From The Class Notes Section Of
The School Newspaper At Potomac St. College
Circa 1997
If you haven't seen this summer's
hit action movie Face Off, starring John Travolta and Nicholas
Cage, maybe you should. And, if you think that John Travolta
may have done some of his own stunts, well guess again. Taking
the hits for Travolta, as he also did as Catamount Quarterback,
is stuntman and alumnus, Mark Riccardi. Mark, who was QB for
the class of '77 football team, remembers all the hard hits
he took then and parlayed the hard work, desire, and never
say die attitude to his stunt career.
As a result, his career
has been moving full steam ahead since 1990. Four years stunt
doubling Jonathan Frakes on "Star Trek: Next Generation" and
playing various aliens on "Deep Space Nine" along with feature
films and television kept him very busy. Recently though, his
career has taken off full speed thanks to the good fortune
of being stunt double John Travolta. Mark met Travolta on the
set of his comeback film, "Pulp Fiction". Says Riccardi, "I
approached John with a head shot and resume and told him if
he ever got into making action films, I was the guy for him.
Well, two months later, I got a call from his agents and I found myself working
on the film White Man's Burden followed by 'Get Shorty', and it's been non-stop
ever since." "Broken Arrow" was the biggest action film John had agreed to
do and because of his liking for director, John Woo, Travolta brought him
back for his biggest action film to date, Face Off. "This film was a stuntman's
dream," says Riccardi.
Mark was ready for the challenge.
Six months of filming consisted of boat crashes, near miss
explosions and 60 foot rachets off the front end of a boat
to the ground. Riccardi definitely has made his mark in the
stunt industry. "Of all the stunts in the film, I'd have to
say that we definitely saved the best for last." For now, it
looks as though John Travolta will be busy for quite some time
and if it means that John only comes out of his trailer for
closeups and dialouge, he'l be leaving all the heavy action
for Mark. In fact to quote Riccardi, "Since he's doing such
a great job. I tell John he can act in all my movies!"
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