Summary
- Heart of Stone is an action-packed spy thriller that rivals James Bond and Mission: Impossible, while The Marvels is the next step in the much-beloved The Marvels.
- The cast of Heart of Stone, including Gal Gadot, Jamie Dornan, Alia Bhatt, and Matthias Schweighöfer, delivers engaging performances.
- Both film features thrilling stunts, showcasing the actors’ dedication and hard work.
Netflix’s Heart of Stone is an exciting spy thriller that catapults Gal Gadot’s character Rachel Stone into the ranks of James Bond or Ethan Hunt. Heart of Stone’s cast of familiar faces includes Jamie Dornan, Alia Bhatt, and Matthias Schweighöfer, all of whom turn in engaging and exciting performances. The crux of the story is about a top-secret item that Stone and her compatriots must keep out of enemy hands at all costs.
One of the true heroes of Heart of Stone is, of course, the action, much of which was done practically. Gadot is no stranger to physically demanding roles thanks in part to her tenure as Wonder Woman and Heart of Stone stunt coordinator Jo McLaren was quick to praise her drive and work ethic during a recent interview with Screen Rant. McLaren also included Brie Larson in her praise, as the coordinator worked on The Marvels as well. See what she had to say below:
Jo McLaren: They are so disciplined. They’re like machines in their nutrition [and] their physical training. Whether that’s strength training, Pilates, agility, they have all of that to do as well as their day’s work. They’ve got all their lines to learn, their scripts to learn, [and] their stunt training to do. The actors that do these big action films and all the superhero films–you take your hat off to them because they work hard. Believe you me, they really work hard. They put the hours in, they put the effort in, and it’s grueling. There’s the glamour at the end of it, but during the shoot they work really, really hard.
What to Expect from Heart of Stone’s Stunts
Heart of Stone is full of thrilling stunts that McLaren insists were largely done practically. From speed flying to car chases to fights and more, director Tom Harper and the rest of the filmmakers clearly wanted the film’s thrilling moments to literally be adrenaline-fueled. For McLaren, this approach combined with the variety of stunts in the film, made Heart of Stone a dream project. Here’s what she had to say:
Jo McLaren: A. we had a fantastic script, [and b. we had] reality-based action. We did so many things for real on location. We did fights, we did car stuff, we were in the snow, we were in Iceland, we were in Portugal doing water stuff, and lots of wirework. [We did] explosions [and] shootouts. There was everything in that movie, and [we were] doing things for real on location, not just on a blue screen. That, for us, was very refreshing, and just felt like proper moviemaking, how we used to do a lot of stunt work for real years ago, or when you do Bond films and things like that. It very much felt like that; that we were doing a lot of reality-based action. So yeah, it was a total dream.
It’s exciting to hear that many of the stunts in the film were done for real, especially given that Heart of Stone’s trailer promises over-the-top action. The fantastic stunt work in the film is likely something McLaren and the rest of the team would try to push even further in a potential Heart of Stone 2, which is at least one strong part of the case for a sequel. Of course, whether or not McClaren and company will be able to push the envelope even further depends on how Heart of Stone does on Netflix.