“Ken Carter jumps cars for a living, and people like to see him do it,” declares Gordon Pinsent, narrator of the 1981 National Film Board of Canada-produced documentary “The Devil at Your Heels,” over footage of the man in question being driven away in an ambulance after smashing up his ankle attempting to vault a ’64 Chevy over 12 cars. It’s a concise description of the stuntman and daredevil’s personal ambition and the mortal failure he risks every time he performs. A born showman who “left school at 14 with a grade-four education” and refused a nine-to-five workaday life, Carter dedicated his life to death-defiance largely as a bid to achieve cultural immortality. “Before he’s finally through,” Pinsent proclaims, “Ken Carter wants to amaze the world.”
Directed by Robert Fortier, “The Devil at Your Heels,” profiles Carter as he tries to jump a rocket-powered car over the Saint Lawrence River, a one-mile-long stream that separates Canada and America. The film chronicles the tumultuous five-year journey through various technical challenges with the car and the ramp, bouts of ill-timed uncooperative weather that frequently delay production, and the unceasing financial challenges to funding and promoting the stunt itself. In the center of myriad behind-the-scenes shenanigans involving multiple exploding fuel tanks and Hollywood backers eager to sell an event film at all costs, Carter and his goal remain, even as his nerve is tested, and the finish line keeps receding into the distance.
Canadian filmmaker Michael Dowse, the director of proudly regional comedies like “FUBAR” and “Goon,” whose subjects are lovable, debaucherous underdogs, is likely the perfect person to fictionalize such a rich piece of Canadian history. “The Stunt Driver” lovingly cannibalizes Fortier’s documentary by following its broad structure and semi-faithfully reenacting many of its classic scenes, like the paunchy Carter struggling to get into his ill-fitting jumpsuit, often with the subjects’ actual words used for dialogue by his ensemble of comic actors. Yet Dowse doesn’t exactly set out to write, co-produce, and direct a narrative photocopy of a non-fiction film. Instead, he uses “The Devil at Your Heels” as both a foundation and springboard to explore the internal crisis of a man whose commitment to flying through the air is at odds with his wavering mettle.
“The Stunt Driver” opens on Carter, played by Jay Baruchel, who exaggerates the real man’s bravado to comic and poignant ends, undergoing hypnosis live on a Montreal radio program to probe the roots of his fears. Under that framework, Dowse’s film then depicts Carter’s crusade to jump the river, from enlisting engineer Dick Keller (Ed Helms, playing a fictionalized version of dragster Slam’n Sammy Miller) to help build a rocket car that can withstand such a feat, and promoter Bill Wilkins (Dan Bakkedahl, loosely based on sports agent Edward Keating) to sell his stunt to ABC’s “Wide World of Sports,” at least that’s the plan before before the money dries up after preparation drags on for years. Eventually, Wilkins scraps the idea of a televised event, along with a live audience, in favor of a film sold to Japanese investors for an international audience.
Meanwhile, a small documentary crew, led by a fictional Fortier (Joe Cobden), films Carter alongside his wife Gloria (Laurence Leboeuf) over years as he confidently boasts on camera about his excitement to make the jump while he privately frets about his chances of getting burned up in the air or drowning in the river, a likelier event considering that he can’t swim. (Keller argues that drowning is probably a more peaceful death, especially if someone’s already on fire.) Carter sees Fortier’s presence as a chance to further his brand in the lead-up to the jump whereas Fortier has doubts about his subject’s ability to pull off such a suicidal mission. These doubts are shared by Wilkins and his team, particularly when Carter wastes an entire day seemingly stalling out of anxiety, and they look to Carter’s Québécois protégé Danny Lafortune (Marc Beaupré) as a potential replacement. (Lafortune’s counterpart in “The Devil at Your Heels” is an American stuntman named…Kenny Powers.)
“The Stunt Driver” mines humor from the ridiculous logistical details of Carter’s jump, such as an 100-foot ramp that never gets paved smoothly or a car so potentially explosive that it could burst into flames at any moment. But the film gets the most comedic mileage from Baruchel’s performance, especially when the actor emphasizes certain regional tics, like constantly saying “sir,” or when he’s coarsely ranting about the inferiority of his rival Evel Knievel, played by Ben Foster, who amusingly gives the American entertainer a Canadian accent to make it seem like the two men are provincial enemies.
Baruchel clearly enjoys accentuating Carter’s ridiculous swagger but he’s also well-equipped to convey the underlying sadness of a man so desperate to be liked and remembered that he would rather risk his life than ever be perceived as a coward. Melancholy trickles from the Canadian actor’s eyes, which impressively betrays his character’s assured disposition and reveals a longstanding emotional wound.
A chronicler of the masculine condition, Dowse mines the most tenderness not from Carter’s relationship with Gloria, a thin character whom Leboeuf valiantly tries to instill with genuine personality, but with Keller, the only voice of reason in his circle. Though he initially views Carter as a foolhardy clown, Keller softens his perspective after testing his resolve during a dry run with the rocket car on a level surface where he deliberately lies to the stuntman about how fast it will run. When the veteran engineer sees how shaken up his client is after exiting a vehicle going 250mph ride, Keller becomes a pillar of support for Carter while also trying to convince him he doesn’t actually have to jump. The film’s best dramatic scenes feature Helms trying to break through his friend’s blinders so he can understand the people in his life prefer him alive than dead.
Anyone can discover whether Carter actually jumped the Saint Lawrence by either watching “The Devil at Your Heels” or looking up its Wikipedia page. Regardless, Dowse has fun illustrating (and slightly embellishing) the actual events, which are equal parts absurd and heartbreaking. Where the director departs from the source text is in briefly depicting Carter’s final years after the stunt, providing him with a fitting send-off without evading the tragic details of his end. In his documentary, Fortier doesn’t shy away from highlighting Carter’s eccentric sensibility and his flamboyant rhetoric, but he doesn’t treat the man like a joke. (Most of the comedy in “The Devil at Your Heels” comes from Pinsent’s wry voiceover.) Dowse follows Fortier’s lead by poking mild fun at Carter’s braggadocio while fundamentally respecting him as a dreamer who wouldn’t quit. By introducing Carter and his exploits to a new generation, “The Stunt Driver” strives to fulfill his wish to live forever by embodying his personal modus operandi: “If life is boring, risk it!”
Grade: B
“The Stunt Driver” premiered at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival. The Independent Film Company will release it in theaters on Friday, September 25.
