In Michael Bay’s new action thriller “Ambulance,” Jake Gyllenhaal plays career criminal Danny Sharp. One of the highlights of the film is an intense stunt where Gyllenhaal hangs o…
) and their hostages — EMT Cam Thompson and a patient — as they speed along the bank of the Los Angeles River.
When the actors arrived back on location, Bay shared his plan. “‘He was like, ‘I have an idea! I have two helicopters!'” Gyllenhaal recalled. “And I was like, ‘How? What are you talking about, you have two helicopters? Where are they?'” “[Michael] just planned the whole scene, sort of an improvisation of the scene, and it went that way,” Gyllenhaal explained. “Every day was a little like that. And I was like, ‘That’s why you make a Michael Bay movie.’ That’s the reason. To hang out of a moving vehicle and have fun.'”Bay confirmed the last-minute nature of the shoot, noting that the whole of “Ambulance” was filmed extremely quickly, wrapping production after just 38 days.
During the scene, the helicopters fly extremely close to Gyllenhaal. But in spite of the challenges of the stunt, Bay said Gyllenhaal was enthusiastic about performing and handled it like a pro.