With the new season of “Strike Back” less than two weeks away, our friends at Cinemax continue to take us behind the scenes of the production as it was filmed in South Africa earlier this year.
The latest “Production Recon” video from the action series, which follows the soldiers of a special ops unit called Section 20, shows what star Sullivan Stapleton said as one of the crazier stunts he took part in this season. The scene involves his character, Damien Scott, driving a van into a baddie.
In reality, Stapleton drove the van into the stunt man, or “stuntie” as he says, who is protected by a metal cage. During a post-screening Q&A session I moderated at San Diego Comic Con, Stapleton said he couldn’t believe he was being asked to drive a vehicle into a person.
“It’s kind of a funny thing to drive at another human being and hope to God that that welded little cage holds,” he says in the video.
It’s amazing that the stunt man wasn’t hurt, and how authentic the scene looks. As you can see by everyone’s reactions in the video, shown here exclusively, even the actors and crew are surprised–and rather giddy.
It’s no surprise that Stapleton and Philip Winchester, who plays Sgt. Michael Stonebridge, have tons of admiration and appreciation for the stunt crew. I’ll have more from the actors, a new co-star Rhona Mitra, throughout the season.
“Strike Back” begins its new season at 9 p.m. Central Aug. 17 on Cinemax. The Season 1 DVD set is available beginning Aug. 7. It features all 10 episodes as well as some entertaining and illuminating commentary tracks from the stars, directors and last season’s showrunner, Dan Percival. Oddly, none of the wonderful “Production Recon” videos like the one above are included. But you can watch those at the Cinemax website and Youtube.
Despite the absence of those extras, I can’t recommend this show highly enough. Look over in the “realted” field to find a photo gallery for the first episode os Season 1. And if you haven’t seen the first season, get the DVD set and enjoy. Then you’ll be ready for another round come Aug. 17.
![“Let the music do the talking,” sang Phish vocalist-guitarist Trey Anastasio at the outset of the band’s concert Saturday at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Normally, hearing that advice from a well-disciplined virtuoso who seemingly never tires of the stage and worships the groove would pass without a hint of potential irony. However, given the group was not even one minute into the third of its sold-out four-night stand at the $2.3 billion dome — expressly devised to push sensory boundaries to previously uncharted limits — one couldn’t help wonder how seriously Phish would take its own instruction. Turns out […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/CTC-L-ENT-PHISH-04-e1713888536637.jpg?w=620 "“Let the music do the talking,” sang Phish vocalist-guitarist Trey Anastasio at the outset of the band’s concert Saturday at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Normally, hearing that advice from a well-disciplined virtuoso who seemingly never tires of the stage and worships the groove would pass without a hint of potential irony. However, given the group was not even one minute into the third of its sold-out four-night stand at the $2.3 billion dome — expressly devised to push sensory boundaries to previously uncharted limits — one couldn’t help wonder how seriously Phish would take its own instruction. Turns out […]")