May 22, 2025

202: Wandering Into a Stunt Life

Show Notes

Tim Gallin began his quest to perform in feature films and TV after attending CW Post College on Long Island, NY. His first professional job came by way of the Gong Show in August of 1978. He was a contestant on an Elvis Presley special because Chuck Barris was a fan of The King. After seeing his old high school football coach, Vic Magnotta performing in Taxi Driver, Tim picked up the phone and gave him a call. Magnotta was a stuntman, retired special forces soldier, and Vietnam veteran who became close friends with Martin Scorsese while attending NYU. That fateful phone call created for Tim an opportunity to play football in the film The Wanderers. Through Magnotta’s continued offers to perform stunts, Tim met many of the people he would collaborate with over the next 45+ years. When asked about a favorite fight scene he performed in, the Marked for Death fight from the classic film F/X (1986) was Tim’s immediate response – and is the starting point of this interview that covers some of Tim’s epic experiences in the industry including stunt doubling Tom hanks on Splash and Steve Martin on Only Murders in the Building.

Tim’s IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0302941/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

MENTIONS

F/X Trailer: https://youtu.be/ihsrN34WkME?si=EtOWzJFZos2zeCsQ

Marked For Death fight scene from F/X: https://youtu.be/_KzpueROmto?si=70ABXgw4BnPfTqO5

The absurd life of a 61-year-old veteran Hollywood stuntman: https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/columnists/christopher-maag/2017/12/07/veteran-hollywood-stuntman/762876001/

Vic Magnotta imdb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0536312/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

TAMMFF Film Freeway: https://filmfreeway.com/TAMMFF

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