Johnny Knoxville Is Still Doing His Own Stunts On Reboot, Including Getting Hit By A Car [Exclusive]
If you thought that serious-looking collision with a bull from "Jackass Forever" was enough to send Johnny Knoxville out of commission from stunt work, you'd be wrong. You should know by now that a little hospital trip wouldn't keep this man down for long! Sure, while an official "Jackass" revival might not be in the works, he's still up to his old tricks on Hulu's newest comedy series, "Reboot."
/Film's Ethan Anderton recently spoke with Knoxville and co-star Judy Greer about the show, where they play cast members of a revived sitcom navigating the tumultuous 2020s comedy space. Knoxville, in particular, is introduced in spectacular fashion, with star Keegan-Michael Key accidentally running into him on set. And when we say "run into," we mean it – when walking through the backlot, Key's character accidentally hits Knoxville with his car. According to him and Greer, he did that stunt himself.
"He seemed offended that they'd hired a stunt person that day," Greer joked.
Can't take the Jackass out of the man
Considering Knoxville is 51 years old, it makes sense that the "Reboot" team would play it safe and hire another stunt performer for the scene. However, it turns out that they weren't needed all that often. According to Knoxville, the stunt performer would prepare for the stunt itself before he took their place.
"Sometimes they're like, 'Oh, we just need to line up the shot for lighting before you do it,'" he explained. "So he has to get smoked for lighting and then I come in and get to steal all the thunder by doing it for real."
This sounds like a good compromise to make, and it certainly looks like a seamless transition on the show. Besides, do you expect to hire Knoxville for a project and not have him do at least one crazy stunt? That's just not reasonable.
Of course, the veteran performer is just one piece of the puzzle that is "Reboot." Alongside Greer and Key, the meta-comedy stars Rachel Bloom, Paul Reiser, Calum Worthy, and Krista Marie Yu. Steven Levitan, who created "Modern Family," serves as showrunner and creator of the series, directing the pilot episode.
The first three episodes of "Reboot" are now streaming on Hulu. Check out the show's official synopsis below:
"Hulu reboots an early 2000's family sitcom, forcing its dysfunctional cast back together. Now they must deal with their unresolved issues in today's fast-changing world."