00:01I don't know what I could do as a profession if I wasn't doing this job.
00:06I found out that people got paid to fight and flip.
00:09It was sort of the first time in my life I'd been like,
00:11I know what I want to do.
00:12The first time I got to go through glass,
00:14it felt so wrong and so right at the same time.
00:16It's about telling a story. It's not just about like showing off what's cool.
00:20I know a lot of people say to me, you know,
00:22but don't you want to be an actor?
00:23And I'm like, God, no, I don't want to be an actor.
00:24We get to do all the fun stuff.
00:33The thing that I really dug about Renee is she's such a perfectionist.
00:38She pushes herself really, really, really hard.
00:42So this morning we're here at Tempest Freerunning Gym in Hawthorne, California.
00:46I have a job coming up and there's possibly going to be some freerunning stuff.
00:50So I've been working with Sydney Olsen, competitive freerunner and stuntwoman.
01:02I really try to think of my performance and my skill as a business.
01:06And it takes a lot before you get to the spot where you're on set doing your work.
01:10It's kind of like in sports.
01:10You don't show up on game day and expect to be great at something.
01:13So I really try to take advantage of the time before a project
01:16because that's your time to, you know, maintain the skills that you have
01:19and also, you know, improve on stuff.
01:21This is pre-season.
01:26My favorite kinds of jobs are the ones with lots of prep
01:30where you're really creating the action and creating movement for the character.
01:34You're working really hands-on with the actors, the fight team
01:38and the coordinator all to create together this piece.
01:50The biggest misconception I think is that these characters we see on screen are all the actor.
01:56People are shocked when they say, oh, was Ant-Man and the Wasp the most physically demanding movie you've ever
02:00done?
02:00And I say, no, not at all because they carried most of the load.
02:03And it's hard for them to really, really wrap their head around the fact that one character can be such
02:10an enormous collaboration
02:11with such incredibly specialized and talented people contributing to my performance and to the realization of the character.
02:19For me, I really have been wanting to be a part of the movement and the fighting for Scarlet Witch.
02:26I know, like, Evangeline feels the same with her character.
02:29It was great to have Lizzie come to the training because then we put it like a sort of a
02:33book together.
02:34Yeah, of language.
02:35Of all the language as well as moves that were great that we could just throw in anywhere if it
02:40was changed on the fly.
02:41We've had to do that a lot.
02:42Yes.
02:42Where I would just, like, show up and you'd be like, I just choreographed this, this is what we're doing.
02:46I'm like, oh, okay.
02:48I was growing up with watching movies like Sigourney Weaver, Aliens, and then, you know, Linda Hamilton in Terminator, Terminator
02:552.
02:55Those were the characters that I looked up to.
02:58So I always knew I wanted to do something physical.
03:00I just didn't know what it was until I got into theater first.
03:03And then I realized there was a transition into film and stunts in particular.
03:08And then I went, how do I get there? What is the path for that?
03:16It's a lot of training in all kinds of things to be a stunt performer.
03:20You have your standard falls, you have your wrecks, and you also have your fight training that you have to
03:24do.
03:24You also have wire work training. There are so many avenues.
03:31My older sister's a stunt woman, so I've known about the industry and the job for a while, well before
03:36I was into it.
03:38Yes, that is our real last name. We were born with it.
03:42I actually approached her at one point and I said, you'd be very good at this and you'd do really
03:46well because there's a lot of taller actresses that don't have doubles that can do what you can do.
03:50Do you want to do this? And she was like, no, you're crazy.
03:53I was kind of like, I don't know. It might be your thing. I don't know.
03:56I don't want to do that crazy stuff. I don't want to fall down all day long.
03:58When I was done competing at gymnastics in college, there was a TV show that had just gotten picked up.
04:03I think it ended up being called Make It or Break It. It was a gymnastics TV show.
04:07When that show first came around, I think I did the pilot and I ended up doubling the main girl,
04:11who was taller than me, but it just worked out that I was doubling her.
04:14And I was like, oh, maybe I'll go be an extra on that show for the summer.
04:18So I called my sister and she was like, well, why don't I see if I can get you an
04:20audition?
04:20So I showed her tape to the producers and whatever and they decided to bring her in to do a
04:24promo for the show.
04:25And so she flew to L.A. and did this promo and they loved her so much that they asked
04:29her to come and be that double for the main girl.
04:31So it's kind of like I got to pass the torch.
04:33And it didn't take very long before I was like, this is what I need to be doing.
04:38We just worked on Captain Marvel together this last summer.
04:42The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2.
04:44I doubled Julianne Moore and she doubled Jennifer Lawrence.
04:47And so it was actually kind of sad in the end. She shot me in the heart with an arrow.
04:51Sometimes we have to separate ourselves because we'll just giggle and laugh and be obnoxious.
04:56And we're like, we're going to get in trouble.
04:58Rule number one, never take your eye off your opponent.
05:02Oh my God!
05:04I first met Heidi about 10 years ago.
05:07We were shooting Iron Man 2 and I had a very short period of time to train in.
05:12Being as I'd never like stepped foot in a gym and I had no experience at all with any sort
05:17of martial arts or anything like that.
05:18And Heidi was like my beacon of hope.
05:21She like lit the way and she was incredible.
05:23Heidi is so creative in her movement and all the movements really tell a story.
05:28These days it's more about being able to embody a character, physicalize a character.
05:34There's more creativity to the process rather than just being able to do a back flip or fall over or
05:38be hit by a car.
05:39Everything when you have a conversation with anyone, they're like, oh, we're trying to tell this part of the story
05:45and this is a lovers fight and this is love and loss and this is where we're going to have
05:50reversal.
05:50And I'm just thinking, well, shouldn't you just be making everyone look cool?
05:53But they're actually caring about telling the story as best as they can through fighting.
05:58Especially on a show like Buffy where so much of the fight sequence was a manifestation of emotion.
06:03And so you need stunt performers that are performers.
06:06So for me I always credit the character of Buffy not just to me but to both of these two
06:09because that character was a culmination of all three of us.
06:13The thing that's come to me actually through my relationship with Quentin is performances heightened in a stunt performer if
06:18willing to act also.
06:29On Kill Bill there's a sequence where the bride runs up a banister of the stairwell.
06:34We'd done it a couple of times and Quentin came over to me and effectively asked me what my motivation
06:38was.
06:38And I sort of laughed thinking he was joking because it was sort of a running joke for me with
06:43a bunch of the sort of athlete jock stunt people that I was around.
06:46That was sort of, what's your motivation to get paid? You know, that was sort of the joke that was
06:50running of it.
06:51But Quentin was sort of asking me what my motivation was as the bride and talked me through, you know,
06:55what's happened to her.
06:56And why does she need to get to those stairs? And why does she need to get to the person
06:59at the top of the stairs?
07:00And it was a real revelation for me that was me being part of that character meant that I needed
07:05to find the driving force for it rather than just executing it physically correctly.
07:09And it shifted the way that I perform as a stunt performer. And it's also, I mean, I wouldn't have
07:14acted in anything if it wasn't for him.
07:18Ultimately, if we were any part of shaping the path for other female shows, for women who could be strong,
07:26who could be sensitive, who could make mistakes and who could still kick some bleep, then I think we're just
07:32honored to have been a part of that progression.
07:34And I'm glad that we're still part of that discussion.
07:36So today we're going to work on the Iris versus the Mechanics wife fight. Let's just have the stunt performers
07:42show Candice once before she starts getting plugged into it.
07:44I was actually a professional athlete my whole life. I was an international gymnast on the Great Britain gymnastics team
07:51growing up.
07:51I was a professional boxer and I also competed in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. And so I kind
07:57of fell into stunts through my fight career.
07:59My ring announcer was actually a stuntman and he introduced me to the world and the community. And it was
08:04really nice to find a career and an industry that allowed me to use all of the skill set and
08:10the talents that I had acquired my whole life.
08:16Nice job, guys.
08:18One of the things that impresses me the most in watching her work is just her level of skill and
08:23how she takes every single moment and action so seriously.
08:29I was performing a stunt for a very popular television show and I had to jump 14 feet in four
08:34inch heels and land on my feet into a mat that was floating on the ocean.
08:39On my landing I tore all three of my ligaments and compressed my talus into my tibia and my joint
08:44locked up.
08:45The medical community told me I was never going to walk again and that my career was over.
08:49Because I was an athlete my whole life, I put a lot of my self-worth and my self-value
08:53on what I could accomplish with my physical body.
08:56So when my injury happened and my body got taken away, I fell into depression to be honest and I
09:03didn't know who I was anymore.
09:06So I really had to engage in the act of self-love and I had to go into a lot
09:11of deep introspection to just get to know me for who I really am and not what my physical body
09:18can accomplish.
09:19When I came back, people, they were just very supportive with my injury and if I wasn't able to do
09:24something we would maybe try to change the action a little bit or change the move so that I was
09:29able to perform it and still make it look awesome.
09:31So it's been an interesting journey.
09:34Yes, I think things have changed a little bit since years ago and women are much stronger now and we
09:40can do anything.
09:41We are having more women in the industry that are stunt coordinating now.
09:45Monique Ganderton is coordinating, Shawna Duggins is coordinating.
09:49There has been female coordinators but like a minutia.
09:52It does now feel like that's shifting.
09:54Ready and go, ready and go.
09:58For me, becoming the first female assistant stunt coordinator in Australia wasn't about proving something.
10:05It was just a natural progression for me professionally.
10:09And I know there's a little bit of pressure for me to become the first female stunt coordinator in Australia.
10:15But at the same time, I'm still performing. I'm still doubling amazing lead Marvel characters.
10:20And I don't want to step aside from that in order to pursue this other avenue just to make it
10:26happen.
10:26That being said, it needs to happen.
10:28There has to date never been a female stunt coordinator in the history of Australian filmmaking.
10:33And it will happen. It's just a matter of time.
10:37Things are changing for sure, but it is definitely a little more male dominated on set.
10:41I feel like sometimes if women come into this industry and they're not as confident or not as sure,
10:46they might have to deal with a bit more challenges because it kind of is a man's world in the
10:50film world.
10:51I have obviously been daily confronted with why are you choosing to put her behind the wheel rather than the
10:5716 other men that we have on the set.
10:58And fortunately, I've worked with people and have had bosses that have been like, well, she's the best person for
11:03the job.
11:03And she actually has more experience than all of those guys combined.
11:06So why wouldn't I put her behind the wheel?
11:08It's a lot of bros. You know, you have to be able to hang with the guys kind of thing.
11:10Sometimes I just, I just want to be around women.
11:12Like, I'll go somewhere and there's women there. I'm like, oh, thank God.
11:16This is my favorite part of the process. All three of us are so different.
11:19And yet we are three parts of the same whole.
11:22And the fact that we have each other on set because we are always surrounded by dudes.
11:27And I say dudes because, because that's what it feels like a lot of the time.
11:32It's just so nice to have camaraderie and it's nice to have this collaboration.
11:37And it's nice to meet and get to know capable, intelligent, powerful women who are excelling in their field and
11:44just killing it at life.
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