Henry Cavill refused to use a stunt double for Netflix's 'The Witcher': 'They must believe that it is me'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Henry Cavill's dedication to his role as Geralt in the Netflix fantasy series 'The Witcher' is only one of the things the actor is admired for. Besides being an impeccable perfectionist, Cavill is also known to be committed to doing his own stunts on set.
The fantasy show is popular for its fight scenes and it's often assumed that it makes use of stunt doubles to do all the risky business. But Cavill refused to take the help of any doubles for his character Geralt of Rivia.
'I've always enjoyed doing the physical stuff'
Cavill is a huge fan of 'The Witcher' book series by Andrzej Kapowski and the video game based on the series. In an interview with Patrick Stewart as part of Variety's Actors on Actors, Cavill spoke about doing the stunts on his own. He said, "For me, when it comes to that kind of thing like stunts, I’ve always enjoyed doing the physical stuff," said the former Superman. "Working with Tom Cruise [on “Mission: Impossible — Fallout”] really helped — or maybe, in the eyes of the producers, made worse my enjoyment for stunts. I really want to do them now, and I think it’s an essential piece to the character."
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The actor further added that he is not comfortable handing over these crucial scenes to a stunt double. "If an audience is watching Geralt on-screen, they must believe that it is me," Cavill said. "If it’s not me, I feel like I’ve betrayed the character in some way, and so I try and do as much as a production will let me."
No one can say that Cavill's efforts are not reflected on screen. The series is full of intense sword fights along with some without any weapons. Given that a Witcher's nature is supposed to be a fighter of beats and monsters, it's a no-brainer that the show will have a large chunk of large group fights and vigorous duels. But Cavill took them all up and delivered in every single scene, as evidenced by his performance on the show.
Multitalented multitasker
In an exclusive interview with crew member Wolfgang Stegemann by Unilad, it was revealed that Cavill also helped choreograph and coordinate the fight scenes himself with other directors of stunts and fights. "Henry was basically my second fight coordinator," Stegemann said. "So he's coordinating and choreographing with me together, he is deeply involved in the whole process."
The crew member also commented on Cavill doing his own self-study on sword fights while being really involved with the stunt team. He said, "What many people don’t know, they think the stunt team comes together and we start choreographing something and show it to him. It's not like that. He's, from the beginning, there and giving all his input.”
He then went on to say that there was no stunt double involved at all for the final leg of the series which involves the actor. "So he did all his stunts by himself – like 100 percent, which is very rare and I’m very proud of because he’s just an incredible performer," shared Stegemann.
Season 3 of 'The Witcher' will be available for streaming on Netflix from June 29, 2023.