Stunt

A stunt is a difficult, unusual, and dramatic physical feat requiring special skill, performed for artistic purposes in front of a public audience, such as on television, in theaters, or in cinema. Stunts are common in action films. Before computer-generated imagery, filmmakers relied on models, false perspective, and other in-camera effects, unless they could find someone willing to perform dangerous acts like jumping between moving cars or hanging from a skyscraper edge—that person being a stunt performer or stunt double. **Types of Stunt Effects**

**Practical Effects** One common practical stunt is stage combat. While contact is usually avoided, elements like sword fighting, martial arts, and acrobatics often require performers to touch to create effects such as noise or physical interaction. Stunt performances are highly choreographed and may be rehearsed for hours, days, or weeks. Experienced professionals treat each performance as if it were new, because the risks are high and every move must be correct to reduce injury. Examples include tripping, falling, high jumps, extreme sports moves, acrobatics, high diving, spins, gainer falls, "suicide backflips," and other martial arts stunts. Stunt airbags, large deep bags the size of a small swimming pool, cushion landings from staged falls. **Mechanical Effects** Physical stunts often use mechanics. For instance, if a hero must jump to a high place, the crew may put the actor in a harness and pull them up with aircraft high-tension wire. Piano wire is used to fly objects, but never to suspend an actor, as it is brittle and can break under shock. The films *Hero* (2003) and *House of Flying Daggers* (2004) are wuxia films reliant on wire stunts. *The Matrix* is an example of extensive wire and rigging work in Western cinema. **Vehicular Stunts** Performers of vehicular stunts need extensive training and may use specially adapted vehicles. Stunts range from a simple handbrake turn (also called a bootleg turn) to advanced car chases, jumps, and crashes involving dozens of vehicles. Rémy Julienne is a pioneering automotive stunt performer and coordinator. Bobby Ore, a Guinness World Record holder, performed in many movies and events and holds a record for the longest distance driven on two wheels in a London double-decker bus (810 feet). Aviation stunts date back to 18th-century balloon performances. After powered aircraft arrived in 1903, barnstorming and aerobatics emerged. Ormer Locklear invented or helped develop many basic stunt flying tricks, including wing walking and mid-air transfers between airplanes. Hollywood's fascination with aviation created high demand for stunt pilots, leading to many injuries and fatalities. **Computer-Generated Effects** In the late 20th century, filmmakers increasingly used relatively inexpensive and safer computer graphics effects—harnesses, fans, blue or green screens, and digital tools—reducing the need to place stunt performers in dangerous situations. *The Matrix* (1999) extensively enhanced real stunts through CGI post-production. *The Lord of the Rings* film series and the *Star Wars* prequels often feature entirely computer-generated stunts. Examples include face replacement and wire removal. **Hong Kong Action Cinema** In 1982, Jackie Chan began experimenting with elaborate stunt sequences in *Dragon Lord*, which included a pyramid fight scene that holds the record for the most takes for a single scene (2,900 takes) and a final fight where he performs a backflip off a loft. In 1983, *Project A* saw the official formation of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team and added dangerous stunts to fights and slapstick, including Chan falling from a clock tower through fabric canopies. *Police Story* (1985) featured large-scale action, including a car chase through a shanty town, Chan stopping a double-decker bus with his revolver, and a climactic fight in a shopping mall. The crew called this last scene "Glass Story" due to the many sugar glass panes broken. During a stunt where Chan slid down a pole from several stories, the lights had heated the pole, causing second-degree burns to his hands, a back injury, and a dislocated pelvis upon landing. Chan performed similarly elaborate stunts in films like *Police Story* sequels, *Project A Part II*, the *Armor of God* series, *Dragons Forever*, *Drunken Master II*, and *Rumble in the Bronx*. Other Hong Kong action stars known for elaborate stunts include Chan's Peking Opera School friends Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, as well as "girls with guns" stars Michelle Yeoh and Moon Lee. Other Asian cinema stars known for performing elaborate stunts include Thai actor Tony Jaa; Indonesian actors Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian; and Indian actors Jayan, Akshay Kumar, Vidyut Jammwal, and Tiger Shroff.