Entertainment & Arts

Stunt Doubles "Fight" For Equity In Stunt Work

An accurate stunt double
An accurate stunt double

The first picture is what a good stunt DOUBLE should look like. Films should hire a woman or man who vaguely resembles an actor who is seen in the flesh for a film so that if some of the double is accidentally seen during a stunt, it isn't an immediate tell or they don't necessarily have to fix it in post.

Unfortunately all the way up until the late 2000's, it was common place for an actress or an actor/actress of color to show up on an action picture to find out that their stunt double was someone participating in what is known in the stunt industry as "wigging" or being "painted down" to double for a character. Wigging is the practice of suiting up men in wigs and dresses to do stunt work for actresses and painting down is the practice of painting a white performer to look Latin, Black, Indian, etc.

"Wigging"
"Wigging"

It was a well known fact that the stunt industry was a boys club. These boys clubs would essentially establish their stunt groups, and hire from within, which basically shut the door on a lot of performers of color and women. It was easy for these groups to hide the fact that they weren't even trying to find doubles to match with the actors of actresses because there were so many loopholes in contracts that allowed this to pass.

The stunt groups would claim , "we can't seem to find a single person of color or a woman who is trained well enough to do a particular stunt," or they would just blatantly hire those on their teams without even trying to look for proper matches. The glaring issues with this was, they weren't trying and were in fact denying those that should have those jobs, the work.

With scripts ironed out months before filming, these stunt groups would make one or two pathetic calls and claim, no one could be found. In many cases, there was no proof that their stunt buddies whom they hired from within, were any more qualified to do particular stunts (many which were very common mind you) better than a female counterpart for a female actor or POC.

Stargirl actress and her painted down double
Stargirl actress and her painted down double

An African American stunt performer recalled being nudged aside for a painted stunt performer, and when he pressed the white performer why he would even do that, the performer said, "well, I need my pension, and I need my health insurance," to which he replied, "do I not need the same," with the irony being he's being nudged aside for a stunt role that should go to him if he can do the stunts because it's called a "stunt double."

Several years of lawsuits and contract negotiations later, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) has come a lot closer to nearly outlawing the practice of wigging/painting down. Instead of these stunt groups being able to just shrug and say they couldn't find a woman or a POC to play a woman/POC in a film, they must have a consultation in which they must prove all efforts were made to fill the role appropriately or the group can face some form of sanctions for repeated violations, which in the industry can mean, your stunt group will not likely find frequent work.

Stunt Doubles "Fight" For Equity In Stunt Work
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