One of Hollywood's most accomplished stunt directors Lee Whittaker is currently in Mumbai shooting the climactic action sequence for Kamal Haasan's Vishwaroop.
Whittaker is understood for his astonishing aerial stunts in Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor and his stunning action in 78 other American films and tv serials.
Vishwaroop (Vishwaroopam in Tamil) is Whittaker's first Indian assignment. Apparently, Whittaker initially refused to do the film. But was convinced only after Kamal Haasan showed the yank stunt-wallah a few of his filmed moves and daring do from his past work.
Says a source, "Whittaker was not too all for doing an assignment outside home turf. But if he saw Kamal Haasan's stunts in a few of his past film notably Nayakan and Abhay and the high risk-level that the actor was willing to take to succeed in a summit of realism within the stunts, Whittaker agreed."
For the climactic one-on-one being shot currently, Kamal Haasan and Rahul Bose were required to rehearse rigorously and religiously for over every week for the aerial stunts. Says a source, "IT IS A high-risk low-caution stunt. Regardless of how careful we were, it was potentially life-threatening. Still, all precautions were taken to make sure the 2 actors' safety. Whittaker himself admitted the stunt he had devised for Kamal Haasan and Rahul Bose was more dangerous than anything he had done in Hollywood."
So lethal were the moves and so high the chance of a mishap that Kamal Haasan had kept the stunt a secret from his family members. And yet it was an attractive hit-and-miss heart-in-the-mouth touch-and-go more or less situation on the Chandivali Studio in Andheri (Mumbai) on Sunday when, during a climactic combat between hero Kamal Haasan and villain Rahul Bose, Kamal came crashing down from a height of nearly 20 feet. Luckily there has been no mishap.
Whittaker who has coordinated stunts for the likes of Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and George Clooney is pretty impressed with the heightened level of commitment shown by Kamal Haasan and Rahul Bose while shooting what can also be only be described as a suicidal stunt.
Says Kamal Haasan, "I've done a large number of risky stuff. Let's just say what I'm doing now's exceedingly risky. It's fun to have an actor as dedicated as Rahul Bose opposite me. The fight is dangerously enjoyable."
