Did you watch the Super Bowl? Maybe just for Bad Bunny’s Halftime Show? Perhaps it was for the advertisements. Did those ads make you want to gamble? Or optimize your life with AI? So many AI ads. It almost felt like it was all just AI. Like the one featuring an animation of a snowboarder buttering across the frosty top of a beer. Did you catch that one? Well, as it happens, that was not AI. Turns out it was none other than Harry Kearney. The Speed Colonel (or is it Kernel?). The four-time Legendary Banked Slalom champ. The pride of Telluride. And now Harry can add Stuntman to the CV.
If you missed the butter in miniature on the Michelob Ultra, you may have spotted Harry in the full-length spot. He was the snowboarding stunt double racing Lewis Pullman and pals, albeit way out in front, per usual. That was him carving under the lip of a kicker while Hollywood legend Kurt Russell, American Hockey Player T.J. Oshie and snowboarding’s own Chloe Kim watched from the bottom of the run.
We got Harry on the phone to get a run-down of how he landed a Super Bowl commercial, what it’s like working alongside Kurt Russell and how it feels knowing his job in snowboarding is still AI-proof.
The Snowboarder’s Journal: At first look, the little snowboarder buttering across the beer could be mistaken as AI generated. It must feel good knowing that snowboarding is still AI proof?
Harry Kearney: That's funny. Yeah, it does feel good, I guess. I hope it’s AI proof. It was a funny window in this whole new world, into Hollywood and the world of stunt work.
How did you get the gig?
Do you know JT Holmes? He was in the same crew as Shane McConkey. He was a very accomplished freeskier who started doing stunt work. He was the stunt coordinator for the commercial. He needed a snowboarder and he’s friends with Jeremy Jones. Jeremy recommended me for the shoot.
That’s you turning underneath the jump as Lewis Pullman’s character goes back flipping over it.
Yeah, that was me. They cut the clip kind of early, I was supposed to sort of wreck under the jump, that’s what they wanted me to do. They even wanted me to try skiing at one point. I told them I sucked at it and they were like ‘That’s perfect,’ we need someone who is bad at skiing. I ended up hitting the jump a few times, maybe a rail too, I told them I was down for whatever.
You shot it at Snowbird, UT. How long was the shoot?
Three days. It was a huge production. The crew overall was more than 300 people, probably. They took over the whole mountain.
But it was really bad conditions at Snowbird—super low snow. They definitely had to do some special effects or post-production work to make it look as wintery as it did.
Did you get to meet Kurt Russell?
Just briefly, right as I showed up on set. I had all these bags, because I didn’t know what I’d need for boards or wardrobe or whatever. I ended up dropping it all down, sweating, after dragging it to the lodge. I look up and there’s Kurt walking up with three different people handling all his bags for him. They walked by me, I said ‘Hi,’ and that was about the extent of it.
I pictured you two hanging on set. You could have vibed.
I wish. We were all pretty separated for most of the shoot. There was a time though, when we were all taking runs, sort of prepping for the shoot, then suddenly the production crew was like ‘Everybody hold. Everybody clear. No snowmobiles. No snowcats. Clear the run. Kurt’s coming up to take some laps.’ He just showed up to make some runs in the middle of production. And he did all his own stunts. He’s riding the horse. He’s doing it all.
There’s a scene in the commercial where he’s barking orders at Pullman about waxing tech and I wondered if maybe you’d coached him, what with all your experience prepping for Banked Slaloms.
Oh man. Yeah, I wish! We were all separated from the rest of the crew, you know. We had our stunt shots to do, and all the stuff with actors was a completely different shoot going on elsewhere on the mountain.
Did you know it was going to be a Super Bowl commercial when you got hired?
Yeah, for the most part, but it wasn’t confirmed. They were really trying to keep it under wraps. We had to sign NDAs and everything.
Do you even watch football?
I'll watch sometimes, because my whole family is from south of Buffalo, NY, so I'll watch a Bills game here and there. But I don’t really watch football that often.
Did you watch the Superbowl?
Yeah, I watched the game. I have a homie who got hurt. He's in the hospital and he's a Patriots fan, so I went up and we watched the game with him. Which was tough because they got their asses kicked. But yeah, I’m stoked for all the homies in Washington that's for sure.
At this point the commercial has millions of views on YouTube. Do you think that's your most-viewed clip ever? Did you negotiate some incentives for this gig?
The whole contract thing was way beyond me, but yeah, I guess there’s some royalties. We’ll see. I hope they keep playing it. My girlfriend said she saw it on Netflix the other day.
How does the Super Bowl commercial production compare to say, a Lodge Boys production?
It was the craziest contrast for me, because any other time I’m filming I go out and see just how much I can do. But for this commercial, they were just like, “Be careful, don’t push yourself too hard, okay?” And they’re sending all the clips back to some director in the lodge who is reviewing everything, instantly. It’s definitely different than going out with the Lodge Boys, hitting a jump as many times as I can for Timmy [Taussig] with his Iphone.