How Wheaton kid became a 'Cowboys & Aliens' stuntman

1986: Wheaton kid Joe Bucaro sees the action movie “Lethal Weapon” with his parents and his brother.

The stunts enthrall him.

They stay all the way through the closing credits. Bucaro tells his parents, “You watch! You're going to see my name up in lights one day.”

2011: Joe Bucaro works as a stuntman in Hollywood. He plays a stunt double for Clancy Brown in the action film “Cowboys & Aliens,” opening Friday. His stunt driving skills can be seen in the summer films “Bad Teacher” and “Horrible Bosses.”

Right now, he's in San Francisco on the set of the movie “Five Year Engagement,” starring Jason Segel and Emily Blunt.

“Can you hear me?” Bucaro shouts to us over the chatter on a two-way radio. “I might have to end this soon, if they need me right away, but we'll try to get as much of the interview as we can.”

His interest in Hollywood stunt work dates back to his daredevil days as a kid in the suburbs, he says.

“I was always a kid growing up popping wheelies and jumping over garbage cans,” Bucaro says.

A voice booms out on the radio.

“Wait a minute, hold on!” he says. He talks to the radio voice. “Go for Joe!”

The booming voice says, “Stay by the taco truck. You'll be up next.”

“I'm in the taco truck standing by,” Bucaro says.

“Is Nancy with you?” the voice asks.

“I do not have Nancy with me,” Bucaro replies. He explains to us, “That's Nancy, Emily Blunt's stunt double.”

Back to the interview.#8220;Anyway, I was jumping garbage cans on bicycles. Later, I graduated to motorcycles. I was like the wheelie king in the early '80s. That's where it all started.#8221;

Then he saw famed stuntman Evel Knievel jump 10 buses on a motorcycle at the Chicago Amphitheater.

Bucaro's reaction: #8220;That's awesome! I want to do something like that.#8221;

Next he saw Burt Reynolds' stunt-packed action movie #8220;Hooper.#8221; Bucaro was a goner.

For money, Bucaro sold steaks and seafood door to door. He made enough to finance his education at a Chicago stuntman school in 1988.

His big break came a few years later when he acted as the stunt double for Steven Seagal in the action film #8220;Under Siege 2.#8221;

#8220;I got to shine in front of a lot of stuntmen,#8221; Bucaro says. #8220;If you can shine in front of stuntmen, your name gets around. And I'm a tall guy. I've prided myself on moving very well and being catlike, and being a good athlete.

#8220;Being a tall guy who could move well was a prized commodity in Hollywood at the time, especially if you have motorcycle, car and horse experience.#8221;

Which he did.

The #8220;highlight#8221; of his career came when he doubled for a pre-scandal Arnold Schwarzenegger in James Cameron's 3-D #8220;Terminator#8221; show at Universal Studios in Orlando.

1995: Bucaro takes a Harley up to 30 miles an hour before a cable yanks him off the bike in a spectacular stunt. Cameron runs over and shakes his hand and says, #8220;Great! That was just great!#8221;

#8220;That's when I knew I had arrived,#8221; Bucaro says.

He's been arriving ever since.

1997: Bucaro turns down the job as a stunt double for Vince Vaughn in #8220;The Lost World#8221; because of another conflict.

#8220;Another movie came up, #8216;Return to Paradise,' and that's when I hit it off with him,#8221; Bucaro says. #8220;Both Chicago boys! Vince has been very loyal. He's been very good to me.#8221;

Since #8220;Wedding Crashers#8221; in 2004, Bucaro has been the stunt coordinator for all of Vaughn's movies.

Bucaro, 47, was born in Park Ridge where he lived for 13 years before he moved to Wheaton and graduated from Wheaton Central High School. Now, he resides just outside Malibu in California with his wife, Lisa.

How they met was a stunt in itself.

#8220;I met Lisa at Universal Studios in Florida,#8221; Bucaro says. #8220;She was Janet Leigh in the Hitchcock tribute, getting stabbed 12 times a day. She was also the first contracted Sarah Connor in the #8216;Terminator' show, and she would see me on screen 14 times a day.#8221;

About 6,000 stuntmen are registered with the Screen Actors Guild, he says, and 4,000 of them live in L.A. Maybe 500 make a #8220;decent#8221; living. About 200 to 300 make #8220;a really good living.#8221;

Some stuntmen become stunt coordinators. Some stunt coordinators become second unit directors. Some of them become first unit directors.

Does Bucaro want to direct?

#8220;No,#8221; he says. #8220;I like to act.#8221;

Even with all the pain?#8220;Pain is not an option in this business,#8221; Bucaro says bluntly. #8220;If you do a good job once, you might have to do it four or five more times, either because the director wants to set up a different camera angle or one camera missed the shot.

#8220;It's a calculated risk. We set up. We rehearse. We know how it will work. The stuntman will pull it off, with or without some pain.#8221;

He's had his share of bumps, cuts and bruises over the years, but nothing serious, he says.

We are interrupted by a squawking voice on the radio: #8220;Do you copy?#8221;

#8220;Hold on a second,#8221; Bucaro says. He speaks into the radio, #8220;Go for Joe!#8221;

#8220;Hey, Joe. It's Mark. For the next shot, we'll be following you. We'll be doing about 20 miles an hour with a very wide lens so it feels faster. We're going to track you from behind.

#8220;You'll be in the No. 1 lane. When we hit Larkin, you'll take that hard right, and we'll keep going until you wipe out of frame. On that hard right, let's do it gradually so we can get a little lean on it when you make the move. Hopefully we'll get this on one take.#8221;

#8220;Stand by,#8221; Bucaro replies. He says to us, #8220;Hey, gotta go!#8221;

And then he goes.

#376; Dann Gire and Jamie Sotonoff are always looking for suburban people in showbiz. If you know of someone, send a note to dgire@dailyherald.com and jsotonoff@dailyherald.com.