 Pyrotechnics stunt exhibition by "Giant Auto Rodéo" inCiney, Belgium | |
| Occupation | |
|---|---|
| Names | Stunt performer, stuntman, daredevil |
Activity sectors | Entertainment |
| Description | |
| Competencies | Physical fitness, daring, acting skills |
Fields of employment | Film, television, theatre |
Related jobs | Stunt double,stunt coordinator,actor,movie star,extra |
Astunt performer, often called astuntman orstuntwoman and occasionallystuntperson orstunt-person, is a trained professional who performsdaring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed to adaredevil, who performs for a live audience. When they take the place of another actor, they are known asstunt doubles.
A stunt performer is an actor skilled in both choreographing and safely presenting actions on-screen that appear to be dangerous, risky, or even deadly. Stunts frequently performed include car crashes, falls from great height, drags (for example, behind a horse), and the consequences of explosions.[1][2][3]
There is an inherent risk in the performance of all stunt work. There is maximum risk when the stunts are performed in front of a live audience. In filmed performances, visible safety mechanisms can be removed by editing. In live performances the audience can see more clearly if the performer is genuinely doing what they claim or appear to do. To reduce the risk of injury or death, most often stunts are choreographed or mechanically rigged so that, while they look dangerous, safety mechanisms are built into the performance. Despite their well-choreographed appearance, stunts are still very dangerous and physically testing exercises.[1][2]
From its inception as a professional skill in the early 1900s to the 1960s, stunts were most often performed by professionals who had trained in that discipline prior to entering the movie industry.[3] Current film and television stunt performers must be trained in a variety of disciplines, including martial arts andstage combat, and must be a certified trained member of a professional stunt performers organisation first in order to obtain the necessaryinsurance to perform on the stage or screen.[3] This allows them to better break down and plan an action sequence, physically prepare themselves, and incorporate both the safety and risk factors in their performances.[3] However, even when executed perfectly, there is still strain and performing stunts often results in unplanned injury to the body.[3]
Daredevils are distinct from stunt performers andstunt doubles; their performance is of the stunt itself, without the context of a film or television show. Daredevils often perform for an audience. Live stunt performers includeescape artists,sword swallowers, glass walkers,fire eaters,trapeze artists, and many othersideshow andcircus arts. They also include motorcycle display teams and the once popularWall of Death. TheJackass films and television series are well-known and prominent recorded examples of the act in modern cinematography.
Some people act as both stunt performers and daredevils at various parts of their careers. Examples includeBuster Keaton andHarry Houdini;Hong Kong action film starsJackie Chan,Sammo Hung,Yuen Biao,Michelle Yeoh andMoon Lee; Indian film actorsJayan,Akshay Kumar,Tiger Shroff andPawan Kalyan; Thai actorTony Jaa; and Indonesian film actorIko Uwais.
The earliest stunt performers were travelling entertainers andcircus performers, particularly trainedgymnasts andacrobats. The origin of the original name, the French wordcascadeur, derivates fromcascade which is an archaic French term for "fall" (from French cascade, from Italian cascata, from cascare “to fall”).[1]
Later, in the German and Dutch circus use of the wordKaskadeur, it meant performing a sequential series of daring leaps and jumps without injury to the performer. This acrobatic discipline required long training in the ring and perfect body control to present a sensational performance to the public.[4]
The wordstunt was more formally adopted during the 19th-century travellingvaudeville performances of the earlyWild West shows, in North America and Europe. The first and prototypical Wild West show wasBuffalo Bill's, formed in 1883 and lasting until 1913. The shows, which involved simulated battles with the associated firing of both guns and arrows, were a romanticized version of theAmerican Old West.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries,stage combat scenes of swordplay in touring theatrical productions throughout Europe, theCommonwealth of Nations and North America were typically created by combining several widely known, generic routines known as "standard combats". During the late 19th and early 20th centuries,fencing masters in Europe began to research and experiment withhistorical fencing techniques, with weapons such as thetwo-handed sword,rapier, andsmallsword, and to instruct actors in their use.[5]
Notable among these revivalist instructors were George Dubois, a fight director and martial artist fromParis who created performance fencing styles based ongladiatorial combat as well as Renaissancerapier and dagger fencing.Egerton Castle and CaptainAlfred Hutton were part of a widerVictorian era group based in London, involved in revivinghistorical fencing systems. Circa 1899–1902, Hutton taught stage fencing classes for actors via theBartitsu Club, where he also served on the Board of Directors and learned the basics ofjujutsu and the Vigny method ofstick fighting from his fellow instructors.[5]
By the early 1900s, the motion picture industry was starting to fire-up on both sides of theAtlantic Ocean, but had no need for professional stunt performers.[1] First, motion pictures were so new that even if the producer had a budget for performers, there were more than enough applicants willing to do the scene for free. For instance, if you needed a shot of someone on a steel beam 1,000 feet (300 m) up on a New York skyscraper, then there was always some willing to do the scene for real, and often for free. Second, theSpanish–American War had just ended, and there were many young men who were physically fit and trained in the handling of firearms looking for some work. Thirdly, the former wild west was now not only tamed, but also starting to be fenced in, greatly reducing the need for and pay of the formercowboys.[1][6]
The first picture which used a dedicated stunt performer is highly debated, but occurred somewhere between 1903 and 1910.[1] The first possible appearance of a stunt-double was Frank Hanaway inThe Great Train Robbery, shot in 1903 inMilltown, New Jersey.[2][6] The first auditable paid stunt was in the 1908 filmThe Count of Monte Cristo, with $5 paid by the director to the acrobat who had to jump upside down from a cliff into the sea.[4]
Professional daredevil,Rodman Law, was a trick parachutist known to thousands for climbing the side of buildings and parachuting out aeroplanes and off of tallbase objects like the Statue of Liberty. Some of his stunts were filmed by newsreel cameras and media still photographers. Law was brought into movies in 1912 to perform some of his stunts as the hero.
As the industry developed in the West Coast aroundHollywood,California, the first accepted professional stuntmen were clowns and comedians likeCharlie Chaplin,Buster Keaton and theKeystone Cops.[3] The reason for this was that staple diet of the early films was an almost continual roll call of pratfalls, high dives and comedy car wrecks – the basic ingredients of a circus clown's routine.[3] But much like their circus-based predecessors, these actors/stuntmen were not specifically trained to perform stunts, but instead learned through trial and error.[1][2]
From 1910 onwards, American audiences developed a taste for action films, which were replicated into successful serials.[7] These mostly western-themed scripts required a lot of extras, such as for a galloping cavalry, a band of Indians or a fast-riding sheriff's posse; all of whom needed to proficiently ride, shoot and look right on camera.[6]
Producers also kept pushing the directors calling for riskier stunts using a recurring cast, necessitating the use of dedicated stunt doubles for most movie stars.[1][2] The directors turned to the current rodeo stars for inspiration for their action scenes, and employed former cowboys as extras who not only brought with themselves the right look and style, but also rodeo techniques that included safe and replicable horse falls.[2]
Early recruits includedTom Mix, who after winning the 1909 National Riding and Rodeo Championship, worked for theSelig Polyscope Company inEdendale. Mix made his first appearance inThe Cowboy Millionaire in October 1909, and then as himself in the short documentary film titledRanch Life in the Great Southwest in which he displayed his skills as a cattle wrangler. Mix eventually performed in over 160 cowboy matinee movies during the 1920s, and is considered by many as the first matinee cowboy idol.[6]
The recruitment venture was aided in 1911 by the collapse of theMiller-Arlington rodeo show, which left many rodeo performers stranded inVenice, California. One of them was the young Rose August Wenger, who married and was later billed asHelen Gibson, recognised as the first American professional stunt woman.[8]Thomas H. Ince, who was producing for theNew York Motion Picture Company, hired the entire show's cast for the winter at $2,500 a week. The performers were paid $8 a week and boarded in Venice, where the horses were stabled. They then rode the 5 miles (8.0 km) each day to work inTopanga Canyon, where the films were being shot. In 1912, Helen made $15 a week for her first billed role asRuth Roland's sister inRanch Girls on a Rampage.[9] After marryingEdmund Richard "Hoot" Gibson in June 1913, the couple continued working rodeos in the summer and as stunt doubles in the winter in California, most often forKalem Studios inGlendale, California.[10] In April 1915 while on the Kalem payroll doubling forHelen Holmes inThe Hazards of Helenadventure filmseries, Helen performed what is thought to be her most dangerous stunt: a leap from the roof of a station onto the top of a moving train in theA Girl’s Grit episode. The distance between station roof and train top was accurately measured, and she practiced the jump with the train standing still. In the actual shoot, with the train's accelerating velocity timed to the second, she leapt without hesitation and landed correctly, but with forward motion she rolled forward, saving herself from injury and improving the shot by catching hold of an air vent and dangling over the edge. She suffered only a few bruises.[11]
Eventually, the out of work cowboys and out of season rodeo riders, and the directors/producers, figured out a system for the supply of extras. Aspeakeasy calledThe Watering Hole was located close to a Los Angeles locatedcorral called the Sunset Corral.[6] Every morning, the cowboys would congregate atThe Watering Hole, where the directors would send over their assistants to hire for the following day. The cowboys would then dress in their normal riding clothes (unless told otherwise, for which they were paid extra), and ride to the set, most of which were located to the north in the vicinity of theSan Fernando Valley.[6] These "riding extras" jobs paid $10 per day plus a box lunch, and most were only hired on a per day basis.[6] These early cowboy actors eventually gained the nicknameThe Gower Gulch Gang, as many of the small studios cranking out westerns were located on Gower Avenue.[6]
Subsequently, a number of rodeo stars entered the movie industry on a full-time basis, with many "riding extras" eventually becoming movie stars themselves, including:[1][2]Hank Bell (300 films, between 1920 and 1952);Bill Gillis;Buck Jones;Jack Montgomery (initially worked as Tom Mix's body-double); andJack Padjeon (first appeared in 1923, playedWild Bill Hickok in theJohn Ford directedThe Iron Horse in 1924).[6] But the best known stuntman turned star was probablyYakima Canutt, who with his apprentices – who includedJohn Wayne[4] – devised during the 1930s new safety devices, including: the 'L'stirrup which allowed a rider to fall off a horse without getting hung in the stirrup; and cabling equipment to cause spectacular wagon crashes, while releasing the team. A focus on replicable and safe stunts saved producers money and prevented lost down-time for directors through reduced accidents and injury to performers.[2] Stuntmen were now an integral part of a film's drawing power, helping to fill cinemas with thrill seeking patrons anxious to see the new Saturday matinee.[3]
Producer/actorHarold Lloyd's filmSafety Last! of 1923, is often considered one of the first to deploy thought-through safety devices and pre-planning in the execution of its filming and stunts. In the script, Lloyd's "country boy" character goes to the city to be a success, and ends up climbing a tall building as a stunt. Critics at the time claimed it to be the most spectacular daredevil thrill comedy.
The entire stunt sequence was shot on location at the Atlantic Hotel on theBroadway in Los Angeles (demolished 1957), at actual heights. But the films directorsFred C. Newmeyer andSam Taylor planned into two safety features:
ProducerHal Roach and Lloyd had been forced into the costs of planning and construction of these safety devices, as simply without them the city commissioners had refused the production afilm permit.[citation needed] Lloyd, ever curious, decided after filming had completed to use a life-size cotton-filled dummy to see what the effect of an accident would have been should they have needed to use the required safety devices. On seeing the results, he didn't film another production without them.[4]
In 1983 in his personal homage to Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd calledProject A,Jackie Chan repeats some of the most famous scenes from the early film era, including Lloyd's clock scene fromSafety Last! While Lloyd only hanged from the tower, Chan took it a step further and actually fell from the tower.[12][13]
Swashbuckler films were a unique genre of action movies, utilising the earlier developed art ofcinematic fencing, a combination of stage combat and fencing. The most famous of these were the films ofDouglas Fairbanks, which defined the genre. The stories came from romantic costume novels, particularly those ofAlexandre Dumas andRafael Sabatini, and included triumphant, thrilling music.[14] There were three great cycles of swashbuckler films: the Douglas Fairbanks period from 1920 to 1929; theErrol Flynn period from 1935 to 1941; and a period in the 1950s heralded by films, includingIvanhoe (1952) andThe Master of Ballantrae (1953), and the popularity of the British television seriesThe Adventures of Robin Hood (1955–1959).[15]
The preference to employ ready existing professionals from outside the film industry, either as performers or doubles, continued in the period both up to and beyondWorld War II, when again the industry was awash with young, fit men looking for work.[1][2] However, in 1958Thunder Road starringRobert Mitchum,[16] with stunt coordinatorCarey Loftin and a stunt team includingRay Austin, Neil Castes Sr.,Robert Hoy, andDale Van Sickel, introduced the era of thecar chase movie. With the later development of modern action movie, the accident rate of both stunt performers and movie stars started to quickly increase.[3] The stunt performers took action to professionalise their industry, with the creation of new stunt performer run registration, training, certification, and booking agencies.[3]
In the 1960s, modern stunt technology was developed, includingair rams,air bags, andbullet squibs.Dar Robinson invented the decelerator during this period, which used dragline cables rather than airbags for stunts that called for a jump from high places.[17] The co-development of this technology and professional performance training continues to evolve to the present, brought about through the need to not only create more visual impact on screen in the modern action movie era.[3] It also provides a safe platform to a new breed of trained professional stunt performers, includingBill Hickman,Terry Richards, and motorcycle greatsBud Ekins andEvel Knievel. These new professionals were not only driven to create visual impact, but also perform seemingly impossible feats in a safe and repeatable manner.[3] Latterly came the fast actionMartial arts movies as a distinct genre, originating for western consumption mainly fromHong Kong from the 1940s, choreographed and later acted in by stunt performers turned stars includingBruce Lee andSonny Chiba from the 1960s, Kent Norman "Superkentman" Elofson, and latterlyJackie Chan.[3]
In 1982,Jackie Chan began experimenting with elaboratestunt action sequences inDragon Lord,[18] which featured a pyramid fight scene that holds the record for the mosttakes required for a single scene, with 2900 takes,[19] and the final fight scene where he performs various stunts, including one where he does aback flip off aloft and falls to the lower ground.[20] In 1983,Project A saw the official formation of theJackie Chan Stunt Team and added elaborate, dangerous stunts to the fights and typical slapstick humor (at one point, Chan falls from the top of a clock tower through a series of fabric canopies).
Police Story (1985) contained many large-scale action scenes, including an opening sequence featuring a car chase through ashanty town, Chan stopping adouble-decker bus with his service revolver and a climactic fight scene in a shopping center. This final scene earned the film the nickname "Glass Story" by the crew, due to the huge number of panes ofsugar glass that were broken. During a stunt in this last scene, in which Chan slides down a pole from several stories up, the lights covering the pole had heated it considerably, resulting in Chan sufferingsecond-degree burns, particularly to his hands, as well as a back injury and dislocation of his pelvis upon landing.[21] Chan performed similarly elaborate stunts in numerous other films, such as severalPolice Story sequels,Project A Part II, theArmor of God series,Dragons Forever,Drunken Master II andRumble in the Bronx among others.
OtherHong Kong action movie stars who became known for performing elaborate stunts include Chan'sPeking Opera School friendsSammo Hung andYuen Biao, as well as "girls with guns" stars such asMichelle Yeoh andMoon Lee. OtherAsian cinema stars also known for performing elaborate stunts include Thai actorTony Jaa; Indonesian actorsIko Uwais andYayan Ruhian; and Indian actorsJayan,Ajith Kumar,Akshay Kumar,Puneeth Rajkumar,Vidyut Jammwal andTiger Shroff.
There is noOscar category for stunt performance, but in 1967,Yakima Canutt was awarded anAcademy Honorary Award for his stunt career.Hal Needham joined him in 2012, whileJackie Chan was awarded one in 2016 with his "inventive stunt work" being cited.[1][2] TheAcademy of Television Arts and Sciences awards anEmmy forstunt coordinators.
TheTaurus World Stunt Awards gives stunt people their own annual awards, but also through itsfoundation offers financial support to stunt men around the world who have been injured while on the job.[1][2]
Although the stories that stuntmen died while filmingBen Hur andWhere Eagles Dare are apocryphal, life-threatening injuries and deaths do occur. Contracts often stipulate that the footage may be used if the performer is injured or dies during filming, and some filmmakers such as Jackie Chan consider it disrespectful not to do so.[22]
AUniversity of Illinois study from the 1980s[23] lists accidents and fatalities from films during that era, concluding that it seemed probable that the tendency of film audiences to be interested in ever more dangerous film stunts would likely see increasing fatality rates.[24]
| Year | Production | Stunt performer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | The Horse Soldiers | Fred Kennedy | Late in the film, whileJohn Wayne's raidingUnion Army troop are fleeing theConfederate Army, a stuntman falls from his horse during the scene where a bridge is blown up. The cause of death was the fall rather than the explosion. Kennedy was a good friend of directorJohn Ford, who was devastated by the death.[22] |
| 1960 | Flower on the Stone | Inna Burduchenko | Burduchenko's character was saving theRed banner from a burning shack. The wooden shack collapsed during filming and she received severe burns, covering 78% of her body. She died two weeks later from her injuries. She was in her third month of pregnancy.[25] |
| 1965 | The Flight of the Phoenix | Paul Mantz | Reputedly the best stunt pilot in the history of Hollywood.[22] On July 8, 1965, while flying the unusualTallmantz Phoenix P-1 built especially for the film, Mantz struck a small hillock while skimming over a desert site inArizona for a second take. As he attempted to recover by opening the throttle to its maximum, the over-stressed aircraft broke in two and nosed over into the ground, killing Mantz instantly. Bobby Rose, a stuntman standing behind Mantz in the cockpit and representing a character played byHardy Kruger, was seriously injured. Thirteen years later, Mantz's business partnerFrank Tallman also died in an aviation accident. |
| Director | Yevgeni Urbansky | On November 5, 1965, on the set, 40 km fromBukhara, a scene was shot of a motorcade driving through the sands. Following the screenplay, the car driven by Urbansky rushed through the dunes, jumping from one of the dunes. The first take went fine, but the retake saw the car suddenly roll over in the air. Urbansky died from injuries on his way to the hospital.[26] | |
| 1966 | Le Saint prend l'affût | Gil Delamare | While filming on a portion ofhighway which was under construction, Delamare, who was doubling forJean Marais, had a spin in aRenault Caravelle convertible, which overturned and killed him. |
| 1967 | Les Grandes Vacances | Jean Falloux | Killed while filming an aerial stunt. The film is dedicated to him |
| 1969 | Shark! | José Marco | During production, while doubling forBurt Reynolds and approaching what was supposed to be a sedated shark, Marco was attacked and subsequently died of his injuries. When the production company used the death to promote the film (even re-titling the film toShark!),[27] directorSamuel Fuller, who had been arguing with the producers on several major issues relating to the film, quit the production.[27][28] |
| 1978 | Steel | A. J. Bakunas | Died performing a stunt fall fromKincaid Towers. Although Bakunas completed the stunt perfectly, he was mortally wounded when the airbag he made his landing on split. He died the following day in hospital. |
| 1980 | Kolilakkam | Jayan | Died filming the climactic scene inSholavaram, nearChennai. After successfully filming the required three shots to show him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take, during which the helicopter lost its balance and crashed. Later succumbed to his injuries.[29] |
| 1982 | Twilight Zone: The Movie | Vic Morrow Myca Dinh Le Renee Shin-Yi Chen | Main article:Twilight Zone accident On the morning of 23 July 1982, actor Morrow and two children, Myca Dinh Le (age seven), and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (age six), were filming on location inVentura County, California, betweenSanta Clarita andPiru, under directorJohn Landis. An in-scene helicopter pursuing them was damaged bypyrotechnic explosions, causing it to crash and kill all three instantly.[30][31][32] |
| 1985 | Airwolf (TV series) | Reid Rondell | Died during a helicopter explosion on Jan. 18, 1985 while working on the show.[33] |
| 1985 | Top Gun | Art Scholl | The renowned aerobatic pilot was hired to do in-flight camera work. The original script called for aflat spin, which Scholl was to perform and capture on a camera on the aircraft. The aircraft was observed to spin through its recovery altitude, at which time Scholl radioed "I have a problem... I have a real problem". He was unable to recover from the spin and crashed hisPitts S-2 into thePacific Ocean nearCarlsbad on September 16, 1985. Neither Scholl's body nor his aircraft were recovered, leaving the official cause of the accident unknown.[34]Top Gun was dedicated to the memory of Art Scholl.[35] |
| 1986 | Million Dollar Mystery | Dar Robinson | After completing the main stunt, Robinson dismissed emergency medical staff from the set. Then, while filming a routine high speed run, he rode his stunt motorcycle past the braking point of a turn and straight off a cliff.[36][37] |
| 1987 | Skip Tracer | Vic Magnotta | After driving a car into theHudson River, Magnotta was killed after the windshield collapsed leaving him trapped inside.[22] |
| 1989 | Gone in 60 Seconds 2 | H. B. Halicki | Star and director of the originalGone in 60 Seconds (1974). While filming in Dunkirk andBuffalo, New York, a safety cable holding a 160 feet (49 m) tall water tower snapped, shearing off atelephone pole which fell and killed him instantly. The script eventually becameGone in 60 Seconds. |
| 1991 | Holdup! The Train Robbery | Yuri Gusev | During the filming Gusev sustained abasilar skull fracture. He died inTashkent on January 18, 1991, from the sustained injuries.[38] |
| 1993 | The Crow | Brandon Lee | Lee was killed by asquib load from an incorrectly loaded.44 Magnum gun, fired by actorMichael Massee's character.[39][40] The footage of his death was used as evidence in the following police investigation, then later destroyed as part of the lawsuit settlement.[41] |
| 1993 | 999 (TV series) | Tip Tipping | While recreating a luck-escape accident of a fellow parachutist for theBBC series, Tipping died in an accident atBrunton, Northumberland.[42] |
| 1994 | Vampire in Brooklyn | Sonja Davis | Killed while falling backwards off a 42 feet (13 m) wall inside a studio. The over inflated airbag acted like a balloon, so that she bounced off of it via the wall onto the studio floor. Spent 13 days in hospital in a coma before succumbing to her injuries.[43] |
| 1997 | Gone Fishin' | Janet Wilder | Janet Wilder was killed when a boat that was made to jump a ramp in one of the scenes landed on top of her. Wilder's husband and father-in-law were also injured.[44][45] |
| 1998 | The Crow: Stairway to Heaven | Marc Akerstream | While filming at Minaty Bay,Vancouver,British Columbia, he was hit by flying debris while observing an explosion of a rowboat. Subsequently, died of sustained head injuries. |
| 2000 | I Dare You: The Ultimate Challenge | Brady Michaels | Fell off of a ladder about 20 feet (6.1 m) from the ground while rigging a platform for a stunt he was going to perform. |
| 2000 | Exit Wounds | Chris Lamon | Suffered a head injury when jumping out of an upside-down van which was being towed along a street as part of a chase scene; he lost his footing and struck his head on the pavement. Another stuntman suffered a concussion in the same incident. Lamon died in a Toronto hospital six days later.[46] |
| 2002 | XXX | Harry O'Connor | While playingVin Diesel's double, was killed when he hit a pillar of thePalacky Bridge inPrague,parasailing during one of the action scenes. The accident occurred while filming the second take of the stunt; O'Connor's first attempt was completed without incident and can be seen in the completed film.[47] |
| 2009 | Red Cliff: Part II | Lu Yan Qing | While filming a scene in which a burning small boat intending to ram a larger boat, the fire quickly spread out of control, killing stuntman Lu Yanqing and injuring six others.[48] |
| 2009 | Invisible Eyes | Peyman Abadi | He died in 2009 in an accident during filming of the movieInvisible Eyes. |
| 2012 | The Expendables 2 | Kun Liu | Was killed, and another stuntman (Nuo Sun) was critically injured, in a staged explosion on a rubber boat.[49] |
| 2017 | Deadpool 2 | Joi Harris | She was killed while filming a motorcycle stunt, doubling as "Domino", when the bike she was driving crashed near theShaw Tower.[50] |
| 2017 | The Walking Dead | John Bernecker | He fell from 6 m (20 ft) high while performing a stunt. He missed the safety net by a few inches.[51] |
