Intro from Greg Tracy – “I really love this!!! Super cool!! Arsha and the rest of the Stunt 13 team are the real deal!   I am impressed with their stunt reel, their enthusiasm and wish you all the best. That was an amazing stunt and the cage looked great!!  Hope to meet your entire team someday.  Keep us posted on what you are doing – thanks!” GT

When we were first introduced to Arsha Aghdasi, the connection came from a simple message via Facebook. Arsha is a fan of Greg Tracy and My Life at Speed. The conversation quickly turned to his admiration of Greg being part of Team Hot Wheels and earning a Guinness Book of World Record for the Hot Wheels Double Dare Loop.  It is always interesting to me to find similar types of adrenalin filled characters and to see what people are doing all over the globe.

I was immediately hooked and I asked Arsha if he would take the time to talk to us for a feature on My Life at Speed. Arsha is a genuine spirit, one of the nicest people and he has a passion for stunts. His enthusiasm was infectious and here is our 5 Minutes With….Arsha Aghdasi from Stunt 13 in Persia.

We start off with the Stunt 13 demo reel.

Now that we got your heart rate pumping, let’s chat with Arsha and learn more about Stunt 13.

MLAS: Tell My Life at Speed who you are and what you do:

AA: My name is Arsha Aghdasi and I am the Founder of Stunt 13. Stunt 13 has provided stunts since 2008 (for movies and commercials) and I am also a Persian Stunt coordinator.  Our team at Stunt 13 do many of the stunts for Iranian movies, some Turkish movies and also for last 007 movie,  Skyfall.

Stunt 13 - 007 Skyfall
Stunt 13 – 007 Skyfall

MLAS: What type of stunts is Stunt 13 known for?

AA: I am first master bungee jumper in Iran.  I have the expertise to establish 3 platform bungee jumps (in Iran) and I also started bungee jumping in Turkey with a crane.  I am the only one who (has) bungee jumped in Iran from chopper 3 different times with two of my Stunt 13 team members, including Mahsa Ahmadi and Amir Badri.

The “Stunt 13” patented a new success, they were assigned to a new position with two men jump from height of 200 meter and from the Red Crescent helicopter above Azadi stadium.
The “Stunt 13” patented a new success, they were assigned to a new position with two men jump from height of 200 meter and from the Red Crescent helicopter above Azadi stadium.

Mahsa is a stunt woman and the first stunt woman in Iran.  She is also the first woman in Iran to skydive in 35 years, after the change in the regime of Iran. Any other woman who skydived, were just for military purposes. Our team did four jumps in difficult conditions.

Mahsa is so resolved in any situation and I try to have her with us (stunts) as she is the first coach of bungee jumping and the first woman who did a bungee jump from a helicopter. She is also the first stunt woman who ‘burned’ for a long time, 40 seconds.

Asha and Mahsa give the thumbs up and are ready for the flames.
Asha and Mahsa give the thumbs up and are ready for the flames.
Mahsa on fire for a stunt.
Mahsa on fire for a stunt.

When the three of us, me, Mahsa and Amir once did a bungee jumping together, we were on the same side of platform. It was so close to each other and very risky because of how far we would swing from the bungee cord. We had to make sure to maintain position and not intertwine between each of our bungee cords.

It was a very difficult stunt.

I am also able to bungee jump without any fasten and release (safety harness) and when I am close to ground, I am able to release myself to the floor without being propelled back up as the bungee cord re-bounded.

I also did pipe ramp jump which was 35 meters long and 6 meter tall.  I prepared the car and ramp all of that is made by our Stunts 13 team.

MLAS: Did you do the pipe ramp jump to be like the Hot Wheels Corkscrew Jump??

AA: Oh….Hot Wheels is my dream!!  I am ready to many stunts and I really think about how to do back flips with cars.  Here in my country all of the coordination is by our team and by myself.  We also do all of the production for the stunt.  For this pipe ramp jump, I did two complete flips in the air, 720 degrees and a distance of 35 feet.

Here is the video of Arsha’s jump:

 

MLAS:  How did you calculate the distance for the landing??

AA: The very first time I did a pipe ramp jump, I knew my speed and landing distance. I knew how far the car would tumble.  I guessed the car would stop in 35 feet and it happened!

MLAS:  I saw you pointing to the paint marks in the video. What are those marks?

AA: I knew that the angle the ramp that I made and speed, I knew 100% that I know my landing (of the car) and it happened!  This time, I decided to spray paint a mark on the ground of my landing zone, to show everyone it did not happen by chance and the car exactly landed on mark…and I was right!

The previous time I did a pipe ramp in Turkey and every one said I did not know the correct landing spot and that it is not going to  happen.  I decided to take that bet from all of them and I won!

MLAS:  Did you build the car, cage?  It looked like you had foam padding on your shoulders for the stunt?

AA:  Yes, the roll cage is design by myself and I did with one of my crew.  And for the belts, I used a parachute belt with quick release if I needed an emergency exit.

MLAS: Where else have you done a pipe ramp jump?

AA: Ah! There are so many details about the way we did that jump and what happened. It was for a movie in Iran.  First, we established our ramp and we were ready to go, but the shot director came to say we can’t do it because too many people say it is crazy and that they never even saw (a) car tumbling live before.  Everyone was nervous that it would go wrong, but me.  Then the police came and block the movie project because they don’t have the right permissions.  It happens for 3 days and we come each day and still couldn’t take the shot.

After one month of waiting, you can imagine what happens to my mind when I finally receive that signal…to GO! And that was my first pipe ramp  jump!  I made it (the pipe ramp) myself and I found the correct angle (of the pipe ramp) by myself. My crew and I had never even seen pipe ramp jump live, only in movies.   Finally they let us to do it.  It was successful!   

Going through the last details of Arsha's first pipe ramp jump.
Going through the last details of Arsha’s first pipe ramp jump.
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It’s all in the planning.
This is in turkey, when I did the pipe ramp jump. If anything happened to me nobody is responsible and I signed it.
This is in turkey, when I did the pipe ramp jump. If anything happened to me nobody is responsible and I signed it.

MLAS:  What was the stunt for that you did with Mahsa and Amir – the three of you on the platform bungee jump which was so dangerous?

AA: It is a 40 meter platform for a bungee jump. The minimum distance a jumper needs is 8 meter against a wall (or anything). The distance between us is 1.7 meters and I calculated the length of the bungee cord and they way we jump. I know what each of us will do. That way, it is possible to jump at the same time so close to each other.

If we swing in and we touch each,  it is very dangerous as death is possible. It would be bad to touch our (bunjee) cords to each other.  And a bungee cord is so sensitive.  That jump is good because we could jump all together and so close.  Nobody has done this on a platform like this before!  And one more thing that we did….and as I did 2 years ago for practice but my team member Amir did recently, is Amir just grabbed the bungee cord without the (harness) attachment and we jumped.   At the full length of the bungee cord (full extension) he released the bungee cord and landed on an air bag.

MLAS: So, what do you guys do for fun??

AA:  We like to drift. One of my crew, he is really awesome! We have contests about who can cut a cucumber closest to the wall when we tape a knife to the car and do a 90 degree drift. It is great fun!

MLAS:  What is your ultimate goal??

AA: About my ultimate goal = there is no limit for humans and also for me. When we were in 007 Skyfall as stunt performers, we saw what a great group of people exist.  Such nice people and we could learn many things from them and we could do amazing stunts with them.  I love team work!! Our goals and dreams would be to work with such great groups and do amazing stunts. For me especially, to do some special stunts and achieve a record, maybe a Hot Wheels record, to have something that I am remembered for after I am gone. I want to do stunts that will make others improve. Our passion is stunt and do amazing things that everyone is happy with that.

Arsha Aghdasi
Arsha Aghdasi
Arsha Aghdasi – Mahsa Ahmadi – Amir Badri Winning SAG Award for Outstanding Action Performances by Film Stunt Ensembles in a Motion Picture for 007 James Bond SKYFALL (Stunt Coordinator : Gary Powell ) .
Contact us : +98 939 13 391 13

stunt coordinator : Arsha Aghdasi
Stunts:
Mahsa Ahmadi
Amir Badri
Arsha Aghdasi

Iranian stunt
we accept stunt jobs all over the world
just call us :
+98 912 302 98 92

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