The Recruit's Laura Haddock Had A Hard Time Filming The Bathroom Stunt
Contains spoilers for "The Recruit" Season 1, Episode 7 — "I.M.F.T.B.S."
Whether it's James Bond or Jason Bourne, spies are one of pop culture's most enduring emblems of cool. The stereotypical spy is slick, suave, and works effortlessly under duress. In other words, the opposite of the naive, White Claw-swilling Owen Hendricks on "The Recruit," which premiered on Netflix on December 16. Hendricks, however — who's played by "Black Adam" star Noah Centineo – will be the first to remind you that he's not a spy. He's a 24-year-old lawyer, having recently graduated from law school to join the CIA. But at the CIA, even a rookie lawyer is wont to dabble in espionage.
The major thorn in Hendricks' side is Max Meladze, played by Laura Haddock. When Meladze, a former asset, threatens to reveal The Company's secrets, Hendricks ends up on a globe-trotting expedition in the name of international intelligence.
Like any spy show worth its salt, "The Recruit" is replete with high-octane action sequences. Here's the stunt that Haddock had a hard time filming.
Haddock tried to deliver a swirly at gunpoint as gingerly as possible
As a no-nonsense Belarusian spy, Max Meladze gets in plenty of scrapes, as hinted at in the first trailer for "The Recruit." For Laura Haddock, one stunt was tougher than the rest. In Episode 7, the character assaults an adversary in a restaurant bathroom, shoving his head into a toilet while pointing a gun at his head.
While the scene plays out as a bloody, head-smacking, affair, Haddock tried to work as delicately as possible. "It was all day nonstop, and it was a small space, and we were in that tiny little cubicle," the actress told Collider. "I had to get a guy's head and put it in the toilet, but not bump him, make sure that he didn't hurt himself every time."
Haddock explained it was difficult to square her character's ruthlessness with her personal trepidation over hurting her scene partner. "It's a very strange thing for an actor to be in a situation where it's like, Max just wants to shove his head in the toilet. She doesn't care if he's hitting his head on the way down. She doesn't care. But Laura is like, 'Sorry, sorry!' I must've bumped his head about five times. Bless him. He was a trooper."