# Brian Smrz

Brian Smrz (/smɜːrʃ/; born c. 1960), also Brian Delaney Smrz, is a Hollywood stunt coordinator and second unit director of projects such as Mission: Impossible 2, Live Free or Die Hard, Taxi, Eagle Eye, Night at the Museum, Windtalkers, Iron Man 3, and Superman Returns, among others. He is also the director of Hero Wanted, starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Ray Liotta and of 24 Hours to Live, starring Ethan Hawke and Xu Qing. He won the Taurus Award twice and was nominated for a third time.

## Career

Smrz has worked as a stunt performer and stunt coordinator on Hollywood films since 1981. In more recent years, he has acted as second unit director and director on projects such as Hero Wanted, Fantastic Four, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, The Predator, and Face/Off. He has worked on several of director John Woo's American films, including Windtalkers, Paycheck and Mission: Impossible 2.
Smrz shared a Taurus Award for stuntwork on Mission: Impossible 2 and Live Free or Die Hard. He was also nominated for Taxi. In an otherwise negative review of Taxi, Variety praised Smrz's stunts.
Hero Wanted is his directorial debut. It is a crime drama/action film starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., Ray Liotta and Norman Reedus. Shooting occurred in Sofia and Bulgaria with a crew composed mostly of Bulgarians.

## Personal life

Smrz is from Strafford, Pennsylvania and was the brother of the stuntman Brett Smrz, who died while performing a stunt jump off a building. Smrz was hospitalized after a stunt went wrong in 1992 on Cyborg 2. The incident was investigated by the Screen Actors Guild.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Stunt coordinator | Second unit director | Director |
| 2000 | Mission: Impossible II | Yes | Yes | John Woo |
| 2001 | Vanilla Sky | Yes | No | Cameron Crowe |
| 2002 | Windtalkers | Yes | Yes | John Woo |
| 2002 | Signs | Yes | No | M. Night Shyamalan |
| 2002 | Minority Report | Yes | Yes | Steven Spielberg |
| 2003 | X2 | No | Yes | Bryan Singer |
| 2003 | Paycheck | No | Yes | John Woo |
| 2004 | Taxi | Yes | Yes | Tim Story |
| 2005 | Fantastic Four | No | Yes | Tim Story |
| 2006 | Superman Returns | No | Yes | Bryan Singer |
| 2006 | Night at the Museum | No | Yes | Shawn Levy |
| 2007 | Live Free or Die Hard | Yes | Yes | Len Wiseman |
| 2008 | Eagle Eye | No | Yes | D.J. Caruso |
| 2009 | Surrogates | No | Yes | Jonathan Mostow |
| 2009 | X-Men Origins: Wolverine | Yes | No | Gavin Hood |
| 2009 | Whiteout | No | Yes | Dominic Sena |
| 2010 | Knight and Day | No | Yes | James Mangold |
| 2011 | The Hangover Part II | No | Yes | Todd Phillips |
| 2011 | X-Men: First Class | No | Yes | Matthew Vaughn |
| 2011 | Rise of the Planet of the Apes | No | Yes | Matt Reeves |
| 2012 | This Means War | No | Yes | McG |
| 2013 | Iron Man 3 | No | Yes | Shane Black |
| 2014 | X-Men: Days of Future Past | No | Yes | Bryan Singer |
| 2015 | Fantastic Four | No | Yes | Josh Trank |
| 2016 | X-Men: Apocalypse | No | Yes | Bryan Singer |
| 2017 | The Predator | Yes | Yes | Shane Black |
| 2019 | Dark Phoenix | No | Yes | Simon Kinberg |
| 2020 | Loves and Monsters | No | Yes | Michael Matthews |
| 2021 | Venom: Let There Be Carnage | No | Yes | Andy Serkis |
| 2021 | Ghostbusters: Afterlife | No | Yes | Jason Reitman |
| 2022 | The Adam Project | Yes | Yes | Shawn Levy |
| 2023 | Shazam! Fury of the Gods | No | Yes | David F. Sandberg |
| 2023 | Expend4bles | No | Yes | Scott Waugh |
| 2024 | Venom: The Last Dance | No | Yes | Kelly Marcel |