‘He blew my mind': Back-flipping B.C. brothers inspired by silent film star
If this were a decade or so ago, Graeson Cole-Murphy and his brother Caellan would likely be watching something with superheroes.
'When I was a little kid, I wanted to be the Incredible Hulk,' Graeson smiles.
While Graeson was mesmerized by the Hulk's strength, his younger brother Caellan thought it would be wonderful to be a web slinger.
'Spider Man's cool,' Caellan recalls thinking. 'He can do flips, so I want to do flips.'
But instead of turning to a YouTube tutorial, Caellan taught himself how to move like he was in a Marvel movie.
'He blew my mind,' Graeson says of his brother. 'And he inspired me.'
So, Graeson asked his little brother to start teaching him. Today they are practising backflips in the park.
'It's scary,' Graeson says after flipping in the air. 'You kind of feel sick in your stomach because you don't know if you're going to land on your head.'
Yet Graeson perseveres. But not to emulate some old superhero, not since he discovered the work of one particular old movie star.
'It's a video of Buster Keaton and his famous stunts,' Graeson points to the black and white video they're watching on his phone between flips.
Buster Keaton was one of the 1920s' biggest stars. Before movies had sound, he made audience's laugh. Before CGI was even an idea, he made them gasp.
'I think it's incredible,' Graeson points to Keaton jumping between buildings, hanging off a train, and surviving a house almost hitting him. 'One guy who revolutionized stunting!'
And now, more than a century later, Keaton is inspiring Graeson to pursue stunt work professionally.
Caellan, on the other hand, is practising his super flips because he's been invited to play with a professional soccer team in Europe over the summer.
'Maybe I'll do it as a celebration when I score,' Caellan says.
But there's one things Caellan and Graeson know definitely – no matter who inspires them to do cool things, being brothers encourages them to be better people.
'He's taught me about being responsible for myself,' Caelan says. 'And being able to self-reflect.'
'He teaches me not to give up,' Graeson adds.
And they've both learned that even better than growing up to be like a comic book dynamic duo, is actually being real-life best friends.
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