The Gnarly Stunt in JACKASS FOREVER That Made Johnny Knoxville Quit Doing Stupid Stunts
Johnny Knoxville has been doing crazy stupid stunts over the past 20 years for our viewing pleasure. His body has gone through hell, and he’s a lot older now, so these kinds of things are going to take even more of a toll on his body. Well, there was one stunt in the upcoming film Jackass Forever that jacked Knoxville up so bad that he decided it was time for him to stop doing this stupid shit.
The stunt in question involved Knoxville performing a magic trick for a bull, and well… the bull did not like it. In an interview with Variety, Knoxville said, “I was trying to do a magic trick in a bull ring. I wanted to prank an animal, and that’s what we came up with.”
We get to see this scene in the trailer and you can see that the bull charges Knoxville and smashes him up in the air and flipped him over. Well, what the trailer didn’t show is that he was knocked unconscious and director Jeff Tremaine said, “He was snoring for three or four minutes. It was gnarly.”
Knoxville explains what happened when he was loaded into the ambulance, “I get in, and they’re asking me questions. They asked me who’s the president and I couldn’t come up with it. I said Obama.” He went on to say that he walked away with a broken wrist, broken rib, concussion, and brain hemorrhage.
Knoxville is married and has three kids, so it only makes sense that he would want to be more careful. He went on to say, that his wife “doesn’t like me doing this type of thing. This is the most wicked bull hit I’ve ever taken.”
Knoxville chose not to do any more stunts on the film after that. He was saving the risk for the big grand finale. In regards to the stunts he would have done, he said, “Those were big, and could end as badly. Or worse. I’ve done enough. I don’t have anything to prove.”
He went on to say, “I have kids to raise. That’s the most important thing.” After putting himself through all of this madness after all these years, he’s earned his retirement from bodily harm.
Jackass Forever hits theaters on February 4, 2022.