EXCLUSIVE: Legendary stuntman David Lea was unfazed when stabbed on set of Batman, encouraged Sly Stallone to smash his head on a table to get the perfect shot and was still working weeks before his death: Friends and family tell of dedication to his craft
- Stuntman David Lea died from lung cancer on August 6 at age 67
- Lea doubled for Michael Keaton in Batman movies, braved brutal fight scenes with Sylvester Stallone in Tango & Cash and worked with several other A-listers
- In exclusive interviews with DailyMail.com, his daughter, friends and colleagues tell how British-born Lea was tough as nails and committed to his work
- His daredevil stunts ranged from being hit and driven over by cars, diving from moving vehicles, smashing through doors, to breaking two bricks over his hand
- Lea’s mentee, trainee stuntwoman Nora Perez, revealed how he took a knife wound down to the bone on camera but didn’t flinch until the scene was over
- His daughter Angel said Lea was working until just a few weeks ago and that his lung cancer moved swiftly
Stuntman David Lea died from lung cancer on August 6 at age 67
Friends and family have revealed how the late Hollywood stuntman David Lea, friends with Sylvester Stallone and Jackie Chan, took a knife wound down to the bone on camera but didn’t flinch until the scene was over.
Lea died from lung cancer on August 6 at age 67. He doubled for Michael Keaton in Batman movies, braved brutal fight scenes with Sylvester Stallone in Tango & Cash, and worked with a host of other A-listers.
Stallone is said to be distraught over the stuntman’s death and sent the family condolences, as did John Wick movie director Chad Stahelski, Day Shift director JJ Perry, Mortal Kombat actor Lewis Tan and Bruce Lee’s protégé Dan Insanto.
In exclusive interviews with DailyMail.com, his daughter, friends and colleagues revealed how British-born Lea was tough as nails and totally committed to his work, even encouraging Stallone to smash his head repeatedly into a metal table to get the perfect shot.
His daredevil stunts – including for the actual 2003 movie Daredevil – ranged from being hit and driven over by cars, diving from moving vehicles, being thrown ten feet across a room, smashing through thick wooden doors, to breaking two bricks over his hand.
Lea doubled for Michael Keaton in Batman movies, braved brutal fight scenes with Sylvester Stallone in Tango & Cash, and worked with several other A-listers
Lea first worked with Sylvester Stallone in 1989’s Tango and Cash. His friends and family tell how he even encouraged Stallone to smash his head repeatedly into a metal table to get the perfect shot
Lea’s first big break in Hollywood came when he was hired to work as a stunt double for Michael Keaton in 1989’s Batman. He also created the stunts for 1992’s Batman Returns. Lea is pictured with Keaton
Lea’s mentee, trainee stuntwoman Nora Perez, revealed how he took a knife wound down to the bone on camera but didn’t flinch until the scene was over. This happened while filming a staged knife fight in Batman
Lea with Jackie Chan and Sylvester Stallone. His friends tell how he formed a great bond with the actors he worked with
He performed stunts in Will Smith’s 1999 movie Wild Wild West, 1997 movies Batman & Robin and Con Air, and most recently was a double for Mickey Rourke in the 2022 movie The Commando.
Friends say that Lea was still taking heavy hits to get great footage even late into his 60s
‘He seemed to become really good friends with any celeb he worked with. He might see them as a role model, but he wasn’t star struck,’ Lea’s daughter Angel Lea-Seagreen told DailyMail.com.
‘He was a very generous, time-giving person who always wanted to help people. I think he’s gained a lot of love and respect for that.’
Lea’s mentee, trainee stuntwoman Nora Perez, revealed how Lea would brush off severe injuries to get the perfect take on set.
While working as a stunt double for Michael Keaton in the 1989 Batman movie, Perez said Lea was cut for real in a staged knife fight.
‘He said ”I felt the knife hitting my bone but I just pushed through it, I just kept going through the scene until they yelled cut.” He would say ”until they say cut, I don’t break character”,’ Perez told DailyMail.com.
‘He was always happy and joking around. There was not a day where he wasn’t joking around. But when he came to work, he was all about work.
‘He was very graceful, he would think of others before himself. He was a great mentor for me as far as being a better person.’
‘He seemed to become really good friends with any celeb he worked with. He might see them as a role model, but he wasn’t star struck,’ Lea’s daughter Angel Lea-Seagreen told DailyMail.com. Lea is pictured with his daughters Kristell (left) and Angel (right)
Lea i with his daughter Angel and grandson Jaime. ‘He was working until just a couple of months ago. He was doing what he loved, so he kept going as long as his legs would hold him,’ Angel said
Lea posed with the Batmobile. He performed stunts in the 1997 movie Batman & Robin
His daughter Angel, an elementary school assistant in Essex, England, said Lea was working until just a few weeks ago, and that his lung cancer moved swiftly
Lea’s daughter said of her late father, ‘He didn’t come from a privileged background in any way,’ she said. ‘He worked damn hard. And he appreciated everybody in his life’
Lea’s lifelong friend and fellow stunt coordinator Phil Tan, who got him the Batman job as his first big Hollywood break, said Lea forged a close bond with Stallone and would go the extra mile in fight scenes with the Rocky star.
‘Sly loves fighting Dave. He was very hurt when we had to tell him Dave passed away,’ Tan told DailyMail.com.
Lea choreographed a brutal brawl with Stallone in 1989 movie Tango & Cash – and made it shockingly real.
‘Dave told Sly, ”I want to make this look good. So when you smash my head into the table, I want you to do it for real. Beat the s**t out of me, and it’s going to look f***ing real and you’re going to look great”,’ Tan said.
‘He slammed his head over and over, like five or six times. And that was just one take. He did a bunch of takes.’
Tan, who helped produce Mickey Rourke movie The Commando released in January this year, said Lea was still taking heavy hits to get great footage even late into his 60s.
‘Dave had to get kicked through a door. Because of the budget we couldn’t get a balsa wood door where you can just kick it and he’ll go straight through. So we got a real door.
‘I said, “it’s only going to be one take and it is going to hurt like a mofo. Are you okay with that?” He said “Bring it Phil. Let’s go.”
‘So he got kicked by Michael Jai White, who’s huge, 240 pounds of muscle.
‘He kicked him straight through the freaking door. It was amazing. But because it was a real door, it cut him. He was bleeding, but he said ‘I’m good, do you want to do another one?’ He never complained.
‘He is one of the toughest guys I know. The toughest guy on the street, the toughest guy on the set.’
Lea was trained in six types of Kung Fu, Shotokan karate, the Philippines martial art Escrima and kickboxing
The in-demand double worked on Batman Forever with Val Kilmer and on Batman and Robin with George Clooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chris O’Donnell
Lea was trained in six types of Kung Fu, Shotokan karate, the Philippines martial art Escrima and kickboxing.
He worked with stars including Stallone, Smith, Ashley Judd, Ben Affleck, Colin Farrell, Tom Cruise, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Sandra Bullock, Michelle Pfeiffer, Famke Janssen, Dennis Quaid and David Boreanaz.
Angel, an elementary school assistant in Essex, England, said Lea was working until just a few weeks ago, and that his lung cancer moved swiftly.
‘My head has been in such a spin the last couple of weeks,’ she said. ‘His decline was quite rapid. It was fast, and it was aggressive.
‘He was working until just a couple of months ago. He was doing what he loved, so he kept going as long as his legs would hold him.’
She said her fondest memories were of messing around on London’s Oxford Street and Chinatown, taking pictures and making comedic videos with her father.
‘He didn’t come from a privileged background in any way,’ she said. ‘He worked damn hard. And he appreciated everybody in his life.’
His family held a memorial for Lea at a Los Angeles church on Monday.
Source: Read Full Article