10 GENIUS Ways Recent Movies Pulled Off Insane Scenes
7. The Flamethrower - Ballerina
By far the most memorable set-piece in Ballerina sees Eve (Ana de Armas) engaging in a flamethrower battle with an assailant, which results in a whole host of bad guys getting set alight.
Even accepting the John Wick franchise's penchant for practical stunt work, some of these burns last long enough that nobody would've blamed the team for employing a helping hand from VFX, and yet, every single burn we see in the movie was done for real.
Fire stunt experts were brought in to oversee the shoot, with a new fireproof gel being created to protect the stunt-persons for a longer time.
As for the flamethrowers themselves, the production had different models for different parts of the sequence - some were loaded with fuels of varying flammable properties, and one flamethrower was even packed with a pollen-like flammable powder for short-distance bursts.
Ultimately 187 full or partial burns were completed in eight days, with the team reporting no accidents at all.