The Jackass Stunt Johnny Knoxville Pulled Straight From Tom And Jerry
Many filmmakers throughout history have drawn inspiration from their colleagues in the animation and cartooning fields. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas drew upon classic Duckburg adventures by Carl Barks when they created "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (via Screen Rant), and other famous names like Blake Edwards ("The Pink Panther"), John Hughes ("Dennis the Menace"), and Ang Lee ("Hulk") have attempted at various points to create films that are essentially live-action cartoons or comic books.
If you're at all familiar with "Jackass," you can probably already grasp the parallels between the stunts we see on the show and its numerous film versions and classic cartoons. Also like a cartoon character, Johnny Knoxville seems to be more or less impervious to injury, bouncing back from otherwise life-threatening mishaps almost as efficiently as Wile E. Coyote. But in a recent interview, Knoxville cited a classic of slapstick animation as a chief influence: "Tom and Jerry."
Knoxville calls a specific stunt 'a direct lift' from the cartoon
In a Thrillist interview to promote "Jackass Forever," Knoxville was asked a question about "the idea of human Looney Tunes," frequently applied to "Jackass." And Knoxville's answer shows it's an idea he enthusiastically embraces.
"Well, for me, I love cartoons. Some ideas I take straight from cartoons," says Knoxville. "'Tom and Jerry' especially, because it's just two people at funny war with things they have around the house. Basically 'Jackass,' right? I look at life as a cartoon. It's cost me a couple of times, but we've also gotten some great footage because of it."
Knoxville goes on to single out a specific stunt from "Jackass Number Two," the second theatrical "Jackass" outing, as being taken from a "Tom and Jerry" gag. "I was in the bullring with the yak and I had the cigarette and the blindfold on," says Knoxville, a stunt that he calls "a direct lift from a 'Tom and Jerry' cartoon."
Many of us watched cartoons like "Tom and Jerry" as children and wished that we could become cartoon characters. It seems from Knoxville's remarks that he and his "Jackass" co-stars have managed to turn that dream into hilarious — albeit painful — reality.