Curtis Rivers

Curtis Rivers is a busy Stunt Coordinator and 2nd Unit Director, with offices in both London and Manchester. Born in Guisborough, North Yorkshire in 1970, he wanted to work in the stunt profession since childhood. In 1996, at the age of 25, he finally fulfilled his life-long ambition of joining the elite ranks of The British Stunt Register, skilled to the highest levels in Judo, Jujitsu, Taekwondo, Tang Soo Do, Sport Parachuting, Fencing, Riding, High Diving, SCUBA Diving, Hang-Gliding, Trampolining, and Power Boating. In the past 20 years he has been a Stunt Double in films for the likes of Christopher Lee, James Caviezal, Rupert Everett, Mark Strong, Hugo Weaving, Jim Broadbent, Matthew MacFadyen, Patrick Bergen, Martin Kemp, Jimmy Nail, Graham McTavish, and Sam Douglas. In television, he has doubled the likes of Martin Clunes, Trevor Eve, Steven Tompkinson, John Borrowman, Malcolm Sinclair, James Purefoy, Charlie Cox, Tim Dutton, Nick Brimble, Terrence Hillyer, Peter Marinker, Mark Charnock, and Toby Rothbriant. By 2001, his continued training led to his first Guinness World Record attempt. Never opting for the easy life, Rivers chose a world record that had remained intact for over 45 years, despite numerous attempts to better it. The record he chose to attempt was The Longest Duration Parachute Jump. This project saw him training in industrial freezers as the air temperature at jump altitude would be 60 degrees below freezing. It also required high altitude chamber training with the SAS, and numerous test jumps on oxygen from high altitude. On 14 February 2002, Rivers took off from Pozoblanco, Spain, and flew in a hot-air balloon to 25,000ft above the earth. He jumped from the balloon and activated his parachute immediately. With skillful canopy control, he over-flew the Andalucian Mountains and flew into the Guinness Book of Records with a flight time of 45 minutes. This bettered the long-standing official record by 5 whole minutes. Enjoying the widespread publicity, his sponsors Damart Thermals agreed to fund his next world record attempt. This time he set his sights firmly on the Highest Bungee Jump. The official Guinness World Record was 8,500ft. However, an unofficial claim came to the attention of Rivers and his team, a claim of a bungee jump from a balloon flying 10,500ft high! Curtis therefore set his sights higher still, on a jump from the limits of where a human can breathe without oxygen after taking off from sea level - 15,000ft. On 5 May 2002, Rivers bungee jumped from a hot-air balloon flying 15,200ft above Puertolano in Spain, and was awarded his second Guinness World Record. Between current Stunt Coordinating and 2nd Unit Directing, Rivers is planning his next Guinness World Record...