By Amy Turner
Behind the actors in all of our favourite moves, are the stunt men and women who train with the intensity of professional athletes for a few seconds of on-screen glory. Georgie Blackwell is one upcoming stunt actor who you would not have known you saw in productions such as the popular series Australia: The Story of Us. We ask Georgie what it means to be a female stunt actor in Australia’s film industry.
Behind the actors in all of our favourite moves, are the stunt men and women who train with the intensity of professional athletes for a few seconds of on-screen glory. Georgie Blackwell is one upcoming stunt actor who you would not have known you saw in productions such as the popular series Australia: The Story of Us. We ask Georgie what it means to be a female stunt actor in Australia’s film industry.
How did you get into stunt acting?
“It was never something I planned; I didn’t even know that stunt performers existed. Growing up I assumed that actors did all their own stunts. I had seen daredevils at the country shows when I was a kid, and I wanted to be one of those guys that rode the motorcycle on the high-wire and that kind of thing. But I never thought that it was something that was achievable or that someone would pay me to do. So I got myself an office job, but I also joined Tony Lynch’s ‘Stunt Gym’ and it was through there that I got my first gigs.”
What does being a stunt actor involve?
“The most common thing that happens in stunts; falling over on your face. It’s probably what we mostly get paid to do. Where you’re just floating around in cold water or you’re hitting the deck or you’re falling down the stairs. Also training… training is constant, even between jobs. When you are on a job, you rehearse a scene for about a week before you get in front of camera and it’s over in a matter of about 45 seconds. Nailing it is such a great feeling, it’s the reason you get into the job really.”
Has the role of stunt actor changed at all?
“I believe back in the ‘70s there was a lot of glory in getting busted up, and it was all about how many bones you’d broken and what you’d survived. It was a really reckless game. The level and safety and professionalism we have now is new. The industry is also changing with visual effects now, we can do so much more so we can go bigger and better and greater than we ever could doing everything practically. But at the same time a lot of out work is being replaced with digital doubles.”
How do you feel about the fact that stunt acting is a male dominated industry?
“Part of the gender imbalance is necessity--there are more roles for the guys. [If] you’ve got a big war film, you need maybe a female nurse or two, but you need 40, 50, 60 guys to play soldiers. That, a lot of the time, is just the way it is. At the same time, there’s plenty of actresses out there that need doubling, so that’s not a problem, I think probably that less girls that are classed in the action roles, so there are less jobs available, but there are also a lot less of us competing for them.”
What do you like most about stunt acting?
“The massive adrenaline rush. Also, in ‘Australia [The Story of Us]’ It was a period drama set, so it was pretty cool to be in costume and have the whole special effects going off and everything, I was so excited about what I was about to do. I had to consciously calm myself down so I didn’t miss my mark or anything like that, but it is always such a thrill to do it [the stunts]. For me, I get to feel like a hero, even though you’re just a stunt person. You get to do this amazing fight choreography and whatever and you get to see everything come together. When the film comes out, no one knows it’s you anyway, so it’s really just me and my close family and my mum that see me as the hero and are proud of the work that I’ve done. To the rest of the world it’s all about the actor.”
You can watch Georgie at work here:
“It was never something I planned; I didn’t even know that stunt performers existed. Growing up I assumed that actors did all their own stunts. I had seen daredevils at the country shows when I was a kid, and I wanted to be one of those guys that rode the motorcycle on the high-wire and that kind of thing. But I never thought that it was something that was achievable or that someone would pay me to do. So I got myself an office job, but I also joined Tony Lynch’s ‘Stunt Gym’ and it was through there that I got my first gigs.”
What does being a stunt actor involve?
“The most common thing that happens in stunts; falling over on your face. It’s probably what we mostly get paid to do. Where you’re just floating around in cold water or you’re hitting the deck or you’re falling down the stairs. Also training… training is constant, even between jobs. When you are on a job, you rehearse a scene for about a week before you get in front of camera and it’s over in a matter of about 45 seconds. Nailing it is such a great feeling, it’s the reason you get into the job really.”
Has the role of stunt actor changed at all?
“I believe back in the ‘70s there was a lot of glory in getting busted up, and it was all about how many bones you’d broken and what you’d survived. It was a really reckless game. The level and safety and professionalism we have now is new. The industry is also changing with visual effects now, we can do so much more so we can go bigger and better and greater than we ever could doing everything practically. But at the same time a lot of out work is being replaced with digital doubles.”
How do you feel about the fact that stunt acting is a male dominated industry?
“Part of the gender imbalance is necessity--there are more roles for the guys. [If] you’ve got a big war film, you need maybe a female nurse or two, but you need 40, 50, 60 guys to play soldiers. That, a lot of the time, is just the way it is. At the same time, there’s plenty of actresses out there that need doubling, so that’s not a problem, I think probably that less girls that are classed in the action roles, so there are less jobs available, but there are also a lot less of us competing for them.”
What do you like most about stunt acting?
“The massive adrenaline rush. Also, in ‘Australia [The Story of Us]’ It was a period drama set, so it was pretty cool to be in costume and have the whole special effects going off and everything, I was so excited about what I was about to do. I had to consciously calm myself down so I didn’t miss my mark or anything like that, but it is always such a thrill to do it [the stunts]. For me, I get to feel like a hero, even though you’re just a stunt person. You get to do this amazing fight choreography and whatever and you get to see everything come together. When the film comes out, no one knows it’s you anyway, so it’s really just me and my close family and my mum that see me as the hero and are proud of the work that I’ve done. To the rest of the world it’s all about the actor.”
You can watch Georgie at work here:
Georgie Blackwell has proved that if you set your mind to something you can achieve amazing things, and also that sometimes a hobby can turn into a career. If you have an inspiring story about how you took your own hobby to a new level be sure to let us know.