Stunt man Nash Edgerton takes hits in The Matrix, Superman Returns and Star Wars. Now he's on the festival circuit (including the Sundance Institute at BAM) for his twisted short Spider. He recently spoke with AMCtv.com about doubling for both Obi-Wan and his real-life brother.

Q: Spider is pretty twisted. Where did you get the inspiration for it?

A: It was a combination of a few things: I used to have a rubber spider when I was a kid that I would hide in a different place in the kitchen for my mum to find. Then my brother and I had a run-in with a large spider once while he was driving. Usually if I have an idea, it just keeps recurring in my head and I've got to make it. Spider was one of those things that I couldn't stop thinking about.

Q: How did you get into stunt performing?

A: Growing up I was the kid who jumped off anything I could. But I never really thought of it as a profession -- they don't really suggest you becoming a stunt man at career day, you know? But I got the idea one day, so I looked up stunts in the phonebook and found the number for an agency that represents stunt people. I was a persistent kid and I just kept calling them until I got to meet some stunt people, and when I met them, I kept calling them.

Q: What are some of the worst injuries you've experienced?

A: The burns are probably the most painful thing. I got burnt once jumping out of an exploding building. Second degree so it hurt like hell. The rest have been knocks and bruises. In my short film, Lucky, I climb out of the boot of a car while it's doing 70 kph and -- you can see it in the film -- my foot slips off the back of the car when I'm trying to stand up. It didn't seem that bad at the time because I was holding onto the trunk. I realized afterwards that if I'd fallen, the trunk would have closed on my hands, so I would have let go and gotten run over by the tracking vehicle.

Q: What was the hardest film you worked on in terms of the stunts they were having you do?

A: The Matrix was pretty taxing, just because we did a lot of takes. It's the bigger films that have the time and the money to be really specific about what they want. In Matrix 2 I was smacked around by Trinity. A lot of the roles I had in those films were as guards and cops: You get to say a couple lines, get thrown down some stairs, get the shit kicked out of you.

Q: What was the bigger rush? The Matrix or doubling for Ewan McGregor in the Star Wars prequels?

A: Star Wars was a great experience, especially because I grew up at the right age to be into the originals. And to suddenly get to hold a lightsaber on set was pretty cool. I did a lot of the fight between him and Jango Fett -- getting blown up and thrown around a lot. It was intense, we had full-on torrential rain in the studio. I'm wearing all these robes, and the more takes we did, the heavier it would get. 

Q: How did it end up that you and your brother Joel were both in Star Wars?

A: That was just totally random. I was already on the film -- we were rehearsing stunts a couple of months before we started shooting -- and then he just got cast as the young Owen Lars. But we usually work on a lot of the same stuff: We'll write together, or he's in stuff that I make. I've been his stunt double a bunch of times. It's kind of funny being made up to look like your brother.

Q: Does he give you a hard time for it?

A: No, he's very appreciative. The last time I was doubling for him, I was getting hit by this car. It was 3 in the morning, freezing cold and he was all rugged up drinking a coffee. I look over there, and I'm like, "Hang on for a second...Why am I the one getting hit by the car?"