Stuntwomen

by Mollie Gregory

  9. Ross, “High Fall Basics.”

  10. Holly Millea, “After the Fall,” Premiere, January 1996.

  11. Bernstein and Welkos, “In the Line of Duty.”

  12. Millea, “After the Fall.”

  13. Bernstein and Welkos, “In the Line of Duty.”

  14. Ross, “High Fall Basics,” 40–41.

  15. In addition to the stuntwomen mentioned in this chapter, others who began to work in the 1990s were Elle Alexander, Jane Austin, Zoe Bell, Cheryl Bermeo, Nicola Berwick, Dartenea Bryant, Danielle Burgio, Crystal Dalman, Shauna Duggins, Mary Fallick, Stephanie Finochio, Alisa Hensley, Eunice Huthart, Sonia Jo Izzolena-McDancer, Jennifer Lamb, Angela Meryl, Heidi Moneymaker, Heidi Pascoe, Jodi Pynn, Dana Michelle Reed, Bridgett Riley, Catherine Robert, Lori Seaman, Karin Silvestri, Jill Stokesberry, April Weedon Washington, Cheryl Wheeler-Dixon, and Darlene Williams.

  16. Lynn Salvatori’s tricky fall from the balcony was for Pure Luck (1991). Her other stunt credits include Switch, Strange Days, Titanic, and The Jackal; she was stunt coordinator for The Robber, Stranger in My House, Drive In, The Rose Technique, Nancy Drew, Girltrash: All Night Long, Séance, D.E.B.S., Lois and Clark, Kiss of a Stranger, Murderous Affair, and Prey for Rock and Roll.

  17. Nancy Thurston, a graduate of Illinois State University, doubled Hayden Panettiere in the pilot of Heroes and did stunts on Ally McBeal, Scrubs, Six Feet Under, Saving Grace, Sun of Morning, Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Beowulf, The Invasion, and Twilight. Jon Epstein’s credits as second-unit director or stunt coordinator include Miami Medical, CSI, Jake in Progress, and Alien Nation. Bob Brown, a world-champion high-diver, started in 1985; his credits include Death Race, Dark Water, Man on Fire, True Crime, Because I Said So, Underdog, and Babylon AD.

  18. Terry Gilliam directed The Fisher King, which was produced by Lynda Obst and Debra Hill, with associate producers Stacey Sher and Tony Mark. The highly praised film starred Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Mercedes Ruehl, and Amanda Plummer. Chris Howell had been a stunt coordinator since 1980 (Urban Cowboy) and a second-unit director since 1985 (Moonlighting).

  19. Leigh Hennessy has a master’s degree in communication and was cited in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the U.S. woman with the most national trampoline championship titles and for having the highest score in the women’s double mini-trampoline event at the World Trampoline Championships (that record has since been broken). A member of the United Stuntwomen’s Association, Leigh’s stunt credits include Planet of the Apes, The Guardian, Artificial Intelligence: AI, Charlie’s Angels, What Lies Beneath, and The 13th Warrior; she doubled Demi Moore in G.I. Jane and Leelee Sobieski in Deep Impact. Janet Orcutt, who did high falls, mentored Leigh early in her career.

  20. Kenny Bates was stunt coordinator for Transformers and The Italian Job and second-unit director for G-Force, The Hours, and Training Day.

  21. Leigh Hennessy performed this stunt for the “Fly Away” episode of Cold Case, which aired November 30, 2008.

  22. Lisa Hoyle’s many stunt credits include Zombieland, Lost, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Alias, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, Spider-Man 2, and Battle Los Angeles. She won the Taurus World Stunt Award for best fight in 2008 for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest; she was nominated for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Spider-Man 2, and National Treasure.

  23. Leigh Hennessy, “The Risk Gene: Stunt Performers and Borderline Personality Disorders,” Inside Stunts, Fall 2005.

  14. Stunt Fights

  1. Stuntwomen who worked on Charlie’s Angels (2000) included Lesley Aletter, Laura Alpert, Nina Armstrong, Jennifer Badger, Roberta Brown, Jennifer Caputo, Marta Cases, Laurie Creach, Lisa Dempsey, Annie Ellis, Donna Evans, Dana Dru Evenson, Courtney Farnsworth, Tanya Garcia-O’Brien, Dana Hee, Lisa Hoyle, Michiko Nishiwaki, Ming Qiu, Cheryl Wheeler-Dixon, and Boni Yanagisawa. Stuntwomen on Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle were Jennifer Caputo, Eliza Coleman, Annie Ellis, Debbie Evans, Anita Hart, Alisa Hemsley, Leigh Hennessy, Lisa Hoyle, Heidi Moneymaker, Julia Morizawa, Ming Qiu, Gloria O’Brien, and Boni Yanagisawa.

  2. Donna Evans and Shauna Duggins won the 2001 World Stunt Award for best specialty stunt. Their fight was intercut with a fight and fall off a decrepit structure in Carmel by Lucy Liu (doubled by Ming Qiu and Michiko Nishiwaki). Shauna’s earlier stunt work included That’s Life, Stop at Nothing, and Nash Bridges. After Charlie’s Angels she piled up the credits, stunt-coordinating 13 Going on 30, doubling Jennifer Garner in Alias from 2001 to 2005, and stunt-coordinating the show in 2005–2006.

  3. Loren Janes, “SAG Stunt Performers: The Professionals,” Screen Actor, Fall 1992.

  4. Vic Armstrong was stunt coordinator for Total Recall. In addition to Donna Evans, stuntwomen May Boss, Simone Boiseree, Jeannie and Stephanie Epper, Chere Bryson, Dana Dru Evenson, Marcia Holley, and Cherie Tash worked on the movie. Evans also doubled Sharon Stone in Casino, Diabolique, and Basic Instinct.

  5. Ming Qiu’s stunt credits include Angels & Demons, Rush Hour, Transformers, The King of Fighters, and The Last Airbender. In 1996 she won the Forms and Weapons Division of the Grand National Karate Championships. Other stuntwomen with expertise in martial arts include Karen Shepard, Li Jing, and Caryn Mower (also a professional wrestler).

  6. Michiko Nishiwaki, stuntwoman and fight choreographer. Her credits include Red Corner, Collateral, Brave New World, Rush Hour 2, and Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.

  7. “Ming Lui [Qiu] Wushu Athlete,” WushuKicks.com.

  8. Stuntwomen Donna Evans, Shauna Duggins, Ming Qiu, Dana Hee, Eileen Weisinger, and Marta Casey and pilots Joey Box and David Paris won an award for best aerial work for the helicopter sequence in Charlie’s Angels.

  9. Danny Aiello III (1956–2010) was an actor (The Wanderers, The Natural) and a stunt coordinator or second-unit director for many films and TV series, including Sex and the City, H.E.L.P., The Job, Life on Mars, Royal Pains, Diabolique, and Angels in America. He directed and produced the TV series Dellaventura and The Untouchables and the feature film 18 Shades of Dust (aka Hitman’s Journal).

  10. Stuntwoman and martial artist Li Jing has worked on Entourage, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Rush Hour 3, and The Last Airbender.

  11. Aiello was referring to a scene in “Happy,” from the second season of Rescue Me. Stephanie Finochio, who is also a professional wrestler, has a BBA in accounting, a BA in psychology, and a master’s degree in education; she was a member of Psi Chi Honor Society. Her stunt credits include Burn after Reading, Awake, The Bourne Ultimatum, Sex and the City, Taxi, War of the Worlds, Spider-Man 2, Duplicity, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

  12. Dorenda Moore’s stunt credits include Ritual, Strange Ways, The Convent, Thor, and Planet of the Apes; she stunt-coordinated Kamen Rider: Dragon Night, RCVR, and Serial Killing 4 Dummys. On Mr. Deeds, Moore and Albee were nominated for a World Stunt Award for best overall stunt by a stuntwoman.

  13. Shawnna Thibodeau’s credits include Rabbit Hole, Rum Diary, She’s Out of My League, Men in Black III, Premium Rush, Spider-Man 3, The Interpreter, Oz, and New York Minute. She was also in The Bourne Ultimatum, which won a SAG Award for outstanding performance by a stunt ensemble in 2008.

  14. Actor-writer-director Quentin Tarantino’s other credits include Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Grindhouse, Death Proof, Jackie Brown, True Romance, and Four Rooms.

  15. The fight was nominated for two World Stunt Awards in 2004: best fight and best overall stunt by a woman. Other stuntwomen on Kill Bill were Ming Qiu, Lisa McCullough, Cheryl Bermeo, Michiko Nishiwaki, Jeannie Epper, and Shauna Duggins.

  16. Angela Meryl has also doubled Gabrielle Union, Vanessa Williams, and Beyoncé. Meryl is an expert in tae kwon do as well as explosions, high falls, and precision driving. Her credits include Coyote Ugly, Shaft, Cradle 2 the Grave, Alias, Freedomland, Ugly Betty, Law & Order, Heroes, NCIS: Los Angeles, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World�
��s End.

  17. Shanti Sosienski, “Women Who Love Danger,” Marie Claire 10, no. 9 (September 2003): 117.

  18. Monica Staggs, a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, has performed stunts in Red Dragon, Bug, Thieves, The Glass House, Swordfish, Angel’s Dance, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Cedar Rapids, Isolation, and True Blood; she was stunt coordinator for White Oleander, Out for Blood, War Eagle, Arkansas, and Hard Times. She also writes poetry and screenplays.

  19. Zoe Bell’s other credits include Inglorious Bastards, The Extreme Team, Bitch Slap, Death Proof, and Grindhouse.

  20. Double Dare was produced by Danielle Renfrew and Karen Johnson.

  21. Jason William McNeill, “Zoe Bell: Dying for Her Close-up,” Inside Stunts, Summer 2007.

  22. Amy Murphy, “Inside the Head of Zoe Bell,” www.whoosh.org/issue87/bell1.html (March 2004).

  23. For Kill Bill Volume 2, Woo-ping Yuen was fight and stunt coordinator; Keith Adams was stunt coordinator. In 2005 Monica Staggs and Zoe Bell won the World Stunt Award for best fight and best overall stunt by a stuntwoman.

  15. Car Stunts

  1. Tracy Keehn Dashnaw also doubled Kim Basinger on The Getaway, My Stepmother Is an Alien, Cellular, The Real McCoy, and Cool World. Her other credits include Iron Man 2, Final Destination, 12 Rounds, The Fast and the Furious, Death Proof, and Grindhouse. Other stuntwomen in Bless the Child were Debbie Lee Carrington, Kym Kristalie, Jessica Meyer, Alison Reid, and Jennifer Vey.

  2. Hulk was produced by Gale Anne Hurd, who has delivered action roles for women in many films, including Terminator, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and Adventure Inc.

  3. Acker, Reel Women, 254.

  4. LaFaye Baker trained with Greg Elam, stunt coordinator–second-unit director of Deep Cover, The Color Purple, and The Ghosts of Mississippi. LaFaye’s first stunt, a near-miss with a car, was for the TV series In the Heat of the Night (1988–1994). In the music video she was doubling actress Lauren Hill (Entourage). Baker’s other credits include Set It Off, The Nutty Professor, Lawnmower Man 2, Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, Mission Impossible III, What’s Love Got to Do with It, The Thin Line between Love and Hate, Angels & Demons, True Crime, Hannibal, and Green Lantern.

  5. Laurie Creach’s credits include Breathless and Seabiscuit. The other stuntwomen on Hellhole were Pamela Bebermeyer, Chere Bryson, Cheryl E. Duncan, Glory Fioramonti, Linda Lee Franklin, Bonnie Happy, Candy Hoskins, Deseree Kerns, Paula Moody, and Dianne L. Wilson.

  6. Kimberly Shannon Murphy’s other credits include Enchanted, Star Trek (2009), One Shot, Savages, Premium Rush, Men in Black III, The Hunger Games, Chuck, Iceland, Wonder Woman (2011), Salt, The Box, Oblivion, Happy Endings, and Revenge. Other stuntwomen on I Am Legend were Jill Brown, Shawnna Thibodeau, Nicole Callender, Caroline Leppanen Vexler, Nina Armstrong, Angelina Cruz, Cheryl Lewis, and Jodi Pym; Wendy Leech Armstrong, Joey Box, and Douglas Crosby were assistant stunt coordinators.

  7. Anti-Gravity, based in New York, was founded by Christopher Harrison in 1990. The group has performed in theatrical and sports productions in twenty-five countries.

  8. Vince Cupone’s stunt credits include Meet Dave, Sex in the City, The David Letterman Show, The Sopranos, and Spider-Man 2; he was assistant or co-coordinator for Cupid, Castle, Dirty Sexy Money, and episodes of Rescue Me and stunt coordinator for Nobody’s Perfect, Pan Am, Adrift, Ring the Bell, Nexus, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Royal Pains, and Blue Bloods. Cupone has two Emmy nominations: in 2010 (with Danny Aiello) and in 2011 for stunt coordination.

  9. Chrissy Weathersby was nominated in 2008 for the World Stunt Award for her work on The Brave One. She began in the business in 2001; her credits include One on One, Mr. St. Nick, The Fast and the Furious, Wanda at Large, Wonder Woman (2011), X-Men: First Class, Larry Crowne, NCIS: LA, Hawthorne, The Undercovers, Man of the House, Terminator Salvation, Iron Man, Due Date, Memphis Beat, Takers, Inception, Southland, Big Time Rush, American Horror Story, Larry Crowne, and Californication.

  10. Conley, Full Burn, 115–18.

  11. In Death Proof, Tracie Thoms played Kim (doubled by Chrissy Weathersby and Tracy Keehn Dashnaw), Rosario Dawson played Abby (doubled by Crystal Santos), Mary Elizabeth Winstead played Lee, Monica Staggs played Lanna Frank, and Zoe Bell played herself. Other stuntwomen who worked on the two-feature Grindhouse were Dina L. Margolin, Malosi Leonard, Dana Reed, Boni Yanagisawa, and Karin Silvestri.

  12. Other stuntwomen on The Matrix Reloaded were Debbie Evans, Kelsee King-Devoreaux (doubling Jada Pinkett Smith), Danielle Burgio, Leesha Davis, and Tawny Marie Ellis. R. A. Rondell was supervising stunt coordinator; David Ellis was second-unit director, U.S.; Freddie Hice was stunt coordinator, second unit; Glen Boswell was stunt coordinator; and Chad Stahelski was martial arts stunt coordinator. In 2003 Annie Ellis also worked on CSI: Miami and thirteen other movies, including 2 Fast 2 Furious and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.

  13. See Conley, Full Burn, 107–12.

  14. Debbie Evans has won several World Stunt Awards: best work with a vehicle in 2011 for Date Night, best overall stunt by a woman in 2007 for Superman Returns, best specialty stunt (shared with Anita Hart, Christine Anne Baur, Jill Brown, Henry Kingi, and others) in 2005 for Taxi, and two awards for The Fast and the Furious in 2002—best stunt by a stuntwoman and best driving.

  15. Other splendid stuntwomen who haven’t been mentioned here include Jill Stokesberry (who doubles Jodie Foster), Eunice Huthart and Nicola Berwick (who double Angelina Jolie), Corry Glass, Jeri Habberstad, Jennifer Lamb-Hewitt, and Kelly Dent.

  16. Computer-Generated Imagery and the Future of Stunt Work

  1. The other credits of Douglas Trumbull, a director, producer, and special photographic effects supervisor, include The Andromeda Strain, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Silent Running, and The Tree of Life. Terry Clotiaux worked for the Showscan Company’s visual effects entity, the Chandler Group, as executive producer of The Shadow, Batman Returns, and Batman Forever. He also served as visual effects producer on ID4, Godzilla, The Matrix Revolutions, Alexander, Volcano, Monkeybone, and Spider-Man 3. In 2009 he became president, visual effects worldwide, for Prime Focus Group; in 2013 he became president of Digital Domain 3.0.

  2. Stuntwomen who began in the 2000s include Nicole Callender, Kimberly Shannon Murphy, Stacey Carino, Ming Qiu, Luci Romberg, Chrissy Weathersby Ball, Candace Jwaundace, Carolyn Day, Lahi Gelera, Angela Uyeda, Jeri Habberstad, Natascha Hopkins, Li Jing, Caroline Leppanen-Veder, Karine Mauffrey, Jade Quon, and Ramsey Scott.

  3. Melissa Stubbs’s recent credits as stunt coordinator include Alcatraz, Mr. Young, Missing, Marmaduke, The Secret Circle, and Hellcats; she was second-unit director for Hunt to Kill, License to Wed, New York Minute, and My Bloody Valentine.

  4. Alison Reid was stunt coordinator for Phase One, Beauty and the Beast, Skins, King, Being Erica, and Combat Hospital; she was second-unit director for D.C. 9/11: Time of Crisis, Highlander, The Raven, and The Third Twin; and producer-director of Seccubus and The Baby Formula.

  5. Denise DiNovi produced Edward Scissorhands, Little Women, Sudbury, Catwoman, New York Minute, You’re Not You, Crazy Stupid Love, and Life as We Know It.

  6. Shauna Duggins was second-unit director for What about Brian? She coordinated episodes of Brothers and Sisters, Fringe, Family Man, The Madness of Jane, and Anatomy of Hope.

  7. Other stuntwomen on the “Reprisal” episode of Alias included Karin Silvestri, Lisa Hoyle, and Heidi Pascoe.

  8. Stacey Carino also duked it out with Zoe Bell in “Solo,” a 2005 episode of Alias.

  9. On Crossing Jordan, Luci Romberg worked on “Dead Again” in 2007; Stacey Carino doubled Jill Hennessy for eight episodes in 2005–2006.

  10. Natascha Hopkins’s credits include Transformers, Project X, Venom, Sky High, Spider-Man 3, and the TV series ER, The Shield, American Heiress, and Heroes.

  11. Luci Romberg’s credits include Zombieland, Ten, Run, Sparks, Project X
, Dragon Age: Redemption, Green Lantern, Parenthood, Castle, Trance, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Jennifer Caputo has worked on Charlie’s Angels, The Fast and the Furious, Catwoman, Thor, War of the Worlds, and the TV series Monk, Cold Case, and Crossing Jordan.

  12. Annie Ellis stunt-coordinated Bare Knuckles, Snakes on the Plane, Park, and Homeward Bound 2.

  13. In 1991 the Screen Actors Guild also included 101 Asian Pacific, 160 Latino/Hispanic, and 34 Native American stunt performers. By 2005, SAG had 6,595 stunt performers; of these, 5,295 were Caucasian, 511 were African American, 319 were Hispanic, 317 were Asian, and 40 were Native American. Seventy-five percent were male.

  14. SAG statement regarding the Alliance for Stunt Performers of Color. Marvin Walters wrote Awakening Giant (1995), an informative history of African Americans in the film industry. His stunt-coordinating credits include The River Niger, The Dogs of War, Shaft’s Big Score, Eve’s Bayou, Flag, and the TV series Nobody’s Perfect, Delta House, Magnum P.I., and Heart of Darkness.

  15. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, “Protestors Say White Stunt Workers Favored,” Los Angeles Times, September 28, 1999; Marvin Walters, “The Coalition of Black Stuntmen and Women Inform Black Press of Hiring Bias,” October 5, 1999, www.exodusnews.com. According to Walters’s 1999 press release, of SAG’s 2,227 stunt people, only about 65 were African American.

  16. Here is a sampling of the African American stuntwomen who began working in the 1980s and 1990s: Kelsee King-Devoreaux’s credits include Hawthorne, Clueless, The Italian Job, American Dreams, Terminator Salvation, Collateral, and The Matrix Reloaded. She coproduced Hollywood at Its Best and regularly doubles Jada Pinkett Smith. Sharon Schaffer started in 1980 and did stunts for twenty-five years, including her work on Crossing Jordan, Freedom Writers, Another Stakeout, Colors, Out for Justice, D.C. Cab, Burglar, The Pineapple Express, Metro, Kindergarten Cop, Lambada, American Me, Alien Nation, Scarface, and The Star Chamber. She is also an accomplished swimmer, scuba diver, surfer, and stunt driver. Since 1996, April Weeden-Washington has worked on Eraser, Crash, Minority Report, True Blood, Ugly Betty, My Name Is Earl, Drive, Lethal Weapon 4, Baggage Claim, and Community; she stunt-coordinated Hidden Blessings, Show Stopper, and Billie’s and regularly doubles Tamala Jones, Robin Givens, and Regina Hall. In 2004 she won the Trailblazer Award from Cine Noir.