Johnny Whitworth

Johnny Whitworth

Johnny Whitworth portrayed Ray Carrigan/Blackout in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

Significant roles

• A.J. in Empire Records (1995)
• Max Raimi in Valentine (2001)
• Hendrix in Wuthering Heights (2003)
• Det. Jake Berkeley in CSI: Miami (2006-2010)
• Darden in 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
• Griffin Cavenaugh in Pathology (2008)
• Travis Scotch in The Gamer (2009)
• Nathan in Locked In (2010)
• Vernon in Limitless (2011)
• Kent Kendall in Bad Hurt (2015)

Quotes

• "I play the villain who, at the beginning, up until like page 70, is human. I'm not a very nice guy. I'm bad. I get turned into, for those who read Ghost Rider, the character Blackout. I get turned into him by the devil to complete my job. That gives me the fortitude to fight Ghost Rider and the supernatural abilities to compete on some level with that guy."
• "Oh, Nic Cage, Nic Cage and Nic Cage because Nic Cage is awesome. I got to be a comic book character. I mean that's part of the partial reason why I got into- not to be a comic, but the things that inspired me as a youngster, the things and the things that I was into, one being comics and of that nature and pretend and that's the ultimate way. Because he's bad and I get to be even extra bad. So I'm human and then I turn into Blackout and then he's bad and then he's just horrible."
• "You know to be honest with you, I didn't really (read the comic books). My little brother did and that's where I got my influence before I knew him. My little brother was into 'Ghost Rider'. I was 'Batman'. Not to switch-"
• "Yeah, well, superheroes is okay. But there's a different brand. There's Marvel and there's DC. And I just jumped into a different universe. So that might have been bad. Next time I'll prepare not to do that."
• "What can I do? Just looking down the face of Ghost Rider, Nic Cage, doing- in this one he does all his Ghost Rider stuff. The one before he didn't. So it has his body language and his feel. With that it's already better. When I was in the human form just before something hap- well, I don't know how to answer that question. I wasn't prepared to without giving spoilers. But looking down in the face of Nic Cage when he's about to throw me and I did my own stunts, when he's going to throw, discard me, if you will, as Ghost Rider and doing this thing when I'm pleading and beating. And then there's fire. I think there's going to be a lot. It's hard to choose from, really. Because all this stuff is rushing back to my head. And I've been in Romania for so long that part of my faculty- it does seem like a dream."
• "I play the villain: he is a mercenary named Ray Carrigan, who is a sociopath with anger issues and some homicide tendencies. But then, I also play the villain Blackout, like the double changes into it. And this Blackout is just a psychopath with supernatural powers and cool hair."
• "They aren’t like other film-makers. They genuinely put themselves in the movie; what I mean by that is that the camera is always moving, and Mark Neveldine would actually stand in front of a speeding car to get the shot. I have actually seen them doing it. They are very frenetic, and they break all the rules. Now I don’t know if that is because they don’t know the rules, or they choose to break them. I’m not sure! [laughs] They are very unique, and fun, and energetic. I have worked with them on two other occasions too; I have to recall something from Ghost Rider. Like I said, I was in an agitated mood most of the time. There is a scene where Idris Elba’s character is like launched off the side of a mountain. Of course Idris doesn’t really do that, the stunt man does that. He’s basically on cables. Now, who is as well on cables is Mark Neveldine; he is on rollerblades and gets launched out holding a camera, and what I found funny, was that his pregnant wife was watching it. I felt bad for her! [laughs] He is a dare devil, he enjoys that kind of stuff, and he literally puts himself at risk to get the shot. So there are very funny moments, but that moment with his wife watching him like that...I can’t imagine how she was doing."
• "I honestly, fortunately or unfortunately [laughs] had to do most of my own stunt. Mark sat me down after I agreed to be in the movie and said, “I want you to do most of your own stunt so we can get you in the camera; I want you to do every one that you feel comfortable doing.” I saw that as a challenge, and I get as much as the insurance company of the studio would let me do. But, that doesn’t take away from the stunt guys that were in the movie, because the stunt guys were fantastic. I got to do most of my own stunt, except for the really risky ones, like jumping from one car to another, I couldn’t do that. It takes a lot of training. Takes a lot of luck. My stunt guy actually hurt himself, and had to get another one when he did that. He was being thrown by Ghost Rider on another vehicle, and he mashed up his shoulders somehow, but he is fine now."
• "Nicholas [Cage] is one of the most giving and professional actors I have ever worked with, and he is definitely the most fearless. He has the ability to just follow his impulses, and his impulses are great as an actor, and so unique. Idris, what can I say about him: that guy is like a excellent crashman. He’s different from role to role, and again, he is inspiring as well. Ciarán Hins is a very soft-spoken man who plays the devil, and such a unique thing is that he is so powerful. And Violante [Placido], I know she is famous over there [in Italy]! She is such a beautiful spirit, and it comes across on screen, and I like being in her presence. She is such a unique talent, because she is very subtle, but she gets all the nuances in there. And this is just as far as it goes for Ghost Rider; it is such a big action movie, and I have not seen her work outside of that, but I can tell you beforehand that working with her is amazing, she is just beautiful and talented. And let’s not forget the little kid in the movie, Fergus Riordan: he is a really talented young kid. He is smart, funny and really sarcastic. I like him a lot!"
• "He's a sociopath with some anger management issues, and a few homicidal tendencies. But that's due to the job. He encounters the Ghost Rider, and it's unfairly matched [because he's] supernatural. So he gets a little bit of help from the Devil and becomes Blackout. It all comes to fruition, and he's just a badass. A psychopath who can eliminate you with a touch: turn you to art, so to speak!"