Will Smith tells city stuntman 'make my son flipping good'

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IMAGINE answering the telephone and discovering that Hollywood actor Will Smith was on the other end.

That was the surreal scenario faced by Derby stuntman Damien Walters, when he took a call from the Men in Black star asking him to fly out to America to teach his son gymnastics.

Days later, the 28-year-old jetted off to Los Angeles and spent two weeks in the gym with Jaden Smith, 12, showing him how to do backflips and somersaults.

It was one of the highlights of an action-packed year for the former British gymnast, who has also filmed stunts for the sequel to the 2009 blockbuster Sherlock Holmes and for big-budget movie Captain America.

Damien, of Chester Green, said: "It came about because one of the guys on a film set I was working on was Will Smith's hairdresser.

"He forwarded a video of me to Will Smith and his agent rang up, saying 'I've got Will Smith on the phone'. He said 'I was wondering if you could teach my son some gymnastics'.

"Jaden had a new movie coming up and he wanted to be a bit more acrobatic. It was pretty weird – it's not something that happens every day."

A few years ago Damien was training to compete for Great Britain at world championships. Now he uses his skills to perform tricks like somersaulting from cars and bashing into brick walls.

Before the call from Will Smith, he had spent four months in Pittsburgh and Miami, filming stunts for a new movie called I Am Number Four, produced by Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay, of Transformers fame.

He was doubling for the lead character in the science fiction flick, which is released next month.

After he returned from spending time with the Smiths, Damien spent six weeks on the set of next year's Captain America: The First Avenger, alongside stars Samuel L. Jackson, Tommy Lee Jones and Hugo Weaving.

Then Damien was head-hunted by British director Guy Ritchie to double for a Russian character in the sequel to Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law.

Damien added: "I get to meet all of the actors. Robert Downey Jr said he was really impressed with the stuff I did.

"To be personally head-hunted by Will Smith and Guy Ritchie, well, it doesn't feel like those sorts of things should happen to me."

Damien has also picked up a World Taurus Stunt award at a ceremony held in Los Angeles.

He said: "They are the Oscars of the stunt world and I won it for Best Fight Scene in the film Ninja Assassin. It takes most guys years to win one and I got it for my second film, so I was really happy."

Damien has previously filmed scenes for Hellboy 2 in Budapest, Ninja Assassin in Berlin, and Kick-Ass in Toronto.

When he is not shooting movies, he trains youngsters at Derby City Gymnastics Club, which is run by his dad.