Brian Smrz (; born ), also Brian Delaney Smrz, is a Hollywood

stunt coordinator A stunt coordinator, usually an experienced stunt performer, is hired by a TV, film or theatre director or production company for stunt casting. Their job is to arrange the casting (stunt players and stunt doubles) and performance of stunts for ...

and

second unit director Second unit is a discrete team of filmmakers tasked with filming shots or sequences of a production, separate from the main or "first" unit. The second unit will often shoot simultaneously with the other unit or units, allowing the filming stag ...

of projects such as ''

Live Free or Die Hard ''Live Free or Die Hard'' (released as ''Die Hard 4.0'' outside North America) is a 2007 American action-thriller film directed by Len Wiseman, and serves as the fourth installment in the ''Die Hard'' film series. It is based on the 1997 articl ...

'', '' Mission: Impossible 2'', ''

Eagle Eye ''Eagle Eye'' is a 2008 American action-thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso and with a screenplay by John Glenn (screenwriter), John Glenn, Travis Adam Wright, Hillary Seitz and Dan McDermott from a story by McDermott. The film stars Shia LaB ...

'', ''

Night at the Museum ''Night at the Museum'' is a 2006 fantasy comedy film directed by Shawn Levy and written by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon. It is based on the 1993 children's book of the same name by Croatian illustrator Milan Trenc. The film had an ensem ...

'', ''

Windtalkers ''Windtalkers'' is a 2002 American war film directed and co-produced by John Woo, starring Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach, Peter Stormare, Noah Emmerich, Mark Ruffalo, and Christian Slater. It is based on the real story of Navajo code talkers during ...

'' and ''

Superman Returns ''Superman Returns'' is a 2006 American superhero film directed by Bryan Singer and written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris (screenwriter), Dan Harris from a story by Singer, Dougherty and Harris based on the DC Comics character Superman. I ...

'', among others. He is also the director of '' Hero Wanted'', starring

Cuba Gooding, Jr. Cuba Mark Gooding Jr. (born January 2, 1968) is an American actor. He is the recipient of an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Emmy nomination. After his breakthrough role as Tre Styles in ''Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), he appeare ...

and

Ray Liotta Raymond Allen Liotta (; December 18, 1954 – May 26, 2022) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Shoeless Joe Jackson in ''Field of Dreams'' (1989) and Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's ''Goodfellas'' (1990). He was a Primeti ...

and of ''

24 Hours to Live ''24 Hours to Live'' is a 2017 science fiction action thriller film directed by Brian Smrz and starring Ethan Hawke, Xu Qing, Paul Anderson, Liam Cunningham, and Rutger Hauer. It follows a career assassin who goes on a rampage to exact revenge ...

'', starring

Ethan Hawke Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor and film director. He has been nominated for four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award. Hawke has directed three feature films, three off-Broadway plays, and a doc ...

and

Xu Qing Xu Qing (; born 22 January 1969), known also as Summer Qing, is a Chinese actress. She was accepted into the acting class of Beijing Film Academy in 1988 and graduated in 1992. Career Xu made her debut in the 1990 film '' Life on a String'', ...

. He won the Taurus Award twice and was nominated a third time.

Career

Smrz has worked as a stunt performer and stunt coordinator on Hollywood films since 1981. In more recent years, he has acted as second unit director and director on projects such as '' Hero Wanted'', ''

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first ...

'' and ''

Face/Off ''Face/Off'' is a 1997 American science fiction action thriller film directed by John Woo, written by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary, and starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. The first Hollywood film in which Woo was given major creative ...

''. He has worked on several of director

John Woo John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun fu ...

's American films, including ''

'', ''

Paycheck A paycheck, also spelled paycheque, pay check or pay cheque, is traditionally a paper document (a cheque) issued by an employer to pay an employee for services rendered. In recent times, the physical paycheck has been increasingly replaced by e ...

'' and '' Mission: Impossible 2''. Smrz shared a Taurus Award for stuntwork on '' Mission: Impossible 2'' and ''

''. He was also nominated for ''

Taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

''. In an otherwise negative review of ''Taxi'', ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' praised Smrz's stunts. '' Hero Wanted'' is his directorial debut. It is a crime drama/action film starring

and

Norman Reedus Norman Mark Reedus (born January 6, 1969) is an American actor best known for starring as Daryl Dixon in the AMC (TV channel), AMC horror drama series ''The Walking Dead (TV series), The Walking Dead'' (2010–2022). He also starred as Murphy Mac ...

. Shooting occurred in Sofia, Bulgaria with a crew composed mostly of Bulgarians.

Personal life

Smrz is from

Strafford, Pennsylvania Strafford is an unincorporated community in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, located partly in Tredyffrin Township, Chester County, and partly in Radnor Township, Delaware County. It is served by its own stop on the SEPT ...

and was the twin brother of the stuntman Brett Smrz, who died while performing a stunt jump off a building. Smrz was hospitalized after a stunt went wrong in 1992 on ''

Cyborg 2 ''Cyborg 2'' (released in some countries as ''Glass Shadow'') is a 1993 American science fiction action film directed by Michael Schroeder. It was produced by Alan Silver and Raju Patel. Schroeder, Mark Geldman and Ron Yanover wrote the screenpl ...

''. The incident was investigated by the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smrz, Brian Living people American stunt performers People from Chester County, Pennsylvania Film directors from Pennsylvania Year of birth missing (living people)