Freddie Poole has been Sylvester Stallone‘s stunt double for 13 years now. He first served as a second unit double for the “Rocky” and “Rambo” star in the 2012 film “Bullet to the Head.” “In the beginning, we barely spoke to each other, to be quite honest. It was new, right? So I was sort of on proving grounds,” Poole reflects, “But now, we bounce ideas off of each other. I enjoy collaborating with him because he’s brilliant. The guy has done everything: writing, acting, directing, producing. I just have a lot of admiration and respect for him.”
The respect goes two ways, as Poole now serves as the stunt coordinator and second-unit director on “Tulsa King“: the Taylor Sheridan-created, Stallone-starring Great Plains neo-Western series. For the second season in a row, Poole is nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Stunt Coordination For Comedy Programming category. He credits his success with the show to his collaboration with the cast, lead writer Terence Winter, and the rest of his crew. “I have a great team,” he says, “A great assistant coordinator, fight coordinators, stunt doubles and performers. Those guys give me 100% every time they step on set.”
Season 2 of “Tulsa King” saw an expansion of the world established in Season 1, filled with new set pieces and characters— almost all of whom engage in action. Notably, season 2 introduced the character Bigfoot, played by seasoned professional wrestler Mike “Cash Flo” Walden. Reflecting on a memorable fight scene in the episode “Tilting At Windmills,” Poole notes how the director wanted him to showcase Bigfoot’s physical capabilities. The sequence certainly does that, as Bigfoot spends the majority of it ferociously beating up and tossing around his adversaries. “He did all of his own action,” Poole said of Cash Flo, “He was great.”
The entire sequence was a season highlight for Poole. It took two full days of shooting to capture— a main unit day and a second unit day, which Poole directed. It was a collaborative effort throughout, as Poole first created previsualizations of the scene, mapping out the set and choreography with the art department. After a tech scout on location, they created a second previz for accuracy.
He worked closely with the props department to ensure that all the characters’ weapons—baseball bats, crowbars, sledge hammers and more—would be appropriate and safe. He also collaborated with the special effects team during previsualization to plan for the destruction that would take place during the scene.
A full day of rehearsals took place on a sound stage, where each actor learned their choreography. “We brought in each cast member individually to work with stunt doubles and the stunt team to learn their portion,” Poole says, “This approach kept things moving at a nice pace while giving each cast member individual focus and attention. Once again, our set decor department came through with their support in laying out the workspace on stage so our cast would have an idea of what the geography would be like, as opposed to driving almost an hour away to the location.”
When the shooting days arrived, everyone was well prepared, and Poole worked with the cinematographers on set to ensure that camera angles were effective for capturing each stunt. The work continued after wrap, as Poole collaborated with editors to ensure that the action was cut together to appear seamless. “We were granted permission to download footage as we were shooting and create an on-the-spot, rough edit which took about three days to complete,” Poole says, “Having the on-location previz as a blueprint simplified the process as we were able to create an edit that was nearly shot-for-shot.”
Poole praises the entire cast for their commitment to engaging in the action and willingness to try new things. Though everyone had a double on set, Poole had direction to show as much of the actors’ faces as possible. This includes Stallone, who, at 79, “will still step in and do what he does and what he’s known for,” according to Poole.
Season 3 of “Tulsa King” premieres on Sept. 21 on Paramount+. Poole is back as stunt coordinator and promises, “it’s going to be even bigger and better than anything we did in the previous two seasons.” New characters and cast members such as Robert Patrick, James Russo and Samuel L. Jackson join as the “Tulsa King” world continues to grow. “I’m excited for everybody to see what we’ve come up with,” Poole remarks.
