Tony Angelotti is regarded among the top names of stunt performers in the acting industry. He is a celebrated stunt double, who has worked in some of the biggest films in the industry including Starship Troopers, The Mask of Zorro, and The Amazing Spider-Man. Nevertheless, the most appreciated work of the stunt double was as Johnny Depp’s stunts man for the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
Tony Angelotti did some of the extremely tough and dangerous stunts for Johnny Depp in the films. He recalled that one stunt nearly ended his career and gave him PTSD.
Tony Angelotti had a near-death incident during Johnny Depp’s film Pirates of the Caribbean
Angelotti shared in an interview with Metro about a massive injury when he was filming for Johnny Depp’s movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. The stunt double revealed that he was supposed to do a yo-yo stunt, and due to a mishap, he almost died during the stunt. He shared that it included Jack Sparrow dangling off a huge 80-foot cliff, and he would spin as the rope around his leg loosened.
Angelotti said,
“When I was up, looking down, I gave the call of ‘three, two, one, go,’ they pulled my quick release that would allow me to unravel. However, the operator of the descender did not have the brake on and I went into a freefall.”
Angelotti shared that he spun so quickly that the centrifugal force injured his pelvis apart.
“I felt the ripping of inside my pelvic area, the burning, ripping sensation,” he recalled. “And once I got to the bottom, I recoiled, like you would like a yo-yo, and sort of did this flailing backflip and then I went into this massive split.”
The stuntman was taken to the hospital, where doctors shared that a branch of his femoral artery was nicked. He took a whole year to recover and had to undergo another surgery.
“That pretty much ended my major performing career. I still did stuff that was like lighter stunts and whatnot, but it kind of f****** me up to be quite honest.”
Angelotti revealed that the injury made him experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and bid adieu to a stunting career.
Tony Angelotti and Johnny Depp became good friends on set of Pirates of the Caribbean
Tony Angelotti shared a strong friendship with Johnny Depp. They would often sit together and have drinks in between the shoot days.
Angelotti recalled,
“I would have beautiful wine with him at the end of the night in his trailer, he would invite me in a couple of times. I can remember having beautiful Bordeaux and just sort of recapping the day and just talking about the stunts and things to come.”
Depp was very kindhearted towards Angelotti and even gifted him a Neil Lane replica of the Ring of Thieves. He recalled an incident when he was accidentally injured near his eyebrow while filming a fight scene with Orlando Bloom. Depp angrily stopped filming and insisted that the stuntman should receive immediate medical attention.
The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was one of the most commercially and critically successful series, with an overall gross collection of $4.524 billion.
Source-Showbiz Cheat Sheet
