Johnny Knoxville says another Jackass movie is 'possible'

It’s been eight long years since Johnny Knoxville and his gang of misfits last unleashed a world of self-hurt and pranked their way into theaters with a Jackass movie. Knoxville again seeks comedic gain through actual pain in the big-screen comedy Action Point, starring as a crafty man named D.C. Carver who runs an anything-goes amusement park and finds himself thrilled and spilled by his own rides. And once again, the 47-year-old actor/producer/fearless fool did his own stunts, which resulted in a gaggle of injuries. (Four concussions, broken hand, lost teeth, you name it.)

Action Point — which opened poorly this weekend with a $2.3 million box office tally — also reunites him with one of his Jackass buddies, Chris Pontius, who plays a non-attentive lifeguard whose crotch has an unfortunate encounter with a squirrel. You might be asking yourself — after pondering such questions as “How is he still standing?” and “Why, God, why?” — if his next adventure might be a fuller reunion of Jackass, which began as a 2000-02 MTV series and whose third big-screen installment, 2010’s Jackass 3-D, grossed $170 million worldwide. Put simply: Will there ever be a Jackass 4?

“It’s possible, for sure,” Knoxville tells EW. “It’s not like we’re saying no. If we did do a new one, we’d have to bring in some new younger guys— just to bring some fresh blood into it. But it’s possible.” (Last year, Knoxville posted on social media that all of the Jackass stars — with the exception of Ryan Dunn, who died in a car accident in 2011 — had an “emotional” reunion for the first time in almost seven years.)

One thing is certain: Knoxville already has plenty of pranks and stunts kicking around his head. “I still write ideas down, just in case I get that twitch again,” he says. “We’re sitting on a ton of new ideas. There was so many that we didn’t get to shoot for Jackass 3. [Many unused bits that they did film wound up on 2011’s straight-to-video Jackass 3.5.] We have more ideas than we could shoot for Jackass 4, I’ll tell you that.”

So, what’s the big obstacle standing between Knoxville and another installment of pain? “Putting my family and friends through it,” answers Knoxville, who notes that the recent passing of his mother, Lemoyne Clapp, “did make [him] think a little” about his danger-courting ways. “It’s a comedy, but a few of my friends and family members are over that part of it. I totally understand where they’re coming from. I’ve been doing this for so long, it’s kind of tough to stop. … I gotta take care of myself, but God, I don’t want to stop. Am I sick?” He adds: “If we did Jackass 4, I would commit. But I may need to give my family a break for a second.”

Knoxville, who next stars with Emilia Clarke in the upcoming action thriller Above Suspicion, notes that Paramount — home to the Jackass franchise, the 2013 Jackass big-screen spin-off Bad Grandpa ($150 million worldwide gross), and Action Point — would “love” to see another Jackass. “But after what I went through on Action Point, I don’t think they’re even thrilled for me to do stunts,” he says. “I had a talk with them. They’re like, ‘Okay, can’t you give the stunts to some other guys?’ The stunts I went through on Action Point kind of knocked the wind out of some people, but I’m still motoring along.”

“I’m not saying never,” he sums up about another Jackass jaunt. “Never say never.”