Director Jake Schreier leans heavily into practical filmmaking, which means more real sets, and most notably, actors doing their stunts. Schreier's vision was to make everything feel tangible, visceral - something the audience can truly feel.
Lewis Pullman, who plays Robert Reynolds, embraced the challenge, saying, "Doing your own stunts is awesome as an actor, that's always a gift because everything feels real around you."
Florence Pugh, who leads the cast as Black Widow, shares how adamant she was about being thrown off the second-tallest building in the world.
"I just kept on pushing, email after email....Dear Kevin, I need to be thrown off the tallest building in the world and then they couldn't say no because I'm so annoying."
The cast says the result is a film where punches land harder, falls feel real and the performances carry the weight of actual experience.
Hannah John-Kamen spoke to the impact of that effort: "There's heart, there's comedy, there are intimate moments - and it all feels earned because we were in it."
"Thunderbolts*" hits theaters May 2.
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