The Unstoppable movie saw star Jharrel Jerome film various one-legged scenes to play the film's central sporting hero, Anthony Robles.
The new streaming drama follows Robles, a real-life one-legged athlete who overcame the odds to become a NCAA Division I wrestling champion in 2011.
The movie is based on a true story and started streaming on Amazon Prime Video on January 15.
Does Jharrel Jerome Have One or Two Legs?
Unstoppable's Jahrrel Jerome has fans wondering if the actor has one leg to two after portraying the unipedal college sports star Anthony Robles.
Seeing as the new streaming sports drama is based on real-life events (telling the true-to-life story of Robles and his family), Jerome is seen in the film with one leg just like the barrier-shattering sports phenom he was playing on screen.
However, while Jerome's portrayal of Robles is convincing, the actor playing the NCAA wrestling champ did not actually have one leg like his on-screen character. This meant the team used various strategies to make the actor's portrayal of the real-life man feel authentic.
According to the movie's director William Goldenberg, they accomplished this through some clever filmmaking techniques that included bringing Robles himself in to play various sequences throughout the film.
"We had both Anthony and Jahrrell do all the wrestling," Goldenberg revealed, adding, "When it's Anthony wrestling, we used visual effects to put Jharell’s face on Anthony's body," and, "When it's when it's Jharell wrestling, we use CGI to take Jharrell’s leg away" (via NBC):
"So we had both Anthony and Jharrel do all the wrestling. And then, in the editing room, we decided what was best and when it's Anthony wrestling, we used visual effects to put Jharell’s face on Anthony's body. And when it's when it's Jharrel wrestling, we use CGI to take Jharrell’s leg away. And they did, the visual effects people, did an incredible job. I think it's pretty seamless."
This is all to say, Jerome's one-legged scenes in the movie were largely CGI, with the effects team compositing out his right leg.
However, there were moments when Robles hopped into the ring, participating in some of the wrestling sequences with Jerome's face being masked on top of Robles.
He posited that he knew from when he signed on to do the film "it was really important for me to have Anthony [Robles] be involved in this film:"
"Yeah, I mean, it was really important for me to have Anthony [Robles] be involved in this film with the wrestling, because first of all, no one can move like him. He's an incredible athlete and there's some things that he can do because he's missing a leg that a person with two legs could never do. So. I knew from the minute I signed on, I wanted him to be involved in the wrestling."
"We couldn't have done it without [Robles]," the director continued, saying that this unique mix of actor and the real person was key in making the movie feel genuine:
"And I've done a lot of visual effects movies and it's pretty seamless. I was really thrilled with the way it came out, and I'm really thrilled that Anthony was such a big part of it. I mean, he's, you know, a credited actor of the film. He was so, you know, he was so integral in making it. I don't know, we couldn't have done it without him."
Unstoppable is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
The sporting drama is just one of many major releases coming to the platform in 2025 (read more about Amazon Prime Video's 2025 release slate here).
