20 Most Mind-Blowing Movie Stunts Ever Seen Onscreen

James Cox was supposed to be deciding whether to study law at Brunel or psychology at Liverpool when he joined the British Stunt Register during his gap year in 2010. Not long after he was doing stunts on Pirates of the Caribbean. Since then, he’s been blasted by Han Solo (The Force Awakens), fought a Jedi one-on-one (The Last Jedi), battled bad guys with James Bond (Skyfall), and been set on fire as both a Lannister soldier and a Wight (Game of Thrones). These days he’s more often behind the camera, co-ordinating the action for productions like Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17. His favourite stunt? A head-spinning sequence from Christopher Nolan’s Inception.

There’s so much in this sequence. You’ve got an actor fighting a stunt performer – always interesting – but you’ve also got a motorbike knock-down, a van turnover, wire work, multiple stunts, plus some complicated camerawork and a huge special effects rig. The rotating corridor is a gnarly piece of kit – if you mistime the rotation you could find yourself falling from the ceiling to the floor. But it’s not just a stunt for the sake of being a stunt, it’s character-driven. I watched it in the cinema and when that room started to move, the whole audience was like: ‘Woah!’ No one has come close to bettering it.

James Cox will appear at the BFI Southbank with members of the British Stunt Register for Stunt Saturday – a day dedicated to the art of the stunt where audiences can meet some unsung stars of the industry and discover how their craft has developed. The event, which includes talks, panel events, screenings and workshops, takes place on Nov 16.