Vic Armstrong is the most prolific stuntman in the world. He has a Guinness World Record to prove that. Armstrong, now 78, has been a stunt performer, stunt coordinator and director in over 250 movies, and undoubtedly one of the biggest luminaries of the action and stunt community.

Armstrong started out strong six decades ago, doubling for Christopher Reeve in the first two Superman films, Harrison Ford in the first three Indiana Jones movies and multiple James Bond actors over the years. His vast filmography includes big-ticket franchises like Star Wars, Spider-Man, Mission: Impossible and Dune.

Armstrong has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a BAFTA award and an Oscar in the technical category. The veteran has now lent his expertise to the TV series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, streaming on Prime Video. Over a video call, t2 chatted with Armstrong on his latest project, old friends, the action genre and more.

In the huge filmography that you have built over the decades, where does The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power feature in terms of challenge, creative satisfaction and scale?

It is a huge project. People say to me: ‘I didn’t know you did TV, Vic.’ And I say: ‘I am not doing TV. I am making a huge film!’ It is epic in its challenges, in its storytelling and that we try to be original and come up with new ways of showing things and making it exciting.

I have been lucky. As a stuntman, I was very fit and agile when the popular genres were coming out — from Superman to Indiana Jones to James Bond. And now that I am older and an action director, I am lucky enough to be able to do projects like The Rings of Power which can open your mind.

Early in my career, David Lean and Lawrence of Arabia had a huge impact on me. I had a shot in The Rings of Power which we called my ‘David Lean shot’. It is a huge, wide shot where two horses are gathered across this big expanse with mountains around them. That was my homage to him.

We shot the first season in New Zealand while the second season was shot in England in winter. We had hundreds of horses charging around, people, orcs, cranes, cameras and lighting machines... and it was pouring every day.

In England, we had only eight hours of daylight. But the trade-off was that we had this dark, gloomy, dramatic light which enhances the battle sequences, they look far more dramatic in wet and muddy conditions with grey light than they do in brilliant sunshine.

I felt I fitted more in the second season because I knew the direction I was heading in, and the actors were more confident in their parts. When I would say: ‘I want you to gallop in on this horse, skip the halt, jump off and slice this guy’s head off,’ they had the confidence that they would look great doing it.

In the early days, Galadriel (played by Morfydd Clark) was very nervous of her riding and now she is a beautiful rider and a beautiful swordswoman.

It is interesting how you have mentioned horses a couple of times already. You grew up wanting to be a jockey. Why didn’t that happen?

That is because I was too big in size! (Laughs) I was an amateur jockey trying to turn professional but I wouldn’t get enough rides on horses because I was too heavy. I used to starve myself to do it.

My father was a racehorse trainer and I started competing in races when I was 14. That is what got me into the film business. They wanted a good horse and a good rider and I went and did it. I was getting 20 pounds a day, which is more than a week’s wages. That is what attracted me and the rest was fate and being in the right place at the right time.

Horses have featured a lot in my life and I think it is a wonderful thing because they are great equalisers. With horses, you can be on top of the world now and within two minutes you can be as low as you can go.

There is something very stirring when you see 50-60 horses thundering past the camera. The whole ground shakes and the noise and the smell... it is quite exciting.

Do you feel that there is a common thread that binds all your work?

It would probably be locations and epic values. I have worked in 60-70 countries. I have used stuntmen from all over the world and I love the adventure aspect of it. If I was born 200 years ago, I would have been an explorer or adventurer. I love the thrill of venturing into a new project and not knowing what to expect. The excitement of that is very addictive.

This business is the only business that lets you do what I call ‘playing cowboys and Indians’ (laughs). We have grown-up toys and millions and millions of dollars. We use that to create entertainment for people. I feel very privileged.

Was there ever an episode that left you shaken enough to rethink your choice of career?

I did a 100-ft fall, which is about 30-odd metres, but it involved a horse rearing up and I had to be thrown off it. I directed that stunt as well. Before I did the fall, I looked down and the airbag I was going to land on looked like a little matchbox. I had just bought a new Mercedes and just before I took that leap, I thought that I may never have a chance to drive that car! (Laughs)

Those are silly things that go through your mind. But there are always moments when you think: ‘What am I doing here?!’ You could be on a really tough film in the middle of the jungle. You get bitten by mosquitoes and you can’t sleep at night and nothing is going right. And you think: ‘I could be at home watching television.’ But I have never done it for the money, it has always been for the adventure. At the end of the day, it is the creativity that attracts me.

You have worked with a large number of actors, but in your book, The True Adventures of the World’s Greatest Stuntman, you only mention Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise and Arnold Schwarzenegger. What kind of a relationship do you share with them?

I adore Harrison. He has the same sense of humour as I do. We hit it off from Day One. Years ago, I came back from Mexico and he called me over to his house. He had given me clear directions of how to get there. I drove up to the house and there was a note on the door saying: ‘I am having back treatment. Make yourself at home.’ I sat down, started reading the paper and then kept calling out to him. Nothing. Then suddenly the penny dropped that this couldn’t be his house. I tiptoed out expecting a couple of Dobermans to rip my throat out any second, turned around, drove the other way and there he was waiting outside his house. So we go down to dinner, I had been in Mexico for about three months, and I look at the menu and realised he had taken me to a Mexican restaurant, which was the last thing I wanted!

Tom Cruise has broken all boundaries doing his own stunts. I worked with him on Legend, War of the Worlds and Mission Impossible III. I realised how passionate he was about doing his own stunts, so I designed everything so we could see his face, see that it is him and not a stuntman.

I love Arnie (Schwarzenegger). I remember meeting Arnie in Mexico on Conan The Destroyer. We did film after film together. He is as tough as they come. The work ethic is what I admire. I have been out partying with Arnie until three or four in the morning and the phone goes off at 5am and he says: ‘I am in the gym, waiting.’

How have you seen the recognition and respect given to action evolve in Hollywood? There has been a movement to have a Best Action Academy Award for some years now, but it hasn’t happened yet....

Thirty years ago, we had actors like Harrison Ford who always told everyone: ‘I never do these stunts. Vic Armstrong does them.’ Tom Cruise does his own stunts. But he acknowledges that there is a team that works painstakingly to make those stunts happen.

In the old days, it wasn’t correct to say that actors had stunt doubles because they thought it might affect the box office. But it has been accepted over the years now and it is growing.

I am sure that in a year or two, there will be an Academy Award for action. I will be too old to get one (smiles). I have achieved a BAFTA which I am very proud of and I have an Academy Award for technology (Armstrong won an Academy Award for Technical Achievement for his work on the Fan Descender, a device that safely and accurately stopped stunt people from free-falling). But one day, a proud stuntman will be up there.