Jeremy Irvine Discusses His ‘Treadstone’ Underwear Fight
If you saw the season premiere of Treadstone last night, you got quite an introduction to Jeremy Irvine. He plays John Randolph Bentley, a CIA agent captured by the KGB in the ‘70s. Bentley makes his action-packed escape wearing nothing but his boxer shorts. There’s one thing you never saw in the Jason Bourne movies. Matt Damon was always fully clothed when he fought bad guys.
Irvine spoke with Showbiz Cheat Sheet by phone about his role on Treadstone, USA’s new action-packed series set in the world of the Bourne films. New episodes of Treadstone air Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on USA.
Jeremy Irvine had costume fittings for his ‘Treadstone’ underwear
Jeremy Irvine was quite open to talk about his underwear scene on Treadstone. The costume department selected it very carefully.
“There was a bit of a running joke with costume designers,” Irvine said. “This is obviously a big show for USA and they’re investing a lot, a lot of everyone’s opinion wants to weigh in on things like costume. The number of costume fittings I went into for just different types of underwear got a bit ridiculous.”
Irvine was a good sport about it though.
“I had sort of a running joke with the costume designer that she was just getting me in for more and more fittings to see me in my underwear,” Irvine said. “
After fighting in his underwear, the rest of ‘Treadstone’ was a piece of cake
That whole sequence with the fight and the rooftop chase was the most physically challenging sequence Jeremy Irvine had to film on Treadstone.
“That there was probably physically the toughest bit I had to do just because it’s cold and you’re running around barefoot across rooftops,” Irvine said. “You can make it as safe as you like but it’s still going to be difficult.”
There was also no place to hide padding.
“You can’t have elbows and knees on which you normally do,” Irvine said. “You’re wearing nothing but your underwear. There was only one place to hide a pad and that wasn’t particularly useful.”
Get ready to see Jeremy Irvine in fully clothed action
The rest of Treadstone won’t be quite as revealing for Jeremy Irvine, although he does have many more exciting fight scenes and action scenes.
“They were less naked which is always nice It was nice to start fighting and not always be running around in my little shorts. But then it got really hot. I got so cold in the winter, I’d chosen all my costumes for the summer in the winter so I chose big sweaters and leather jackets. We get there in the summer. The summer in Budapest this year was like 100, 110 sometimes. So the roles were reversed.”
Jeremy Irvine, interview with Showbiz Cheat Sheet, 9/27/19
Fight training was key for ‘Treadstone’
The Bourne movies turned Matt Damon into an action hero, so fight training was the first step when Jeremy Irvine landed the role on Treadstone.
“Every move in there is sort of based off things that are actually taught to special forces and things like that,” Irvine said. “A lot of it is real military techniques, if someone’s got a handgun or a pistol at your head, how to disarm that in a realistic way. We’re not doing Marvel sort of Hollywood action here. We’re trying to keep it as real as possible.”
Irvine trained for two months before he even began filming Treadstone.
“They wanted me to learn all the martial arts for real, and then rehearse the choreography. Keep it as real as possible and make sure that I was doing as much as possible and it wasn’t all going to be my stunt double. As good as my stunt double was, it’s always good to do it for real. This show, more than anything I’ve ever been a part of, really pushed the envelope of what was possible without things like CGI and stuff in terms of the stunts and the fight sequences. Everything is done for real and we have lots of injuries, lots of accidents where things didn’t work out but that’s all part of really pushing what’s possible.”
Jeremy Irvine, interview with Showbiz Cheat Sheet, 9/27/19
