David Leitch

For other people named David Leitch, see David Leitch (disambiguation).

David Leitch (/liːtʃ/;^[3] born November 16, 1975)^[1] is an American filmmaker, stunt performer, stunt coordinator, and actor. He made his directorial debut on the action film John Wick (2014) with Chad Stahelski, though only Stahelski was credited.^[4] He later also directed the films Atomic Blonde (2017), Deadpool 2 (2018), Hobbs & Shaw (2019), Bullet Train (2022), and The Fall Guy (2024).

David Leitch
Leitch at the 2024 WonderCon
Born	(1975-11-16) November 16, 1975 (age 49)[1] Kohler, Wisconsin, U.S.[2]
Occupations	Filmmaker actor stunt performer stunt coordinator
Years active	1995–present
Spouse	Kelly McCormick ​ (m. 2014)​

Career

Leitch graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations in 1993.^[5]

Leitch was a stunt double for Brad Pitt five times and twice for Jean-Claude Van Damme.^{[citation needed]} Leitch and his crew won two awards for The Bourne Ultimatum at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.^[6] He also shared a 2008 Taurus World Stunt Award with fellow stunt-person Kai Martin for high work.^[7]

He wrote and starred in Confessions of an Action Star, a parody of action films and the action film industry released in 2009.^[8][9]

Leitch and Chad Stahelski opened an action design production company called 87Eleven in 1997. In 2009, Stahelski and Leitch were second-unit directors and stunt co-ordinators on Ninja Assassin. The two co-directed the 2014 film John Wick,^[10] although Leitch himself was not credited as co-director. Leitch executive produced the three John Wick sequels, which Stahelski solo directed.

He moved on to direct films such as Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2 and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw with his wife and creative partner Kelly McCormick serving as a producer. In 2022, he also directed Pitt in the action-thriller Bullet Train.

In September 2020, Leitch signed on to direct and produce stuntman drama The Fall Guy for Universal Pictures, with Drew Pearce writing the screenplay and Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt starring. The film, based on the 1980s television series of the same name, was released in the United States on May 3, 2024.^{[11][12][13][14]}

Upcoming/unrealized projects

In July 2018, Leitch was in early talks to direct a remake of Enter the Dragon.^[15] In January 2019, Leitch signed on to direct Undying Love, based on the limited comic book series by Tomm Coker and Daniel Freedman, for Studio 8.^[16] In July 2022, it was announced Leitch would direct the television miniseries Hot Air, starring Andrew Garfield as Richard Branson, based on the book Dirty Secrets by Martyn Gregory.^[17] In August 2022, Leitch was attached to direct a Netflix adaptation of the Dark Horse comic series Bang!, with Idris Elba set to star.^[18] In November 2022, Leitch became attached to direct spy thriller Red Shirt, based on a pitch by Simon Kinberg and with Channing Tatum set to star; by the end of the month, the project was picked up by Amazon Studios.^[19][20] In January 2024, Leitch was onboard to direct a feature-length adaptation of Kung Fu for Universal Pictures, with Donnie Yen set to star.^[21] In May 2024, Leitch was attached to produce and possibly direct a television series adaptation of Button Man for Fifth Season.^[22] In January 2025, he entered early talks to direct Ocean's 14, a sequel to the Ocean's franchise.^[23]

Leitch was once attached to direct The Division, based on the video game of the same name, but he stepped down due to scheduling conflicts with Bullet Train.^[24] He was also set to direct the action thriller Fast & Loose for Netflix and STXfilms, with Will Smith set to star, but by March 2022, he left the project to focus instead on The Fall Guy.^[12][25] He would continue to be involved as producer with Michael Bay in talks to replace him as director.^[26] Leitch was in discussions to direct a new Jurassic Park film^[27] scheduled for July 2, 2025,^[28][29] but left the project over creative differences; the film was ultimately directed by Gareth Edwards.^[30][31][32]

Personal life

Leitch dated actress Maggie Q from 2009 to 2011.

He has been married to executive producer Kelly McCormick since 2014.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Notes
2014	John Wick	Uncredited	Yes	Co-directed with Chad Stahelski
2017	Atomic Blonde	Yes	No
2018	Deadpool 2	Yes	No
2019	Hobbs & Shaw	Yes	No
2022	Bullet Train	Yes	Yes
2024	The Fall Guy	Yes	Yes
2026	Untitled	Yes	Yes	In production.[33]

Producer only

• Nobody (2021)
• Violent Night (2022)
• Love Hurts (2025)
• Nobody 2 (2025)
• Ballerina Overdrive (TBA)

Writer

• Confessions of an Action Star (2005)

Executive producer

• John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
• John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019)
• Kate (2021)
• John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

Short film

Year	Title	Notes
2017	No Good Deed
2019	Snowbrawl	Shot on iPhone 11, sponsored by Apple Inc.[34]

2nd unit director

Year	Title	Director
2003	In Hell	Ringo Lam
2008	The Midnight Meat Train	Ryuhei Kitamura
2009	Ninja Assassin	James McTeigue
2010	The King of Fighters	Gordon Chan
2011	The Mechanic	Simon West
	Conan the Barbarian	Marcus Nispel
	In Time	Andrew Niccol
2013	Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters	Tommy Wirkola
	Parker	Taylor Hackford
	Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues	Adam McKay
	The Wolverine	James Mangold
	Escape Plan	Mikael Håfström
2014	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Jonathan Liebesman
2015	Hitman: Agent 47	Aleksander Bach
	Jurassic World	Colin Trevorrow
2016	Captain America: Civil War	Russo brothers
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows	Dave Green

Stuntwork

• Perfect Target (1997)
• Orgazmo (1997)
• Almost Heroes (1998)
• BASEketball (1998)
• Blade (1998)
• Out in Fifty (1999)
• Fight Club (1999)
• The Right Hook (2000)
• Big Momma's House (2000)
• Yup Yup Man (2000)
• Bad Seed (2000)
• Men of Honor (2000)
• The Substitute: Failure Is Not an Option (2001)
• The Score (2001)
• The Mexican (2001)
• Replicant (2001)
• Ocean's Eleven (2001)
• Spy Game (2001)
• One Night at McCool's (2001)
• Ghost of Mars (2001)
• Corky Romano (2001)
• The Order (2001)
• Serving Sara (2002)
• Daredevil (2003)
• In Hell (2003)
• Seabiscuit (2003)
• S.W.A.T. (2003)
• The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
• The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
• Stuck on You (2003)
• Troy (2004)
• In Enemy Hands (2004)
• Van Helsing (2004)
• Constantine (2005)
• XXX: State of the Union (2005)
• Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005)
• The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)
• Serenity (2005)
• V for Vendetta (2005)
• Underworld: Evolution (2006)
• When a Stranger Calls (2006)
• Beerfest (2006)
• 300 (2006)
• Next (2007)
• The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
• The Invasion (2007)
• I Am Legend (2007)
• The Gene Generation (2007)
• Mama's Boy (2007)
• Jumper (2008)
• Speed Racer (2008)
• The Midnight Meat Train (2008)
• Bangkok Dangerous (2008)
• Angels & Demons (2009)
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
• The Hangover (2009)
• Tron: Legacy (2010)
• The Mechanic (2011)
• Conan the Barbarian (2011)
• In Time (2011)
• Movie 43: "Happy Birthday" segment (2013)
• Jupiter Ascending (2015)

Acting credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	The Order	Det. Mike Moran
2002	Nine Lives	Paul
2003	In Hell	Paul
2005	V for Vendetta	Convenience Store V
	Confessions of an Action Star	Frank Sledge
	The Dukes of Hazzard	Puncher
2007	Fetch	John "Fetch" Fetcher	Short film
2009	Ninja Assassin	Europol Door Guard
2010	The King of Fighters	Terry Bogard
2011	The Mechanic	Sebastian
2012	The Bourne Legacy	The Driver
2013	Escape Plan	Ship Captain
2018	Deadpool 2	Cain Marko / Juggernaut Ground Church Mutant	Leitch provided motion-capture performance on-set, while Ryan Reynolds provided facial motion-capture and voice performances
2019	Hobbs & Shaw	Helicopter Pilot
2022	Bullet Train	Jeff Zufelt

Television

Stunts

Year	Title	Notes
1995	Sherman Oaks	Season 1
1996	7th Heaven
1997-2001	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	18 episodes
1998	CHiPs '99	TV movie
1999	The Practice	Episode: "Day in Court"
	The Strip
2000	The President's Man	TV movie
2001	The Pretender 2001
	Scrubs
2006	2006 MTV Movie Awards	TV special; Stunt double
	General Hospital	Episode 10967

Acting credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Martial Law	David Hasbro	Episodes "Diamond Fever", "Dead Ringers", "Funny Money" and "Trackdown"
2000	Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue	Brian	Episode "Up to the Challenge"
2001	Walker Texas Ranger	Floyd Jessop	Episode "Medieval Crimes"
2003	L.A. County 187	Earnest Cop	TV movie
2004	Charmed	Innocent	Episode "There's Something About Leo"
2019	Songland	Himself	Episode "Aloe Blacc"

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Nominated work	Category	Result	Ref.
2007	Screen Actors Guild Awards	300	Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture	Nominated	[35]
		The Bourne Ultimatum		Won	[6]
2019	Grammy Awards	Deadpool 2	Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media	Nominated	[36]