What movie scene terrified Florin Piersic? “If you’re not going to do it yourself, give me a phone call

What movie scene terrified Florin Piersic? It seems hard to imagine, but the great actor, who did everything on the set of the films in which he starred, facing many dangers in dangerous positions even for a professional stuntman, had a moment when he was terrified of what was going to happen do to the production of a 1973 film.

What movie scene terrified Florin Piersic? “If you’re not going to do it yourself, give me a call”

About Florin Piersic, any presentation would be useless, because, probably, there is no Romanian who does not know him.

The great actor, who has reached the venerable age of 88, has a rich filmography, doubled by hundreds of theater performances and numerous appearances in TV shows.

He will always remain in the history of cinema as the outlaw Anghel Șaptecai, from the outlaw movies, but especially as Mărgelatu, from the even more famous series that had him as the main character.

Florin Piersic did everything in the film, and in terms of exposure to danger, he never backed down, preferring most of the time to do his own stunts.

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But one of the films less known to the general public, “put the lid on” from this point of view, becoming a real torture for the poor and otherwise brave artist.

It is about “The Paratroopers”, a production from 1973 directed by Dinu Cocea, who had also directed the six films in the “Outlaws” series, of which, in the last three, Piersic had the main role.

The great challenge of the actor was called the parachute jump, he played Colonel Alexandru Luncan, even the commander of a paratrooper unit.

Florin Piersic alias Colonel Luncan, on the plane, together with Silviu Stănculescu, who played the role of his deputy – Photo: Facebook/Studiourile Buftea

But for Piersic, jumping into the void from 2,000 meters altitude meant the most terrible scare of his career.

Paradoxically, he considers “The Paratroopers” the movie he loves the most out of all the ones he’s acted in.

“In Constanţa I made “The Paratroopers”, the film I love the most of all my films in which I act.

In Constanta, I played Colonel Luncan, the head of the paratroopers. I remember this script and this movie. When I see him, I like to look at him and I could look at him ten times,” Piersic told replicaonline.ro.

Many years after the film was made, Florin Piersic recounted the horrifying experience he went through, confessing with charm and sincerity that he basically “wet his pants” when he jumped out of the plane.

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The actor had absolutely no intention of jumping when he saw the pit in front of him, but he was “helped” by a kick in the ass from the legendary general Grigore Baștan, the inventor of the Romanian military parachute, holder, for a long time, of the national record for parachute jump and the first paratrooper general in the Romanian army.

“One day, after we had filmed in Bobocu, near Buzău, we had to arrive with the whole film crew in Constanta. I hope my pants hold and that this time I put on tin panties. We rose to 2,000 meters.

Oh, baby, I just want to tell you this. When I arrived on the plane, dressed in Luncan’s costume, the great general Grigore Baştan, the inventor of the Romanian military parachute, said to me: “I want you to jump from the plane with a parachute!”. The operator was already put in a wire cage, but I didn’t want it under any circumstances! I tell you honestly, jumping from 2,000 meters is a crime!”, Piersic recalled that episode.

Florin Piersic, facing the scariest moment in his career – Photo: Facebook/Studiourile Buftea

The funniest part is that after bombarding Bastan with questions about opening the main and reserve parachutes, he received an “encouragement” from him that put a “lid” on the courage he still had.

“I said: Which parachute? That I didn’t see any. He says: “You have a parachute behind you! If the parachute does not open, hold this hook on your chest and if you see that after ten seconds the parachute has not opened, pull it and the second parachute opens”.

I said yes. But if the second one doesn’t open either? To which he tells me: «Then, you can forget».

I give you my word of honor that I had the courage to do all the stunts, but I don’t like sitting on the floor and thinking that I could jump from there”, the actor continued the story.

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What decided Florin Piersic to jump was not his own will, but a kick in the ass that the general gave him and that launched him into the air. There, in the fall to the ground, Piersic simply did him, out of fear.

“Baştan begged for me, the plane kept circling above the airport, and they kept telling me to jump. I said to Baştan: I think it’s a joke, I can’t even approach this door.

While he was talking to me, he caught the moment. And now I feel here the foot that Baştan gave me in the ass! I flew from the plane. You won’t realize, seeing the film, that I, getting off the plane, shouted: Mother!

I didn’t have tin pants at the time, but when I heard the parachute open in the air, I thought I was screwed.

I don’t know if you’ve ever done it yourself, but I advise you to jump with a parachute and if you’re not going to do it yourself, give me a call too”, Piersic said.

The almost traumatic experience was also narrated by Geo Costiniu, who made his cinematic debut in that film.

The legendary paratrooper general Grigore Bastan – Photo: Archive

“We only felt sick when we looked into the water. Poor Dinu Cocea struggled for hours to convince Florin Piersic and me to jump with a parachute.

I answered that I do anything, ride, drive, fight, anything, but on earth. As for Florin, he simply replied that he was alone with his parents”, said Geo Costiniu, in 1972, in Cinema magazine.

And the brigadier general in reserve, Achim Alstani, confirmed Piersic’s fears. Alstani was one of the soldiers who supported the film crew during the scenes shot in Buzău county, at the Boboc air base.

Alstani remembers how Florin Piersic hesitated to jump from the trainer, a construction almost ten meters high, from which the parachutist’s exit from the plane is simulated.

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“Florin Piersic was supposed to jump together with Silviu Stănculescu and the two of them should somehow have synchronized to get the scene out. Only Silviu Stănculescu managed to jump, and Florin Piersic remained in the door, stuck.

He failed four times and only after the fifth time did he jump. Then he stormed off and told the film crew not to subject him to such torture”, said the general, according to adevarul.ro.

Once he escaped with his life from the filming of “The Paratroopers”, Florin Piersic continued his career vigorously. But he never forgot the horror he experienced then.

But, once back on earth, safely, the film became his favorite from his prodigious filmography.