The Bumblebee stunt team showed up for rehearsals for the latest in the Transformers movie franchise. They were preparing to film the stunt. The rehearsal that day involved 11 stunt drivers and 3 passengers – all men. One of the drivers was told to wear a wig to double for a woman. There was no female stunt drivers included.
When you’re drooling over Megan Fox in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) reserve some drool for Stacey Carino, who, as Fox’s stunt double, did a lot of the legwork. In her six-year career Stacey has worked on movies as varied as Bruce Almighty, The Jane Austen Book Club, and Tim Burton’s upcoming Alice in Wonderland.
Annabel Wood has performed stunts in some of Hollywood's biggest hits including Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), Wonder Woman, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, and The Mummy, and TV work is no less impressive with her 3 year stint on Game of Thrones.
Helen Gibson’s strong, handsome face and dark hair gave her the look of someone who would try anything. In 1915, while in her early twenties, she was doubling for the star The Hazards of Helen. She was supposed to leap from the roof of the station to the top of a moving train. Years later, she called it her most dangerous stunt.
“Wigging” is a film industry term that describes the practice of male stunt performers standing in for women on gags. “Painting down” is its cousin, in which White stunt performers stand in for actors of color. Veteran stunt performer Deven MacNair has made it her mission to speak out against these practices and demand change.
Crystal Riley uses the stunts of Helen Gibson in her talk entitled The Stunts of Helen Gibson: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Join Crystal while she discusses tales of peril and possibility, jeopardy and chance; of flirting with danger and being willing to lose it all in this Odd Salon lecture.
