Johnny Knoxville made a name for himself as the man who would throw his body wholeheartedly into whatever numbered Jackass movie they were making without fear and now, at 50 years old, Knoxville has revealed that Jackass 4 will be his last. In an incredible profile by GQ, the actor shared stories about the injuries on set, what Jackass means to him, and how lucky he is to still be able to do the stunts that made them famous after all these years.
For so many of us, we grew up knowing about the Jackass boys and their outlandish stunts or sketches. We also knew how dangerous some of the things they were doing really were. And Knoxville wasn’t afraid to share just how frightening it all was and how hard it has been on their body.
“You can only take so many chances before something irreversible happens,” Knoxville said. “I feel like I’ve been extremely lucky to take the chances I’ve taken and still be walking around.” He went on to talk about understanding the assignment of Jackass because of his involvement in the series. “I know what I signed up for. I wrote the stunts.” But for a long time, Knoxville shared that he wasn’t ready to go back to do another movie. He was fine being done with Jackass and when he finally did get the itch to do a fourth movie, after he emailed himself ideas, he asked his assistant to compile his stunt ideas and then met with Jeff Tremaine. “Ten years’ worth of ideas—like, 40, 50 pages of ideas.”
Knoxville’s co-star Steve-O went on to talk about “Filming Jackass at this age is much the same as it ever was, with two big differences. Our bones break significantly easier. And it takes less to knock us completely unconscious. Plus longer to wake up.” He went on to talk about how there seemed to be a near constant finality to the franchise and how many times they thought it’d be the last movie. “I honestly thought the ship had long since sailed, and I was kind of okay with that,” Steve-O said. “Every movie that we ever made was the fucking last one. And not just the last one, but declared as the last one.”
Jackass 4 is coming out this fall and with it comes a final installment to the series. They seem to mean it this time and it’s a little bittersweet to say goodbye to the boys of Jackass but at least we have one final ride with Knoxville, Steve-O, and the entire crew!
via Collider