This actor does his own stunts

 In an ifilm exclusive interview, the actor of ‘Operation 125(2)’ reveals he performed his own stunts for the series in 95 percent of cases.  

Mehdi Aminikhah who starred in ifilm action series 'Operation 125(2)' talked with the channel’s interviewer Marjan Heidari.

Below is a translation of some selected parts from this interview conducted by ifilm 2:

ifilm: As the first question, it might be interesting for our viewers to know how you got into acting? Tell us a little about how you entered the world of acting.

Aminikhah: Hello to you and your dear viewers. Thank you for interviewing me and I am so glad to talk with you and your viewers.

I started acting in a theater play on stage and my first performance in theater goes back to the time when I was in high school, and I continued my education in this field until I finally graduated in Theater.

I started professional acting for stage back in 1993, and then in 1996, I entered the acting profession for TV with the series ‘Death’. In 1997, I started my activity in the cinema with the film ‘A Picture for Love’.

ifilm: You are one of the actors who progressed without any support coming from someone in the field of acting. What advice do you have for young people who are interested in entering this field?

Aminikhah: You are right. I entered this field without any support. You may enter this field with one or two films or some connections, but if you are not trained and do not enter this field with expertise, you cannot last for many years and may quit after a short time.

Those who want to stay and have this profession as their job must be trained and enter this profession with enough knowledge.

ifilm: Considering your efforts in acting over the last few years, have you reached the level you always wanted?

Aminikhah: During these years, I have tried to work in various genres such as comedy, tragedy, action, etc. in theater, cinema, and television. I typically have and will try again.

In general, it can be said that people in any position want to reach a level higher than their present one, and they certainly do not feel being in the comfort zone.

Like everyone else, I still think a long way is ahead of me, and I have not reached the level I wanted. This path continues. I will do my best, but whether I have reached an excellent level or not, people should comment on that.

ifilm: Tell us about your role in the series ‘Operation 125’, how did the director cast you to play in this series, do you have an interesting memory of this series?

Aminikhah: After I was invited to this project by Mr. Ahanj, the director of ‘Operation 125 (2)’, I read the screenplay and liked the character that was offered to me. Considering that the genre of this series was action, which was was unprecedented for Iranian TV productions in those years and highlighted exciting firefighting tasks, I would love to experience this role for keeping a record of this in my acting CV.

As such, I accepted to play in this series, and based on the negotiations I had with Mr. Ahanj, we did the characterization. I also suggested to him that I should probably play the scenes as much as possible without any stun double, and it can be said almost I did more than 95% of the scenes without any double.

I wanted to play my whole role, be in very sensitive situations, and understand the feelings of a firefighter. That's why I chose not to have a stunt double.

One of the most beautiful memories I have had from this series is the sequence where my fire truck is chasing a stolen one. I got out of the moving fire truck, went to the roof and tried to jump on the stolen one. I played all the sequences except for the jump due to safety concerns. (In the attached video, you can see the sequence)

ifilm: Do you currently have a new acting project?

Aminikhah: Yes, I appeared in a movie called ‘Green Caps’ which is about navy commandos. In this film, I played a commander of the Navy when he was at a younger age. This real character played a significant role in the 34 days of the Khorramshahr defensive battle during the Iraq-Iran war.

‘Green Caps’ is now at the technical stage and will be ready for release soon.

I am still shooting for a detective film called ‘Behind the Wall of Happiness’ as well in which I play the role of a policeman.

AG/AG