Tim Connolly is one of film and television’s busiest stunt coordinators. His credits for performing and developing some of the craziest action sequences of the past 20+ years include Daredevil, Arrow, Jurassic World, John Wick and Logan to name but a few, and while he is undoubtedly one of the most sought-after experts in his genre, the opportunity to make his mark in Season 2 of the ultra-violent crime drama, London Gangs was a chance he just couldn’t pass up.
M&F sat down with Tim Connolly to find out how these London Gangs action sequences come together, and why he just couldn’t say no to this exciting project.
“I was an athlete at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and started doing some commercials for my sponsors,” says Connolly, who practiced taekwondo. “I realized ‘it’s kind of fun’, it might be something I could do after I retired from competition. The commercials led to comedy and I was asked ‘hey can you do some waterfalls?’ then a fight scene, and I realized I was pretty good at it, and I like it, and here I am today. In truth, “kinda good at it” is an understatement, since Connolly’s resume is a stunt pro’s dream, he’s even done stunt doubles for Gerard Butler, Vin Diesel and Ben Affleck. stunt and fight coordinator. London Gangs, hHowever, posed a challenge even for Connolly; partly because of the positive way fans received the first season, and also because each fight scene is designed to be as real as possible, making it as far removed from a Marvel movie as possible. Fortunately, he likes to mix things up.
Tim Connolly relishes the challenge of creating memorable action
“It’s a challenge to do something different from what’s sort of the norm, right now,” says the 6-foot-1 professional stuntman. “And something that brings you into the action and almost makes you feel like you’re participating. (In London Gangs) When everybody’s tired in the action, you feel tired too, compared to… you know, I think part of the Marvel action, they’re doing amazing things and awesome new camera work, lots of CGI, but you walk away and you don’t remember anything from the action. It’s just a lot of movement and a lot of visual stimulation. That’s the big thing, I think, with [Gangs of London] type of action, you have those memorable moments and you plan them carefully and when you walk away people remember those things and talk about them.
💥💥🔥ACT I . ON 🔥💥💥
Shout out to the master of chaos @timconnolly & his amazing stunt team & Alex Gunn & his @arcadiasfxIt would not be possible to do @gangsoflondon without their dedication to achieve extreme carnage.. pic.twitter.com/RzpqSjoLTe
—CORIN HARDY (@corinhardy) October 25, 2022
Indeed, there are plenty of action sequences in Season 2 that will stick in your mind for quite some time. In one particular grizzly moment, a man is grabbed by the neck and dragged along a window sill adorned with broken glass. While such scenes are brutal to watch, you can’t help but appreciate the creativity that comes from such mind-blowing concepts. “It’s a collaborative effort,” says Connolly. “So when we come in and design something like this, Corin Hardy (the lead director) has an outline of what we want to do. So we’re going to sit down with him and go through everything, and then once we come in in our rehearsal space, that’s where the real creative juices will come in. That’s when you can find elements in that environment to make it look very realistic.
The success of an action sequence is in the preparation
“I think it’s different with every director, and that’s the amazing thing about Corin, he’s so visual,” Connolly says. “If Corin has an idea, he doesn’t necessarily try to explain it to you. He will sit down and draw it at a professional artist level, right in front of you. It helps so much, because what we do is such a visual aid. Usually in action we work on certain moments and we shoot it in preview and it becomes the real storyboard.
The preview is shot with stunt doubles, as well as stunt actors, since actors who can perform their own stunts can be chosen in the show and do not need to be edited later. It saves time, especially on a project like London Gangs which uses extended fight scenes. The cameras are able to focus on the actors in the majority of shots as they do their own stunts. Connolly says this not only adds to the realism of the scenes, but gives the film crew more freedom to experiment with different shots and angles. “We can be a little wider on camera and we can do longer takes,” he shares.
When it came time to complete the scenes with the headlining stars, Connolly found he had a team that was more than willing to contribute. “Every cast member that came in, everything came out, they were amazing,” he says. “I’ve never worked on a show where every cast member was so excited to come in and do the action. You got Sope, there’s nothing he can’t do. He’s so physically gifted Everyone put everything out there.
Tim Connolly loves that ‘Gangs of London’ is ‘outside the box’
The level of violence in London Gangs is so breathtaking that there really is nothing quite like this show on TV. For Tim Connolly, choosing a favorite scene is like choosing a favorite child. “It’s hard, because of the hidden moments that come into play,” Connolly says. “The underwater sequence, to try to do a longer take underwater, presented some challenges that made it really interesting to do. It was something that was very enjoyable for me to try and pull off. I I don’t know if I have a favorite. I think they all offer something special. We thought we were going to fail, because of the schedule. Each of these scenes is a feature-level action scene. Make this for TV is great and the reason I took the job is because “Gangs” is one of the few shows that has such strong action drama because they don’t live in a box. been able to think outside the box and do unexpected things. I think everyone is excited and everyone is proud.
The first season of the BAFTA-winning series is available to stream via AMC+, with season two dropping November 17.
