Emmy-nominated Stunt Coordinator Freddie Poole has been in the business for over 15 years, working on some of the biggest blockbuster films and action packed shows. However, it’s his tenure as the stunt double for action icon Sylvester Stallone that led to Freddie working as the second unit director on Stallone’s latest show, Tulsa King.
Nick L’Barrow spoke with Freddie about where he collaboration with Sly first began, the recent announcement regarding stunt design being recognised at the Oscars, and what it really takes to pull off a epic fight scene for television.
Nick: I think it’s great timing that we are speaking not long after the Academy announced that they will be recognising stunt design at the Oscars in 2028. It feels like it’s been such a long time coming, so I’d love to get your reaction and see how you’re feeling about this news…
Freddie Poole: Oh, it’s definitely caused a lot of buzz amongst my peers and fellow stunt performance. It’s long overdue, but I think it’s something that we’ve been fighting for, for quite some time. We’re excited. I think it’s a great thing to recognise the talent that’s out there on our side of things. I’m looking forward to seeing how it all goes, and who know, maybe one day I’ll have that honour!
Nick: I hope that honour comes for you, too! Now, I’d be remised if I didn’t mention the fact that you have been the stunt double for Sylvester Stallone for over 15 years now, and now you’re working with him as a second unit director on Tulsa King. I’d love to know where this journey began between you and Stallone, and how it evolved to the point you’re at now.
Freddie Poole: It started back in 2011 on a movie called Bullet To The Head, which starred Stallone and Jason Momoa down in New Orleans. And it was just by chance because he had a different stunt double at the time, and he was having issues with his visa because he’s from Bulgaria. So, I got a call from a friend of mine, JJ Perry, who said, “Hey, can you come into the office?”
JJ has been a friend for a very long time, and he’s also a second unit director and stunt coordinator, and now he’s actually directing films! But, I go in to the office, and he goes, “Take your shirt off.” And I was a bit like… you know, sure! And all his office staff we’re around, but I took my shirt off and he goes, “Great! Perfect!” And then he put my headshot underneath Stallone’s headshot, and that was the first time I doubled him.
Then we worked together on Escape Plan with Arnold Schwarnznegger, and I think things started to evolve because I started getting more calls to come in and double him on different things. There’s just a rapport that you develop, a comfort with the actor. And now we don’t just work together, I consider Mr. Stallone to be a mentor, even a friend. We text all the time. Sometimes he’ll just pick up the phone and call, which is surreal just to think that!
Nick: I noticed as you were talking, you called him ‘Mr. Stallone’, and now you consider him a friend. Was there a moment you can pinpoint where he went from being Mr. Stallone to Sly?
Freddie Poole: Oh, gosh! I think it was probably Creed II. So, I got injured and couldn’t do Escape Plan 3, and I won’t say too much, but there was trouble finding another stunt double, and he was obviously comfortable with me. So, when I got to Philadelphia, I remember being in hair and makeup, and everyone was like, “We really missed you on Escape Plan 3! Sly was really asking for you.” And that was the moment I thought maybe we’ve moved on from Mr. Stallone, and now he’s Sly.
Nick: And now you’re working together on Tulsa King, where you are second unit directing. I’m curious to know where along your career the desire to pursue directing first started, and how did almost 2 decades of stunt work help prepare you for that?
Freddie Poole: Well, you know, you work with so many different departments, especially when we’re doing stunt choreography or composing. Special effects, wardrobe, set decoration, construction, greens – for every stunt! My approach is when I go to evaluate each stunt, it’s about how is what we’re doing affecting other departments, and what can we do to work synergistically to put something really amazing on screen. So, that whole process really opened up my eyes from just being a stuntman who rocks up, does the stunt, then goes home, to a whole world of actually creating an action scene.
I’ve been coordinating stunts for 15 years, and as time goes on, you get more experience, but I make it a point to talk to every department and let them know what we have going on. Like costuming for example, if we have a stunt where the doubles are hitting the ground repeatedly, can we put them in long sleeve shirts instead of short sleeves so we can have them pad up for multiple takes. Or if we’re utilising wires, that means we’re going to have to put holes in their wardrobe, as an example.
I love having these conversations with every single department, and what it does is it creates a synergy, as opposed to, “Well, I’m the stunt coordinator, and I just have to figure out my side of things.” I’m not a big fan of that approach, because that’s an old school approach.
Nick: What predominately are the scenes you’re then shooting as a second unit director on a show like Tulsa King?
Freddie Poole: So, second unit can be a couple of things. One – obviously the big action set pieces where we don’t necessarily have cast members, mainly stunt guys. That’s not always the case, because I’ve had many second units where cast have been thrown my way because of the camera angles, and things that we’re seeing in shot.
It’s rare that we’re doing the same things main unit are doing. Things like dialogue scenes. Unless it’s maybe a pickup or something like that, or an unusual circumstance. Actually, on season two of Tulsa King, there was a scene that had to be delayed because a lightning storm took out all the sets power, probably for a couple of hours. So, they finally just shut it down and they came to me and said, “You’re gonna have to finish this scene, with the actors, on second unit tomorrow.”
So, it was just such a fun experience to be behind the monitors and watch the dialogue, pass along a couple of notes, and watch them do it again. And then when we wrapped those guys out, we got straight into the action!
Nick: When you were behind that monitor, directing the actors, did that give you a taste of something that you want to pursue even more now?
Freddie Pool: Oh, absolutely! I have voiced to anyone that will work with me that I want to do that! Even before last season, it was on my radar. I don’t want to put the cart before the horse, but I have a few irons in the fire that we’re currently working on for main unit directing. I don’t want to say anything… we’re getting there. We’re working toward that. But many of my friends have made the crossover from coordinator, or second unit director, to main unit director.
Nick: And the stuff that these guys make is incredible, so my fingers are crossed for you! One of the scenes you worked on in season two of Tulsa King was the awesome windfarm fight, where you have electrical explosions, baseball bats, crowbars, and at least a dozen stunt performers. When you first see a scene like that on the page, what is the process of then bringing it to life on the screen?
Freddie Poole: Especially with a scene like that, we collaborated with the special effects team, but we’ve done a fair few things with those guys, so we’re able to just get dialled in and do it.
But in terms of the composition of the scene, my normal process is I go and sit with Sly – Mr. Stallone [laughs] – and we spit ball ideas and concepts. And one of those things he wanted to focus on was to showcase the character of Bigfoot. So, the first thing I did was call Cash Flo and said, “You’re a wrestler – give me some of your signature moves that we can incorporate into this thing.”
Fortunately, again, we had a great group of stunt guys who had been with us all season as a part of Ming’s crew, so just being able to collaborate with those guys on a day-to-day basis makes things so easy.
The writers on season two are also great, and we have a good rapport with them. It’s basically like, whatever I read on the page, I can go put something together that looks good for the story. And when you have someone like Terrence Winter, who is a legend, to say something like that to me… I can’t tell you how warm it made me feel inside! To have Terry say to me that I can do what I want to do, is very cool.
Thank you so much to Freddie for his time, and to Lumos PR for organising the chat. You can watch the full and uncut interview on the Novastream YouTube channel now!
