The dangerous life of Game of Thrones’ Welsh stuntman who has set himself on fire, crashed cars and broken his foot 100 times

Few people have a job that involves getting blown up, crashing a car or jumping through fire.

But such joys are all part of the day job for stuntman Marcus Shakesheff, who has worked on some of the world’s biggest movies and TV shows including Game of Thrones, Batman and Sherlock Holmes.

A stunt performer for the last 15 years, Marcus has landed roles doubling for the likes of Christopher Waltz in The Legend of Tarzan, Kit Harington in Game of Thrones and Kiefer Sutherland in 24: Live Another Day.

Originally from St Julians, Newport, his colourful profession has taken him to some of the most incredible filming locations around the globe.

“I’ve been everywhere, I went to Iceland for Game of Thrones, the Caribbean for Death in Paradise. I’ve been to Paris, Bucharest, Dubai, China – it’s taken me all over the world,” he tells WalesOnline on a day off from training.

Marcus’ unusual day job stems from his background as an ex-semi-professional fighter in full contact bare knuckle karate and Thai boxing, which he did when he was younger.

“I knew of the stunt industry but I didn’t really know what I wanted to to, but I was always a big Jackie Chan fan and loved martial arts. I got into that and started fighting competitively.”

Marcus eventually delved into acting, initially doing extra work. He began to get small roles in shows on Channel 4 and S4C, including the role of Welsh boxer Freddie Welsh.

His first foray into stunt work was when he was contacted by Rocksteady Studios asking him to film stunts for the 2009 video game Batman: Arkham Asylum, which involved nearly two weeks of producers shooting almost every movement he could make with his body.

“With motion capture, it’s not like shooting a movie in takes, where it’s stop-start and you get more breaks. They are trying to capture every physical movement you can do, so you get tired fast.

“It was like winning the lottery for me, it was so surreal. I’m a massive Batman fan.

“They had the visuals already but were describing these actions they wanted for the character, martial arts kicks and flips called tricking, which back then was quite unknown.

“I told them we could actually shoot them in studio, so you’d have all these fancy moves grounded in real movement rather than being fantasy, and they couldn’t believe it.”

The move kickstarted a career in stunt work which has since seen him rack up 75 credits in film and TV, ranging from doubling for Kit Harington in Game of Thrones and – quite literally – putting his life on the line as a double for Kiefer Sutherland in 24: Live Another Day.

“That one was cars, buildings, fire, shootings, windows – everything!” he laughs.

“When you’re doing stunts, you learn from a stunt coordinator the right way to crash a car, crash through a window, set yourself on fire,” he says.

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“As a performer I can crash cars, jump off buildings, jump through fire.

“I still act and perform but I mainly set up the stunts now.

Does he ever fear for his life?

“If you take someone rock climbing, they’re going to be scared. But teach them the right way to tie a harness and use their arms and legs, and it doesn’t become as scary,” he said.

“Stunt work is the same. If you don’t know what you’re doing it’s scary. If you do, it’s not.”

As you’d expect from the hands-on nature of the job, it’s not without its risks.

“If you’re doing a multiple spin in the air, you can land on the floor and spread your weight, try get a foot or hand down off camera so it looks like you’re landing on your back. But you’re still hitting the floor, or concrete, at force.

“I’ve completely dislocated my shoulder, torn my labrum, broken my back – you name it.

“I had an X-ray on my foot once and the doctors told me it was broken, but that they couldn’t find the break.

“They said any previous break still shows up as a break in an X-Ray, and they said they counted over 100 breaks in my foot, which is why they couldn’t find it!

“I’ve snapped my wrists, torn tendons in my knee, split my lips. I’ve had multiple surgeries.

“It’s like an Olympic athlete or a footballer. It takes a toll on your body for sure.”

Explaining the process of being involved in major productions, Marcus said he gets a lot of control.

“As a stunt coordinator, you go and meet with production, directors, producers in the studio and discuss the concept and style of the actions you’re going to do,” he added.

“We then go away and formulate a plan, which then the actor – Gal Gadot, or whoever it is – will have to do training with us. They’ll come to me and the stunt team who will train them in stage combat in whatever way we have designed.

“We design a fighting style and teach it to the actor and start drilling them certain ways of looking and moving so that when the audience watch the film, they know that that’s the character’s style.

“We can be closely training the actors up to three months before filming starts, between one and three times a day, maybe three to five times a week.

“If we have to get them into a certain shape or physique we’ll bring in specialists, nutritionists etc – it’s quite a big thing.”

Does it ever feel surreal to him?

“When you’re new and starting out it can all be quite glamorous, but it all happens so quickly that you don’t really have time for anything like that, it kind of becomes normal.

“You think about how the media paints all these celebrities, but when you meet them they are just normal people doing their job.

“We’re all working, and when it’s wrap time we all go back home to our families.

“But I still very much appreciate how cool it is, I love and am very aware of what I do.”

Marcus admitted he doesn’t go easy on whoever he is training, no matter how big an actor they are.

“I put them through their paces – they’re dying sometimes. But they are very cool, completely humble.

“Gal Gadot was the most down to earth person you’ll ever meet, always smiling and dancing. I don’t know where she got the energy from!”

“The only time I was genuinely starstruck was when I worked on [2018 BBC sitcom] Holding the Sunset, which starred John Cleese.

“He is an absolute legend. I grew up with British comedy, Fawlty Towers, Monty Python.

“A lot of the actors I’ve worked with are newer, but’s different when you’re a kid, it’s more magical. So being on set with him, someone I used to watch religiously, it was crazy.

“He was such a gentleman, everything you’d expect.”

In 2018 Marcus won the Taurus World Stunt Award for Best Stunt Coordinator for his work on Wonder Woman, the equivalent of winning an Oscar in the stunt world.

“I didn’t go to the ceremony because it was in LA, I didn’t think I’d win and it was a bit of a long flight so I said, you know, I’ll leave it and stay in Cardiff,” he laughed.

“I woke up the next morning and my phone was blowing up and I’d won – lesson learned, I should’ve gone!”

He also continues to act, playing villains alongside the likes of Robert Downey Jr in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

Before lockdown, he was working on American drama Pennyworth, another show based on DC Comics.

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Self-confessed superhero fanatic Marcus said: “There are certain moments where I take it in and think ‘this is cool’. I did a show called Krypton based on Superman’s own planet, and seeing all the Superman villains, it was a surreal moment where I was like ‘I’m doing this’.

“I’m a professional, so when I’m on the job I’m just focused on doing it. It’s only afterwards where you look back and think ‘wow’.”

“The most gruelling stuff normally involves wearing armour, like Robin Hood for example. If you’re out all day in this huge armour, carrying shields and swords, in the blazing sun, doing take after take, that can be tough.”

In his spare time, when not working Marcus is always on the go – martial arts, weight training, gymnastics, swimming, rock climbing, whatever it may be.

He runs his own YouTube channel and is kept on his toes by his children.

“If I’m not working or training I’m with my family, weekends I spend with them.

“You don’t always want to come home and talk about your work, as anyone will know, but when the kids are asking ‘who did you meet today’, or what tricks you did etc, you kind of have no choice!”