Action director Casey O'Neill claps for SRK
Yash Raj Films’ Pathaan has a huge Tom Cruise connection. Emmy award-nominated Casey O’Neill is the action director behind Tom Cruise’s death-defying stunts in films like Jack Reacher, the Mission Impossible series and Top Gun: Maverick. Casey has also planned and executed some of the breath-taking, adrenaline-pumping action-sequences featuring Shah Rukh Khan in Pathaan.
Tom Cruise and Shah Rukh Khan will do whatever it takes to make the audience happy, says action director Casey O’Neill
Casey speaks about the remarkable similarity that he has seen between Tom Cruise and Shah Rukh Khan. He says, “They are both true professionals in their craft and so talented. Tom Cruise is a fearless actor, who lives and breathes his craft and wants to push the envelope when it comes to his body and his cinema to only entertain audiences. SRK is just the same.”
Casey adds, “Shah Rukh Khan has pushed his body, he has unlearnt and learnt action to deliver Pathaan as an entertainer like no other. Both are driven and committed lovers of cinema, who will do whatever it takes to make the audience happy. I have worked with Tom on many and exciting films. We all have enjoyed working with each other through the years. It was a pleasure working with another global movie star like Shah Rukh Khan and seeing him transform into an action star that no one has ever seen before.”
Casey, who planned the Dubai action sequences between John and SRK, speaks about how SRK transformed into becoming an action star. He says, “SRK is an exceptional athlete and performer. He can adapt into many different action sequences and excels in the process of movie magic for the big screen. He is a true gentleman and an amazing actor, and I was honoured to work with him and the entire crew.” — TMS
‘Cinema part of our DNA’
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, in The show Romantics, said the Hindi film industry had the power to shape pop culture for India and Indians. Shah Rukh felt Hindi cinema was part of our DNA. He said, “Our cinema is as much a part of our lives in India, as much as you wake up in the morning and brush your teeth. It’s just an inherent part of us. There’s beauty in the cinema that Indian filmmakers have stuck vis-a-vis music or keeping it still like a musical format.” IANS
