The ‘Tyler Rake 2’ crew set Chris Hemsworth on fire 30 times in a row to shoot “the craziest action scene in movie history”

‘Tyler Rake 2’, the sequel to the Netflix action movie starring Chris Hemsworth which became one of the surprises of 2020, will land on the platform in June and its screenwriter Joe Russo is already raising the hype through the roof promising “craziest action scene in movie history“.

Russo (of the Russo of a lifetime, directors among others of ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame’) and Director Sam Hargrave have explained in a conversation with Empire Magazine the extremes to which they had to go to build the scene, a sequence shot lasting more than 20 minutes in which they had to set Chris Hemsworth on fire. Up to 30 times. No stuntmen.

Hargrave tells it this way: “For me, the image of Chris Hemsworth burning and beating a bunch of prisoners while on fireIt was something I couldn’t let go of. Kudos to Chris. It wasn’t computer generated fire. And he had to do it over and over again. I don’t know many people, let alone famous people in Hollywood, who will let you set them on fire while they’re on camera. It might just be his arm, but if the wind blows in the opposite direction, the money maker [la cara] it’s right there. We had a bunch of different jackets lined up for him, with different layers.”

“We set Chris Hemsworth on fire, and he beat up a bunch of guys all night. It was pretty incredible to watch.”

The desire to film such a wild sequence stems from the first film, which included a one-take escape sequence (one of the best action scenes we’ve seen in a long time) in which Hemsworth got a chance to shine as an action hero without the need for a hammer and a cape.. For Hargrave, considering the ‘Tyler Rake’ sequence shot, it was a matter of “How can we take this and make it more exciting?“

Originally planned as a 14-minute take, the final duration of the sequence will exceed 20 minutes, something that is almost impossible to achieve if you want to include stuntmen and action sequences, so they had to “cheat” a few times, as Hargrave explains. “We built certain junction points where we could,” says the director. “But in those split pieces you still have sequences that will last anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute and a half. Sometimes there are 50, 60, 75 moves in a row with dozens of specialists. And it was at night, in the middle of winter. Chris had red nose and ears because he was freezing.”

In addition to Hemsworth, the cast of the ‘Tyler Rake’ sequel also includes Golshifteh Farahani, Adam Bessa, Olga Kurylenko, Tinatin Dalakishvili, Andro Jafaridze, the sisters Miriam and Marta Kovziashvili and Daniel Bernhardt. ‘Tyler Rake 2’ will join the Netflix movie catalog on June 16, 2023.