How The Jackass Crew Decides Which Stunts Actually Get Made

With more than two decades of chaos behind them, the "Jackass" squad is back and ready to prove that they're just as daring as they were when the show had a cult following on MTV. "Jackass Forever" is finally here after several delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic and multiple on-set injuries. The cast is 12 years older than they were in the last film, but they're still pushing the boundaries of what the human body can withstand.

Their increasingly intense stunts range from branding one another with phallic symbols and crawling across mouse traps to launching themselves hundreds of feet into the air via cannon and facing off against angry bulls. The stunts often feel impulsive, but the "Jackass" crew puts a lot of work into determining whether or not their antics are safe enough and will make for good content.

Johnny Knoxville, one of the leading "Jackass" stars, revealed that he's the mastermind behind many of their stunts. He also opened up about how the team decides which stunts to try out.

In an interview with Thrillist, Johnny Knoxville explained that the ideas for their stunts often "just come to (him)." By the time they began shooting "Jackass Forever," he had collected over a decades' worth of potential stunts. Jeff Tremaine, Sean Cliver, Knate Lee, and Dimitry Elyashkevich then go through a list with him to figure out which ideas to run with.

Knoxville explained that they start by making a priority list where each stunt has a rating from one to five stars. "And then we'd go through that list and think, 'Okay, well, we can't just go all five stars, because some things might be sort of alike on that list.' And then you go, 'We'll shoot this and this,'" he said.

"Because you never know it's going to work," he added. "It's just our best guess what's going to work is what we end up filming."

Of course, the "Jackass" crew still keeps everyone in the dark when it comes to pranks, even creating fake call sheets to throw them off. Whether they're pulling a classic prank or executing an elaborate stunt, there's a method to their madness.

"Jackass Forever" begins playing in theaters on February 4.