Although the 64-year-old New York native mastered the art of using the jagged edge of his figure skates’ front blade after approximately three months of training, neither he nor his co-star successfully executed their championship-winning Pamchenko.

“The way it’s designed, I throw her, and then I stand still, and I catch her,” he explained to Entertainment Weekly in 2014. “And you can only do that if she’s Supergirl and she’s going to fly back to me. So it doesn’t make any sense at all.”

Professional figure skaters Sharon Carz and John Denton were brought in as body doubles, but a significant amount of movie magic was required to create the move.

“When I was spinning her around, it wasn’t actually Moira—it was a mannequin,” Sweeney remarked. “That worked out pretty well, except the wig kept flying off the mannequin. So you start thinking about things like, ‘How can I help the wig stay on the mannequin?’ instead of worrying about the impossibility of the trick.”

Of course, he excels in two areas, sweetheart, and skating is one of them. So, lace up those metaphorical skates because we’ve only just begun to uncover the film’s behind-the-scenes secrets.