
The stunt designer for the new movie "The Fall Guy," Chris O'Hara, joins us to discuss his role on the film.
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Chris O'Hara
All right, unc.
Kusha Navadar
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Kusha Navadar
This is all of it. I'm Kusha Navadar in for Alison Stewart. Hey, thanks for joining us. We're really happy that you're here. Later on today, we'll talk with artist and activist Latoya Ruby Frazier about her work documenting working class communities and about her upcoming show at the MOMA called Monuments of Solidarity. We're also going to open up the phones to hear about your weekend plans. Like what fun activities or events are you looking forward to for Mother's Day or hey, even just for yourself. We want to hear from you, so get ready to dial us up. And it's the last weekend to submit to WNYC's Public Song Project. So we'll take a listen to some of last year's submissions to help inspire you to send in your own musical adaptation of some works that are from the public domain. That's the plan. But first, let's get things started with some stuntin'. Stunt 101 in the new film the Fall Guy, Ryan Gosling plays an out of work stuntman recruited to return to set to save a movie for a first time director who also happens to be his former girlfriend. It's a big fun adventure of a movie and it's got all the makings of a summer blockbuster. There are beautiful movie stars, romance, lots of action, and an earworm of a soundtrack. Yes, you will start bumping kisses I was made for loving you on repeat. But it also cleverly subverts the premise by pulling the curtain back to get a peek into the world of stunt performers and how integral they are for these big action packed movies. We learn the names for maneuvers we see in car crashes like the cannon roll. We learn what goes into Setting a performer on fire. Spoiler alert. It hurts. And how the thumbs up gesture is the universal sign that the stunt went okay. There's all kinds of high jumps, car chases, boat jumps, fights, and we even get a trained dog in on the action. And all of it was designed and engineered and executed by our next guest. Chris o' Hara is a stuntman performing in films like Fast and Furious, Bullet Train, Iron man, some of my favorites. He's also an assistant director, a stunt coordinator, and also now holds the first film credit as stunt designer for the Fall Guy. Chris, welcome to the show.
Chris O'Hara
Oh, thank you for having me.
Kusha Navadar
Absolutely. And, listeners, did you see the Fall Guy and want to ask a question or comment about the stunts? Do you have a stunt that made an impression on you from a movie you've seen in the past, or do you just want to ask Chris a question about his work? Give us a call, send us a text. We're at 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692. Or you can hit us up on social. We're at all of it W. Nyc. All right, so, Chris, watching the movie, one of the things that struck me is how many stunt people are needed on a big action film like the one that you see in the Fall Guy. And yet this world of ST is one that we don't hear a lot about otherwise. Can you tell me, how did you become a stuntman?
Chris O'Hara
I actually became a stuntman because I went to school in Philadelphia at Temple University, and I was a college gymnast. And so once I got done with college, I felt that I never reached my full potential as a college athlete. And so I wanted to find something to kind of keep performing, keep competing. And so lots of college former gymnasts go to either, like, Cirque du Soleil or aerial skiing was kind of one that a bunch of college gymnasts went to. I did the aerial skiing route for a season and then realized I wanted something bigger. And so I packed up my car, left the east coast, and moved to California. And that was 1995, so 29 years ago. Wow.
Kusha Navadar
What was it that originally made you think, oh, stunts could be? In your words, Was it from watching movies yourself, or was there some kind of inspiration for you in your life?
Chris O'Hara
Well, stunts being bigger as far as, like, on the fall guy or.
Kusha Navadar
Oh, in your. You talked about aerial skiing, right? And you said, oh, I maybe want to go do something bigger. What was the influence in your life that made you think, oh, hey, stunts, that's the direction that I want to.
Chris O'Hara
Go, I realized that being I knew the guy that won the World cup and he was the best in the world at the time, and kind of saw where his life was and saw kind of everything it took to really kind of be down that track to be an aero skier. And knew that I kind of, at some point I needed to have a career. And so I knew my coach at the time would do stunts in Salt Lake City when he wasn't coaching the World cup team. And so I kind of followed his lead and knew that there was, you know, there was a movie business and there was something that kind of could highlight, you know, attributes that I had and skill sets that I had. And so it's just kind of taking, you know, a lot of stunt guys are. I basically consider them professional athletes. So it's just basically taking one discipline of aerial skiing and transitioning it into stunt work.
Kusha Navadar
What other kind of training did you need to do and where did you go for that training once you decided, hey, I want to go from being a gymnast aerial skier into specifically stunts?
Chris O'Hara
I think when I moved to California, I kind of was very fortunate to hook up with five guys that are very like minded, like myself, and they had a very extensive martial arts background. And so me being a gymnast, I was able to pick up a lot of the martial arts aspects really fast enough to basically, you know, call it kind of movie fu. You know, you don't have to really be a black belt in a particular style to really pull it off on camera. So I taught those guys gymnastics, they taught me martial arts. And then a lot of the stuff is kind of on the job training and kind of learning as you go. You know, at first you're going to start doing, you know, fights and fights and basic falls is kind of where you'll start off. And then you'll kind of start building yourself, building a name for yourself. And hopefully you'll get bigger and bigger things as your career progresses.
Kusha Navadar
You know, it's interesting to hear you say that you learn it as you go, because I can totally understand how on the job training is important because every next stunt, you need to learn it to execute it. Never sure what's going to come next. But it also seems like there's a lot of categories of stunts. I mean, you've got fight scenes, jumping huge distances, driving cars, just to name a few. Makes me wonder, do most stunt performers specialize or is it more like everyone is a jack of all trades?
Chris O'Hara
I think to be kind of a working stunt guy that can do this as a career, I think being a jack of all trades is really important. But when you're doing something like fall Guy, we're doing big, iconic things. And so having guys that are really the best at car work or the best at high falls, you know, having those specific disciplines and really getting the best of the best to. To a make. Make that shot as safe as possible and just, you know, hedge your bets to make sure that it goes off without a hitch. And. And so you get the best of the best for those guys. And there are the jack of all trades, which is a great thing to be. But sometimes you do need specific guys to pull off those specific stunts.
Kusha Navadar
Listeners. If you're just joining us, we're talking to Chris o', Hara, the stunt designer for the new the Fall Guy, which is out in theaters right now. We're talking about stunts, stunt designing, executing, and Chris's history in the stunt world in Hollywood. If you have a question or a comment about stunts, give us a call or send us a text. If you have a question for Chris about his work, we'd love to hear it. We're at 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692. You can also reach us out on social. We're at all of it wnyc. So Chris, the director of the Fall Guy is David Leach, who is also a former stuntman and also a friend, I understand. How did you guys first meet? What did you work on previously?
Chris O'Hara
Well, I. Dave is actually one of the guys that I mentioned, was one of the first guys I met when I moved out to California and being a really great martial artist. And so there was six of us that kind of spent every day together training and eating and just training more. So Dave and I have known each other for 29 years. Grew up in the business together when we're early days, spent every day together. And then we've kind of, like, our paths have kind of taken, you know, our own. Our own individual paths in this business. At some point, you know, early on in our careers, we lived together. We've, you know, started off on doing like, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and Martial Law, which is where you kind of cut your teeth for, you know, early stunt guys and had a great opportunity to work on those shows together. And, you know, as far as being, you know, a stunt coordinator, we've worked together second director. I've worked underneath him and then first unit director that he's, you know, the job Title he's in now kind of done two movies together. Hobbs and Shaw Fast and Furious Presents Hobbs and Shaw and then the Fall Guy.
Kusha Navadar
When he first told you the idea about this film, the Fall Guy, and that he wanted you to. To do it, what was your first reaction?
Chris O'Hara
You know, I think it's happened a couple times where we've had conversations on the phone, and he calls me and we talk for about 20 minutes. And at the end he goes, well, what do you think? And I, you know, I always say, you had me at hello. You know, Fall Guy is an iconic TV show that, you know, this movie is based off of. Of my childhood. And so it highlights the career of a stuntman. And so what better movie to want to be involved in as a. As a stunt coordinator and stunt designer than the Fall Guy? So it was a heavy weight to have on our shoulders because we want to make sure that the, you know, we represent the stunt community and highlight what we do. So going through it, it was a big, big weight on our shoulders. But I think we created something really great that. That puts the. The stunt performer in a. In a great light. So I think mission accomplished.
Kusha Navadar
Yeah, both the. The stunt performer and the stunts themselves. I mean, the st. This movie are big. You even broke a world record with one of the stunts. Was that intentional?
Chris O'Hara
We did? Well, I think it was written by Drew Pierce, and so the writer wrote in the script, breaking the world record. And so I don't. The way I kind of. My outlook is that I'm not trying to break world records with things. That's not my goal. I'm trying to create the illusion of danger and by minimizing the risks and when we do a film. So I didn't know if I could pull it off, you know, because I know the world record that they were comparing it to was done on, I believe, Casino Royale. And it was. It was seven roles, and actually it kind of went downhill. So it had gravity helping it out. So when we went to kind of look at locations for our film, we were going to do it on a beach. And so beach is totally flat, so we didn't have gravity helping me. So if I didn't pull off the world record, I at least knew that the first cannon roll ever done in film was done on a movie called McHugh with John Wayne. And so that cannon role was done on a beach. And so if we couldn't break a world record, I knew that we could pay homage to my predecessors in the stunt business.
Kusha Navadar
Can you explain quickly what A cannon role is because I'm not sure that everybody listening will recognize.
Chris O'Hara
So a cannon roll is a kind of like an air driven plug. So a plug being kind of think about like almost like a telephone pole, something that kind of shoots out of the bottom driven by air. And that basically, as the car is driving down the beach, that where we were, there's a slight turn and then we hit this button which basically propels this pole down to the ground, which lifts the car up, creating the cannon effect of it. And so that's kind of what I'm saying with a cannon. And when they did it on McHugh, they did it with black powder. So they used black powder to kind of deploy the cannon or the pole. And now we use air, so we use compressed air and they kind of use that to kind of deploy the pole. And that's what creates that effect of.
Kusha Navadar
A cannon roll and the car's rolling. You said the previous record was Casino Royale, my favorite Bond movie, by the way. So I remember this. And then I saw the roles. How many roles was it in the movie that you did?
Chris O'Hara
Seven. They did. And then seven.
Kusha Navadar
And then for the fall guy, how many roles was it?
Chris O'Hara
We did? Eight and a half.
Kusha Navadar
Eight and a half. Wow. And, you know, you had mentioned that it's on sand as well. And it's clear that this is a real science. When you watch the behind the scenes footage, you're thinking about gravity force, the density of the sand, for instance. Can you describe the process of designing a stunt?
Chris O'Hara
Yeah. So I think the misconception about stunt performers is it's just what you see in the film. Right. So it's grandiose. You see this great crash and it's amazing. But the lead up to that was, you know, four months of development, you know, all the way down to choice of car. The car was a Grand Cherokee, you know, Jeep Grand Cherokee. And we chose that car because it's basically as tall as it is wide. So if something's as tall as it is wide, it kind of creates a cylinder. And so cylinders roll. So that was kind of, you know, we specifically chose the car for that. When we had the special effects team put a cage in the car, on the corners of the car, we kind of pulled the cage in a little bit. So as the car crushed, you know, the corners crushed, which created more of a cylinder, which helped out the roll. We had a lot of production support to kind of allow us to test at the location. So we basically had two test cars and we were able to Go to the location on the sand and get information, factual information. From doing testing, we knew that the sand was going to play a factor. And it played a factor in our early tests. And we didn't have all the support to kind of, you know, make the beach exactly what we needed it to do or needed to be as far as compressing the sand, rolling the sand, wetting the sand to kind of make it as dense as possible to help out the effort. Because big, fluffy sand creates, you know, sucks up energy, right? So we want to try and keep the sand as hard as possible. And so when we did that fourth, that. That last one that you see, that broke the record. We really, you know, we had guys on the beach from 4am you know, laying down water, rolling the beach. You know, they have these rollers that have shakers in it which compact the sand even more. And they just kept rolling it and wetting it for. For five hours until we did, or actually six hours until we actually did the shot. Because not only does the Canon car need to have a great surface, the vehicles capturing, filming it have to have the best service. And you're only as good as your slowest car. So the slowest car was actually the first car or the. But the car leading has to be set the pace. And so that was the actual camera car filming it. So that was kind of. We had to make. He was the most important one that we had to make sure that his track was as compacted as possible so that he had the best chance, because he was basically pulling and setting the speed for everybody to get into.
Kusha Navadar
Wow, that's an enormous amount of design and I'm sure a lot of math, a lot of, like, 3D programming probably goes into making all of this. There's a text before we go to break. I just want to read a text we just got in from a listener. It says, Zoe Bell had a film learning to be a stunt performer with Jenny Epper, who recently passed. She was Lynda Carter's stunt double for Wonder Woman. Stunt performers definitely need to be recognized for their work behind and in front of the camera. I thoroughly enjoyed the Fall Guy. Great start. For the summer movie season listeners, we're talking to Chris o', Hara, the stunt designer behind the movie the Fall Guy, which is out in theaters now. If you have a question about stunt work or you have a favorite stunt from a movie that that has really struck you through the years, give us a. Send us a text. We're at 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692. We're going to take a quick break. When we get back, we'll talk more about the new title of stunt designer and we'll take some of your calls. This is all of it. This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Kusha Navadar and we're talking about stunts in movies with Chris o', Hara, the st for the new movie the Fall Guy, which is out in theaters right now. Listeners, before the break, we were talking about a world record stunt that Chris was part of the team that designed in this movie. And we're ready to take your calls. If you have a stunt in a movie that has stuck with you over the years or if you have a question for Chris about being a stuntman, a stunt designer, give us a call, send us a text. We're at 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692. Got our first caller, Jessica in Montclair. Hi, Jessica. Welcome to the show.
McDonald's Employee
Hi. Thanks for taking my call. I wondered if Chris could speak about the dangers and risks that stunt people face and also what protections there are in place for them if there's like a stunt person union or something like that. And also, I'm sure Chris is aware of the, the tragic stunt in the last Harry Potter Potter movie where Daniel Radcliffe's stunt double did a stunt and broke his neck and, you know, was just so horrible. And I think that was the first time I really appreciated watching that documentary, how dangerous a profession this can be.
Kusha Navadar
Jessica, thank you so much. And it's an important element. Chris, can you talk about that a little bit? The safety precautions that go into everything.
Chris O'Hara
So stunt performers are members of the Screen Actors Guild. So we do have a union that we work under. As far as, you know, stunts being dangerous, I mean, the ultimate goal is, you know, I've said it before, is that we want to, we want to create the illusion of danger by minimizing the risks. And so, you know, we do everything we can to minimize those risks by, you know, hopefully doing proper testing, having support from production to allow us to do the proper testing so that we basically take baby steps and we work it up to what you eventually see on the screen. We are putting ourselves in a little bit of risks. Nobody wants to ever get hurt, but we do everything we can to make that not happen. We through testing on like the cannon roll, for instance, we had a cage that was built by a special effects guy that we understood know they've done that numerous times. That was a big safety factor. We have, you know, seat belts and, and, and containment seats pads. We have safeties, fuel cells that keep the fuel in that kind of, you know, contain that from being a burn risk. It's just it, it is a business that looks dangerous from the outside, but it is very calculated. There are those times that things do happen, but nobody wants that to happen. And hopefully we can just properly test and take the baby steps to make it go off without a hitch. And Jessica, a little bit long winded?
Kusha Navadar
No, not at all. There's an enormous amount of work that it sounds like even before anyone steps on set to make sure that the baby steps are taken, like you say. And Jessica, we really appreciate the question. It looks like we've got Bob in Union City who's got a favorite stunt from a movie. Bobby, what is it? Welcome to the show.
Bob (Caller)
Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my call. And good morning to your guest. It's. I don't know if your guest has ever seen this movie. It's a 197475 film starring John Wayne as a Seattle police detective. And the stunt I'm going to describe takes place on a beach. And John Wayne is in a car. He's being pursued by these gangsters that want to kill him. And one of the cars is a 1973 Chevy Impala. And he fires a machine gun at the driver. And the car does about six or seven flips and lands right side up all in one shot. And how it was done, I know, was that they, they didn't have like a ramp for the car to flip over because it takes place on a beach. So somebody got the bright idea to cut a hole in the bottom of the car, put an explosive charge in and part of a utility pole. So at a certain point, the explosives would be triggered and the piece of utility pole would go down and flip the car. If you, if anybody in the audience who's listening and has ever seen the movie, it's the highlight of the movie. And you have to wonder, how did they do that? So that's what I just wanted to mention.
Kusha Navadar
Bobby, thank you so much for that call. Chris, I saw you nodding your head a little bit. You familiar with that movie, that stunt?
Chris O'Hara
Yeah, I mentioned it. I mentioned earlier that the name of that mov is McHugh with John Wayne. And that stunt was done by Gary McLarty. And the second unit director on that movie was Ronnie Rondell, a legendary stuntman in his own and that was kind of the big inspiration for the Fall Guy. It was, you know, we, like I said earlier, like it was written as a world record, but I wasn't sure if we could pull off the world record. And at least if we didn't do that, I knew it was going to pay homage to Gary McLarty, McHugh, John Wayne, Ronnie Rondell on that first cannon role ever performed in a movie.
Kusha Navadar
Listeners, we're talking to Chris o', Hara, the stunt designer behind the Fall Guy. It's a new movie that looks at a stunt person who is working back on the set of a film. And it looks into all of the enormous work that goes into making these stunts spectacular and safe. Give us a call if you have a question about stunts. We're at 212433, WNYC. That's 21243, 9692. Chris, as we mentioned in the intro, you have the first ever credit as a stunt designer. Why was that important? And how does that title differ from a stunt Coordinator?
Chris O'Hara
It's, it's, it's very similar. And, but other than the fact that people look at stunt coordinator and they're like, oh, you coordinate the stunts. Well, really, stunt designer is taking it from nothing and turning into what you see at the end product of the show. Like in the Fall Guy, we did a bin chase with these trash bins that, that, you know, we kind of found that I found on a director scout down in Australia, because in Australia those bin trucks are everywhere. So I was like, man, that would make a really interesting place to do a fight, you know. And so it was basically designed and developed from just me walking around, you know, through, through downtown Sydney. And that's what ended up in the movie. Like designing that whole sequence and that whole chase went from nothing. And the original script, it was written as something else. And, and we kind of turned, you know, the, the jump at the end of the movie was literally designed from a boat ride in Sydney harbor. And I saw a bridge that was like, man, we should jump that. And so then we couldn't jump that. And I basically went to Google Earth and I looked at, you know, I looked at how big the gap was and that's kind of how, you know, the 200 and the 200 foot jump was kind of thought about was just kind of like, man, let's do that. And kind of creative and really working hand in hand with the director to design the action sequences. And so the title, the difference between stunt coordinator and stunt designer is really trying to educate people. As far as, you know, we're just not stunt guys doing these grandiose things. There's a lot of science, there's a lot of creative aspects to what we do. And so it's just trying to educate and enlighten people to the whole big picture of what my job really is. And having this title as stunt designer is just a way of. Of educating those people that we are creative, we are integral to the process of making movies. And this kind of leads into a little bit of the Academy Awards and kind of there's been this every year. It's like, why don't stunts have an Oscar? And so I think this is hopefully just one step because, like, there's other departments. There's production designer, which designs the whole look of the movie. There's a costume designer which designs all of the costumes for the movie. And all of those people get Academy Awards. Hopefully having this title will enlighten people in the Academy. It's like we really are integral to the whole filmmaking process and we are creative and we're not just a bunch of stunt guys just doing stunts. We are really creative to the whole film process.
Kusha Navadar
What would that mean to you if there was a award, an Oscar for best stunt, Best Stunt Designer?
Chris O'Hara
I think it would just be that, you know, getting recognized for our, our. The work that we do. And I think it's. It's really for the stunt community to just get, you know, recognized for, for the efforts that we. That we put into. The efforts that we put into movies and really, you know, being taken, you know, just being accepted by the peers in, in the film industry is kind of. It would be amazing.
Kusha Navadar
Yeah. Are there any awards for stunt performers elsewhere in part of the record?
Chris O'Hara
You know, Red Bull has done a really great thing over the past. Geez, I don't even know. 25 years maybe. We have something called the Red Bull Taurus Awards. And actually the Red Bull Taurus Awards are happening this Saturday out here in California. And that's something that's kind of been a very stunt specific award ceremony that Red Bull's put on for us every year. And they've been really great at supporting our industry. They also have the Red Bull Taurus foundation, which is a fund that helps support injured stunt performers. So Red Bull's been really, really supportive over the years about our community. Wow.
Kusha Navadar
You know, we have so many calls that unfortunately we can't get to. There is one that I just want to summarize here. Frank in Avenel, New Jersey says Favorite stunts? Zoe Bell in Death with a Golden Gun, when James Bond jumps over a bridge and the car does a twist. There are so many great stunts out there. I'm looking at the clock. We're wrapping up here. But Chris, I just wanted to ask you. Being a stunt person requires so many different skills. Like you said, jack of all trades kind of. You have to be part professional athlete, part visionary for what looks good on film and part just really good at being an executor. What do you think really good stunt people have in common? I think at first blush the easy answer is, oh, it appeared like you have to be fearless, but is it something different for you?
Chris O'Hara
No, I think it's. I think we're all professional athletes. I think we have a common goal of making it look amazing. And I think everybody in the film business all is kind of, we're like this traveling circus. This kind of. We're all very like minded in this business and, and we just want to perform and do a great job. And as a stunt performer, it's just being able to take direction and execute the plan. And again, it looks amazing, but it's well thought out and well practiced and hopefully the audience enjoys all of the hard work that stunt performers put in to entertain them.
Kusha Navadar
Yeah, and I want to be sure that we bring up, there's all different kinds of stunt performers, of course, as a part of the profession. Are there more stunt women now than there used to be in the past? What does that break up look like?
Chris O'Hara
There's definitely, there's a ton of stunt women because there's actors and actresses. So I'd probably say there's the same amount. I mean, I don't actually have factual numbers of how many stunt. You know, the breakdown is between male and female, but there's definitely, you know, actors and actresses both, you know, both do stunts and female stunt performers have the harder job because they tend to be in dresses or, you know, wardrobe that, that doesn't allow for the, you know, the pads to cover stuff. And so, you know, the stuntwoman that performed, my hats off to them because they are, they are super tough, super calculated, and they are amazing, amazing performers.
Kusha Navadar
Folks, we've been talking to Chris o', Hara, the stunt designer behind the new film the Fall Guy. It's out in theaters now. Chr. Chris, holding the title of the first time for stunt designer. We've been talking about stunts. Thank you all so much for your calls. And Chris, thank you so much for joining us and for your work on this movie.
Chris O'Hara
Oh, thank you so much for having me. I really, really appreciate it.
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Chris O'Hara
All right.
Kusha Navadar
Welcome to McDonald's.
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This episode delves into the world of stunt performers in Hollywood, centering on Chris O’Hara—the stunt designer for the summer action film The Fall Guy. The discussion reveals both the artistry and science behind designing movie stunts, the evolution and recognition of stunt work, and the push for greater acknowledgment of the profession, alongside behind-the-scenes stories and listener Q&A.
Chris O’Hara’s Journey (04:19–06:11)
Training & Skill Development (06:11–07:11)
World-Record Stunt: The Cannon Roll (11:23–13:54)
What Is a Cannon Roll? (12:50)
Engineering and Science of Stunt Design (13:54–16:46)
Safety Protocols & Unionization (19:22–21:17)
Recognizing Stunt Work (24:12–26:45)
Other Awards & Industry Support (27:27–28:06)
What Makes a Great Stunt Performer? (28:54–29:39)
Women in Stunt Performing (29:52–30:36)
Chris O’Hara on the weight of representing stunt performers:
On history and innovation:
On the science of stunts:
On the campaign for Oscar recognition:
The episode gives a lively, insightful overview of what it takes to design and coordinate film stunts. Chris O’Hara articulates both the athleticism and the creative vision needed in his craft, demystifies the technical and safety aspects, and advocates for recognition of stunt work as a central part of filmmaking. Listeners gain a newfound appreciation for the people behind movie magic, and the evolving status of their essential contributions to cinema.
“We just want to perform and do a great job… well thought out and well practiced and hopefully the audience enjoys all of the hard work that stunt performers put in to entertain them.”—Chris O’Hara (29:16)