John Lucasey
John Lucasey was a stuntman on some of the episodes of Tour of Duty during seasons 2 & 3. Including Road to Long Bihn as an MP , and a soldier called Pearlman in Payback where his character was killed by a Pungie Trap, who had 'only a two weeks and a wake up left'.
He contacted me and told me a little about his time on the show.
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Will Leong and I always hung out together as well as made the rounds going from set to set looking for stuntwork. Driving out past Magic Mountain to visit the set of Tour of Duty as well as China beach (about a quarter mile down the road) to check in with the stunt coordinator. It was maybe a once a week outing for Will Leong and I, and sometimes I would go with my friend John Ashker as well.
On the episode Payback where I was skewered I went
by the set (in which it would take at least an hour to an hour and a half to get
to) and I was with Will Leong
at the time.
I had already been on Tour of Duty at that point.
I saw the stunt coordinator who looked extremely busy and just walked by me at
the time. We have somewhat of a code that no matter how far you come to visit,
if the coordinator was focusing on his work, you simply walk by and maybe he
would see your face, maybe not and that was your calling card for that day on
that particular set.
Well, I did that and he was so focused he didn’t even acknowledge me, and
Will Leong was somewhere
else at the time.
When I saw Will, I told him, and he said he was just going to walk by himself.
At that point I was a distance from the set and ready to go to my truck. Will
came running and shouting, “John, get to wardrobe quick” Turns out they hired an
actor for the part that I took over and they wanted to incorporate the stunt
with the Pungie trap.
The actor and the stunt coordinator were very uncomfortable with that and the actor was replaced by me. If you look in the scene, I mentioned to the director that I could probably keep my eyes open without blinking for at least a minute, and with doubt and apprehension from him he shot it, and I was able to keep my eyes open and it was left in the scene.
I feel fortunate to be on that show. I was a big kid playing army! Still playing paintball today however, but I do think about Tour of Duty often as being a magical and fun place to be and work.
My other life is being a Music producer and owning a recording studio. Go figure! Music….Stunts…..hand in hand, right? While I was in the stunt business full time, I always missed the music business, so with encouragement and help from another Tour of Duty veteran Brian Imada, he helped me set up a mini, and I do mean mini recording studio in a spare room in my old Chatsworth house. The rest is history.
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In the episode Road To Long Bhin.
John Lucasey is the MP who escorts Staff Sergeant Digby,
(played by James Sutorius) ,
out of the hootch. Then as the fight scene happens finally throws Staff Sergeant
Digby to the ground.
John said of that day
"That day I worked with another stunt guy named Steve Holliday. We spent most of the day sitting on the trailer stoops chatting and throwing pebbles at a rock off in the distance for points. Sounds boring, but we were glad to be there and had a wonderful day. That day I went in for makeup and I had fairly long hair, pretty close to the bottom of my neck. I got my first buzzcut ever that day. they didn't tell me to do it but in the spirit of being at the set I mentioned if they needed to shave me to look more authentic for the part I was more than willing. (Partially so when questioned by family and friends I would have a story with bragging rites of my day!). Anyway , off it went. Now whenever I sit at a barbers chair and get buzzed, I always think of that day in the trailer."
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