Some dreams start with a painful redirection.
That's the lesson prolific Vancouver stuntman Ken Kirzinger, 65, learned at the start of his 30+ year career.
The Vancouver Island-born athlete played football at the University of British Columbia when he injured his knee. Before that, he played basketball for a year at the University of Victoria.
On a break from college, he was testing his knee at his old high school, Oak Bay High School near Victoria, when he had an almost otherworldly epiphany.
"The clouds parted and this beam of light came down," Kirzinger tells V.I.A. "A voice said, 'There is something better.'"
His profound realization connected to a dream he'd had since he was a preteen. The stunt world first captured Kirzinger's attention at age 12 when he read an article about iconic stuntman Hal Needham who launched the Stunts Unlimited organization and became the highest-paid stuntman in the world.
As a movie-lover, Kirzinger says the stunt world made a big impression on him, adding it was always "stuck in the back of [his] head."
The young B.C. athlete heads to Hollywood
After his epiphany, Kirzinger wanted to travel to Los Angeles where his sister lived to see if he could make connections in the stunt world. However, he didn't have any money. In what he considers a serendipitous blessing, he received a tax return for almost exactly the price of a return ticket from Vancouver. He remembers it was around $365; the number of days in a calendar year.
While in L.A., he met his sister's next-door neighbour, who was the property master on the popular 80s TV show Fall Guy, who connected him to some people working on films in Canada, ultimately kick-starting his career.
On that same trip, Kirzinger also went to visit The Hollywood Wax Museum and had a look at Christopher Reeve's likeness.
"People said I looked like him," he notes.
While he didn't get to perform as Reeve's Superman double, Kirzinger ultimately worked on several films starring the popular late actor. He was his stunt double in the 1993 American-Canadian made-for-television adventure drama The Seawolf, which included several scenes on the ocean in a sailboat.
Stuntman said Reeve lived an extraordinary life
"Chris could sail and one day we were out there and a pod of killer whales came by. The sun was bouncing off the water. It was such a beautiful day," he recalls.
Fight scenes were captured on the water, while another set involved sinking a fake ship in a wave tank at UBC.
He also worked with Reeve on 1992's Mortal Sins, which was filmed in the Lower Mainland.
The stuntman speaks highly of Reeve, highlighting how he "crammed several lifetimes into one," learning everything from the piano to sailing, acting to showjumping, and much more.
Kirzinger is also widely known for starring as Jason in the 2003 horror hit Freddy vs Jason. He has a photo of himself posing with the wax "Jason" that was unveiled at The Hollywood Wax Museum in 2004.
One of his toughest gigs is also one of his proudest memories, coordinating a crew of 50 to 60 stuntmen on the set of 1993's The 13th Warrior starring Antonio Banderas. He played the lead Viking's stunt double but also planned the massive battle scene involving people on horseback, bows and arrows, swords, and complicated arrangements.
Kirzinger's IMDb profile lists a whopping 132 credits spanning just shy of 30 years, including everything from horror (the IT TV series) to comedy (Happy Gilmore), science fiction (The X Files) to festive (The Santa Claus 2), and, of course, plenty of thriller and action films.
While he doesn't do stunts anymore, the retired daredevil feels protective over an industry he worked hard to build in Canada.
"The stunt industry is something that we had to fight for," he explains. "They would always bring the American stunt coordinator and Canadians had to fight very hard.
"When you say no to people in power, sometimes they retaliate," he added, pointing to the established U.S. Hollywood production crew's reluctance to allow Canadians to move up the industry ranks.
He's also concerned about Canada's film production future as President Donald Trump talks about reclaiming Hollywood.
The veteran daredevil wasn't just performing stunts during his career; he wants to ensure Hollywood North remains intact moving into the future, including a protected and fair stunt component. Kirzinger helped build the Stunts Canada brand when it had only a handful of members. Movies were being made in B.C. but he helped get an office started and became president. However, he said the association's role has changed over the years.
"The job is different. Now, it is about seeking fairness, finding new talents, and preserving the rights of performers," he says.
And not everyone is equipped to handle death-defying and complex stunts.
What advice would he give to aspiring young stunt people?
The stunt world isn't cut out for everyone - or the film industry, for that matter, explains Kirzinger.
While the film industry takes safety seriously, stunts are inherently dangerous. Some injuries, such as whiplash, compound over time, leading to greater health issues. People have also died performing stunts.
Injuries are a "100 per cent guarantee," Kirzinger says.
Today's productions also call for people with highly specialized skills, so aspiring daredevils must select an area of expertise.
Kirzinger says long hours are pretty much an expectation for anyone looking to have a career in film, regardless of the role.
"A film year is a lot longer than a regular year," he notes. "You work 12- to 14-hour days often. There are no regular hours."
He recalls one day working on an X-Files set where his crew clocked an eye-watering 23 hours. As a stunt coordinator, he was also tasked with responding to changing schedules and new developments.
Despite the long hours, he didn't feel like he lacked a social life.
"You get so tight with the stunt people. They were my family, friends, and confidants," he says.
