The Documentary that Inspired The Stunt Driver Movie

Stunt Driver Ken Carter Finally Gets a Biopic  

The Stunt Driver is set to premiere on September 25th. Directed by Michael Dowse, the movie stars Jay Baruchel as legendary stunt driver Ken “the Mad Canadian” Carter. Alongside Ed Helms and Ben Foster as Evel Knievel, in a film based on incredible true events.  

Link to Movie Trailer.

But before you watch the movie, you need to watch the documentary that inspired it. The Devil at Your Heels is the 1981 documentary that filmed the famous Ken Carter rocket car jump. A car stunt that has lived on as an internet novelty. The documentary follows Ken Carter over several years as he campaigns for the greatest stunt of his life.

After viewing the movie trailer, it seems clips from The Devil at Your Heels are used in the film. Which makes sense if you want the visual aesthetic of car stunts in the mid-1970s and stay under budget.  

The Story That Inspired a Documentary That Inspired the Movie

The Stunt Driver movie anticipates a wild ride with a lot of laughs, retelling a fascinating true story that fits perfectly in today’s media fixated culture of people trying crazy things to go viral.  

You can watch The Devil at Your Heels (1981) on YouTube, and I can’t recommend it enough! Whether you love cars, inspirational stories about overcoming challenges, or polyester suits.  

Although the documentary was released in 1981, the footage was filmed throughout the latter half of the 1970s. The cars, clothing, and haircuts are perfectly cast because it’s real. This documentary serves as a snapshot of the past. But what really makes this documentary a stellar experience is the deadpan ridiculousness of it all. You’d think you were watching a mockumentary until you see real cars flying and real bones breaking.  

In this documentary, you’ll see a man in his late 30s squeeze himself into a rocket-powered dragster and send it down the track at 240 mph with zero prior experience, wearing nothing but a T-shirt and jeans.  

You’ll see two young engineers get their spirits broken and question a higher power. A civil engineer gets his ego demolished by a calculation error. You’ll see betrayal on a corporate level and Evil Knievel’s feathered blonde hair dancing in the breeze while throwing shade at Ken Carter.  

Watching The Devil at Your Heels, the stress is real, the danger is certain, and the unintentional humor creates a viewing spectacle. Link to watch on You Tube.

Will The Stunt Driver Give the Real Ken Carter Justice? I Hope So  

My only concern with the movie is how it will portray Ken Carter. Because it’s easy to paint him in an unflattering image, like a loud-mouthed buffoon, a Will Ferrell-type character, we’ve seen an exhausting number of times. That would be a great insult and discredit to a man who would put every automotive YouTuber to shame if he were born 40 years earlier.  

Ken Carter was a genuine character. A man lived and died believing in himself against all odds – a self-made hero. In the documentary, you follow Ken Carter’s journey as he lays it all out on the line and is brutally honest about why he wants to do this mile-long jump.

It’s incredibly refreshing to watch someone be truly authentic and raw when everything today feels scripted for marketing and artificial. Ken Carter wants to jump because he knows he can’t jump forever. Which makes the ending of Ken Carter’s documentary, and life, all the more tragic and brutally poetic.  

Time is not on his side, and fame is fleeting, but legends live forever.

After watching the documentary and knowing how the story ends in real life, one reason I’ll be watching The Stunt Driver on September 25th is to see how it ends. And whether they give Ken Carter, the Mad Canadian, the respect he earned.