The fourth Jackass movie, Jackass Forever, was released in early 2022, to both commercial and critical acclaim. Jackass Forever came over a decade after Jackass 3D (2010), the last theatrical outing of everyone’s favorite amateur stuntmen. Now in their fifties, the original cast members were joined by some new, younger, recruits to take some hits.
Although that may have been the initial concept, Jackass Forever’s gnarliest injuries were strictly for the OGs. In a matador-magician stunt, Johnny Knoxville was knocked into a triple somersault by a bull, landing on his head and neck. Knoxville suffered from several broken bones, a concussion, and even a brain hemorrhage. Similarly, Steve-O snapped his collarbone in half during a deleted scene, and also gave himself a concussion during a stunt where the cast attempted to walk as a marching band on a treadmill. So much for aging gracefully.
Now, in an interview with CinemaBlend, Steve-O talked about potential plans of another cinematic venture with his buddies, or perhaps more accurately, if he could physically take another Jackass movie.
What does Steve-O think of a potential ‘Jackass 5’?
When asked about the possibility of another movie, Steve-O responded “I wouldn’t be surprised if some kind of project reunited us again, but I wouldn’t bet on there being another movie.”
ISince the movie came out last February, there have been two Jackass outings on TV. The cast filmed two Shark Week specials, involving a series of stunts with sharks, under the supervision of host and expert Craig O’Connell. One of the Jackass newbies, Sean “Poopies” McInerney, faced a brutal shark attack where a chunk of his hand was bitten off, after a failed attempt at recreating the “jumping the shark” ski slope scene from Happy Days.
If anything is clear, Jackass is just as brutal as it ever was, and perhaps a feature-length Jackass may be too much for some of its older cast members. Steve-O in particular has been bitten by dozens of animals, fractured his skull, and has even been set on fire. No one could argue that the stuntman hasn’t put his all into the franchise. In the recent TV specials, the new crew were in the spotlight, but the originals were certainly not taking a backseat.
What would prevent another Jackass movie?
Even with young blood, the original Jackass cast still takes central focus in the new movie, and the franchise is very much their baby, having first started as an MTV show in 2000. Much of the issue is that they are simply too old and too injured to carry on as they had in their twenties and thirties. Recently, Johnny Knoxville said that his doctor informed him that any more injuries could potentially be deadly.
“We never said whether it was or wasn’t [the final film]. That got written somewhere and people ran with it,” Knoxville said, when asked about the possibility of a Jackass 5. “If we did continue, we would lean on the younger cast more and the old guys would take a little step back but still be a part of it. I would have to step back because my neurologist said I can’t have any more concussions”.
Ageing aside, the original cast is also smaller in number than it was before. Cast member Ryan Dunn tragically died in a car accident in 2011, and Bam Margera’s issues with addiction and mental health meant that he had to be fired, and his scenes were ultimately cut from Jackass Forever. His removal was also very problematic for the series’ production, as the stuntman and skateboarder ended up filing a major lawsuit against director Jeff Tremaine, Johnny Knoxville, Paramount Pictures, MTV, and Dickhouse Productions – the production company behind the Jackass franchise.
In a variety of ways, the making of Jackass Forever was a painful experience for much of its cast. Its troubled production and effort put into making the movie was highly physically taxing, as well as emotionally challenging in a manner they may not have expected when the movie was first pitched. From Steve-O’s comments, it seems that Jackass will almost certainly continue in some form, but how that would work successfully is much less obvious, even to the cast and crew.