I’ve been a fan of Jay Baruchel for a long time, dating back to when Undeclared was my favorite show. Since then, he’s appeared in a number of great films, voicing Hiccup in the How to Train Your Dragon series, Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Million Dollar Baby, Knocked Up, and She’s Out of My League, to name a few. Lately, he’s carved out a different niche that I really appreciate. He’s been making distinctly Canadian movies, such as Blackberry, Mile End Kicks, and the TIFF breakout, The Stunt Driver, which opens this weekend.
Baruchel has reunited with his Goon director Michael Dowse for The Stunt Driver, a crowd-pleasing biopic on Canadian daredevil Ken Carter, who attempted to jump a rocket-powered car over a stretch of the St. Lawrence River. The film is adapted by Dowse from the documentary The Devil at Your Heels, which chronicled the attempt.
The film also stars Ed Helms, Laurence Lebeouf, and Ben Foster as Evel Knievel. I was fortunate to attend one of the earliest showings at TIFF, and really enjoyed it. You can check out my review here.
I was fortunate to spend a few minutes talking with Baruchel and Dowse about The Stunt Driver. We talked about the comparisons between Carter and the more famous American daredevil, Evel Knievel. It was Dowse’s drive to tell Carter’s story that got the ball rolling, and we talked about how Baruchel got involved and became just as driven to make it a reality.
The Stunt Driver is open in theaters now. Check out the interview below.
