How Extraction 2’s director got blown off a train during shooting

When it comes to modern filmmaking’s fascination with one-take, no-cuts action sequences, the focal point is undoubtedly Alfonso Cuarón’s dystopian epic. Children of men. That 2006 movie features several of those extended one-off scenes, or “oners,” as the industry calls them. The most impressive part comes early in the film, when Clive Owen and his team drive through a remote forest. Suddenly, a burning car hurtles down a hill, blocking their path. In the blink of an eye, they’re waylaid by assailants, leading to an amazing one-shot chase where the camera moves from the inside of the car to the road. Cuarón and his team had to creating entirely new technology to achieve this. But now, more than 15 years later, CGI has made tricks like this.

For every breathtaking fight scene like Atomic blond‘s 10-minute barnburner, there are endless instantly forgettable attempts at long-action action sequences, overrun with CGI blurring to obscure their cuts. For Extraction 2 director Sam Hargrave, escaping that dynamic and finding something new and personal in the one was a challenge as exciting as the final product. His answer to that challenge is one of the most stunning films to ever hit the screen. And how he achieved it is equally extraordinary.

“I think one, when used as a storytelling tool, can be very effective,” Hargrave told Polygon via Zoom, ahead of Extraction 2‘s release. “I think if you use it as a device, as a gimmick, it can be overdone or become a bit cliché. But the reason why I want to use it in the first one [Extraction] and then in this film is to provide an immersive experience for the audience. And for something like this, it’s also a way of lensing the action in a way that sets it apart a little bit from other movies. With so many great action movies out there, so many great designers and directors, how does Sam Hargrave bring a point of view to a series that may only be mine, and make it unique to this franchise?

In the first extraction, Hargrave wanted to define himself as a new filmmaker by making a staggering 10 minute film. extraction follows mercenary ex-soldier Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) as he escorts a young kidnap victim out of a deadly situation. In the sequel, Rake enters a dangerous prison to save the family of a violent gangster. Once he gets to them, a 21-minute odyssey ensues in which Rake and the family fight through the prison and into the courtyard, jump into armored vehicles waiting for them outside, evade pursuit through a forest, board a freight train, escape and then battle intruders along the train.

That sounds standard enough – fight, chase, fight, chase – but the set piece features a series of eye-catching mini set pieces, all of which essentially happen in real time. The biggest stunt is Rake’s enemies land a helicopter on the moving train, while he alternates between hand-to-hand combat and machine guns with the helicopter. It’s confusing stuff. Yes, there are hidden stitches disguising some of the cuts, but the action was largely on location, just as you see it on screen, which puts the audience right in the middle of danger with Rake.

Hargrave knew he had to outdo the film from the first film, and his goal was to lure the home audience from their seats to the film itself. “You as the audience go with the character on a real-time journey, and hopefully at the end of it you’re exhausted, just as exhausted as the character,” he says.

Image: Netflix

That immersion is key Extraction 2, which was made for streaming – most people only have the option to watch it at home. This is where the concept of a person has to evolve, beyond the light of impressing the audience to make them think, How on earth did they manage to do that? Like us wringing hands about the future of cinema as a theatrical experienceHargrave is one of the first filmmakers to square the circle by capturing action for streaming that feels as grand on a television as it does in a multiplex.

Hargrave’s experience as a stunt professional sets him apart from his peers. While stunt pros have always made for great directors, dating back to Hal Needham, we live in somewhat of a golden age of stunt crews as directors in American action cinema. Filmmakers like Chad Stahelski (the John Wick series) and David Leitch (Atomic blond, Bullet train) started doing stunts and brought their penchant for extended action into their directing stints. Hargrave, after working with Leitch Atomic blond, as well as in the Marvel and Hunger Games franchises, followed a similar path.

Hargrave’s stunt past prepared him for scenes like the giant oner in Extraction 2 – particularly as a cameraman. Hargrave takes an almost Buster Keaton-esque approach to not only creating these incredible feats of human feat, but also photographing them in person.

Photo: Jasin Boland/Netflix

“The real challenge for me, honestly, is that a lot of operators and cameramen could do better than me, but there’s a certain amount of accountability because of where I want to put the camera,” says Hargrave. “Sometimes it’s in a pretty dangerous place. For example, in the second movie, when we landed a real helicopter on a moving train, and I want the camera to go under the helicopter as it lands, then pan around and see the helicopter take off. That’s a pretty dangerous stunt to pull off. I was blown off the side of the train. Luckily I had a harness and a cable on during rehearsal, because [I was] coming up against hurricane force.”

Hargrave says his stunt career has put him in a lot of “tricky situations,” but they gave him an idea of ​​what is and isn’t safe on set. “I have a lot of confidence in myself to be able to read the dangers and get out of those situations, should something go wrong,” he says. “I feel more comfortable putting myself in danger than anyone else. Honestly, the main reason I end up doing a lot of those things isn’t because I’m a better operator per se. It is normal [that] I feel more comfortable putting myself in danger.”

At this point, however, his directing experience also comes into play when he chooses his own shots in the middle of the action. “I’ve spent many, many thousands of hours shooting and cutting action,” he says. “So I have a sense of when things are going to happen, where they’re going. I can look at body language in a fight scene and anticipate where things will end just based on an acquired sensibility over the decades I’ve been doing this. So sometimes it helps to save a sequence – if things don’t go exactly according to plan or choreography I can go, Uh-oh, it’s going south, let me move the camera. And I can still catch the action because I know what’s going to happen.”

Photo: Jasin Boland/Netflix

All this means that Hargrave doesn’t just direct the movie, operate the camera or even help create the stunts. He is performing the stunts with his actors and crew, to get really dazzling shots. So many people fail because it’s often static medium-wides weaving through a scene, without changing perspective. Hargrave’s work in the extraction series feels revolutionary because it constantly shifts what audiences are watching.

And he is well aware of that as he runs around with the camera. “A lot of that sensitivity comes from wanting the audience to be there,” he says. “It’s like the camera is the audience. I’m a proxy for the public. So when something happens, there’s a conversation going on and I hear it, I often want to get closer to it. By nature, the human instinct is to get closer to hear better. […] And then something else happens, like Oh, I forgot about Hemsworth pushing the other boy into the chuteso I’ll turn around and look up there. [I’m] organically move through space and experience it, as you would if you were actually there. So it’s going to be an immersive experience again, not just one where you sit back in the third person and see how I forced you with this cut, and that cut, and this cut. Hopefully it’s an organic experience.”

Hargrave’s advice to anyone trying to frame this kind of one-off action? “Don’t, it’s really hard!” As he laughs as he says this, it’s clear he’s really thought about why he’d use action all at once, in addition Wouldn’t this look cool? Hargrave’s mind always moves with the shot. It’s not enough to get something like this done – there has to be a motivating factor. What Hargrave does not miss, a filmmaker in heart and soul.

“It’s like a play,” he says. “You see all of this happening in real time. And so the challenge for me is how do you get cinematic moments and really nice shots of the variety you’d get from a normal sequence? You get your wide legs, your mediums, tights, storytelling moments. How do you achieve all that without cutting the camera? If you’re going to have a conversation, how do you get angles that aren’t just a two-shot, or just an over?”

He says the only solution to that dilemma is to move the camera. “And that’s really where the creativity comes in for me and the blocking becomes so important, in space, on location. Because, for example, that order in the tunnels where we run and then [Chris Hemsworth has] must three people lift this coal cooker, it’s like, Man this can get really boring really fast just sitting here in wide shot watching this happen. How do you choreograph something with the camera that you can tell the story, keep it moving, but don’t seem like you’re forcing it? Don’t just do a 360 because what motivates the movement of the camera?”

With innovators like Sam Hargrave running around throwing themselves under helicopters to get the perfect shot, one has been saved just when things started to get stale. He’s found a way to extract it, if you will, from mindless, CGI-laden exercises, and propel it to explosive new heights. If Extraction 2 proves it all, it’s that not everyone can pull off these sequences – at least not in a way that feels like they’re worthwhile.

But Hargrave has set the bar high for future one-off action, because… How do you top this one? However, if anyone can do it, it’s probably the guy who set fire to Chris Hemsworth for eight minutes in a 21-minute take, which doesn’t even top the list of the wildest things to happen in this sequence. One is dead. Long live the one.