big with so much action going on. So we always bring in the best—the best fighters, the best car team, whatever element we’re doing, we try to bring in the best because it allows us to take it up a notch.  

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is playing in theaters nationwide.

Featured image: Ana de Armas as Eve and Robert Masser as Dex in Ballerina. Photo Credit: Murray Close