How Alan Ritchson Pulled Off War Machine’s Riskiest Practical Stunt

Netflix’s War Machine shuns CGI for its most dangerous set piece: a nerve-jangling zipline escape pulled off almost entirely with practical effects, Alan Ritchson reveals.

Netflix's War Machine does not shy away from danger, and the movie's big whitewater escape proves it. Alan Ritchson says the zipline sequence you see on screen was done for real, with cold, violent rapids and zero blue-screen safety net. This was not a soundstage day.

The zipline escape: no CG safety blanket

Ritchson walked through the film's chase-to-zipline run and made it clear the production kept it practical. The week they shot it was a grind, and the water was as unforgiving as it looks. He was genuinely rattled by the conditions, which is saying something for a guy built like a battering ram.

That was a pretty rough week, but I was grateful to be doing it that way. It was pretty terrifying getting in that water, falling in, trying to stay afloat. The zipline, all that... it was real, you know. There’s just no way to fake that. If we did that on blue screen in a sound stage or something... which we were told we’d have to do [...] but you can’t do a crossing over a class five rapid like that. But, we pulled it off.

The setup in the movie: Ritchson's character, the Ranger known as '81', and his squad are fleeing the titular War Machine. They hit a stretch of savage rapids and have to improvise a crossing with a hook and a rope while still being hunted. It is the film's 'are-they-really-doing-this' moment, and apparently, yes, they really did.

How they pulled it off

Director Patrick Hughes (who also co-wrote and co-produced) leaned on deep prep and an army of safety planning to make the stunt happen without VFX. His team spent heavy time in pre-production so that on the day, the actor actually went into the water with the current ripping by.

...an actor jumping in grade five rapids with all the safety and the insanity that it took.

What War Machine is about

War Machine is a science-fiction action flick centered on a US Army Ranger squad led by Ritchson's '81'. After a brutal training pipeline, their final test is to neutralize an unknown entity. That plan unravels fast when they realize the thing they are up against may not be killable.

• Directed, co-written, and co-produced by Patrick Hughes
• Stars Alan Ritchson as '81'
• Signature sequence: the whitewater zipline escape, shot with practical stunts
• Now streaming on Netflix (premiered March 6)

How it is landing

The film hit Netflix on March 6 and early critical reactions have skewed positive. If you are here for sweaty, physical set pieces with real-world risk baked in, this one checks that box hard.