A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed to a daredevil, who performs for a live audience. When they take the place of another actor, they are known as stunt doubles.
Overview A stunt performer is an actor skilled in both choreographing and safely presenting actions on-screen that appear to be dangerous, risky, or even deadly. Stunts frequently performed include car crashes, falls from great height, drags (for example, behind a horse), and the consequences of explosions. There is an inherent risk in the performance of all stunt work. There is maximum risk when the stunts are performed in front of a live audience. In filmed performances, visible safety mechanisms can be removed by editing. In live performances the audience can see more clearly if the performer is genuinely doing what they claim or appear to do. To reduce the risk of injury or death, most often stunts are choreographed or mechanically rigged so that, while they look dangerous, safety mechanisms are built into the performance. Despite their well-choreographed appearance, stunts are still very dangerous and physically testing exercises. From its inception as a professional skill in the early 1900s to the 1960s, stunts were most often performed by professionals who had trained in that discipline prior to entering the movie industry. Current film and television stunt performers must be trained in a variety of disciplines, including martial arts and stage combat, and must be a certified trained member of a professional stunt performers organisation first in order to obtain the necessary insurance to perform on the stage or screen. This allows them to better break down and plan an action sequence, physically prepare themselves, and incorporate both the safety and risk factors in their performances. However, even when executed perfectly, there is still strain and performing stunts often results in unplanned injury to the body. Daredevils are distinct from stunt performers and stunt doubles; their performance is of the stunt itself, without the context of a film or television show. Daredevils often perform for an audience. Live stunt performers include escape artists, sword swallowers, glass walkers, fire eaters, trapeze artists, and many other sideshow and circus arts. They also include motorcycle display teams and the once popular Wall of Death. The Jackass films and television series are well-known and prominent recorded examples of the act in modern cinematography. Some people act as both stunt performers and daredevils at various parts of their careers. Examples include Buster Keaton and Harry Houdini; Hong Kong action film stars Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Michelle Yeoh and Moon Lee; Indian film actors Jayan, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff and Pawan Kalyan; Thai actor Tony Jaa; and Indonesian film actor Iko Uwais.
History
Cascadeur
The earliest stunt performers were travelling entertainers and circus performers, particularly trained gymnasts and acrobats. The origin of the original name—the French word cascadeur—derives from cascade, which is an archaic French term for "fall" (from French cascade, from Italian cascata, from cascare, "to fall"). Later, in German and Dutch circus usage, the word Kaskadeur referred to performing a sequential series of daring leaps and jumps without injury to the performer. This acrobatic discipline required long training in the ring and perfect body control to present a sensational performance to the public. Stunt was adopted in 19th-century, vaudeville Wild West shows in North America and Europe: the prototype was Buffalo Bill's Wild West (1883—1913). The shows, which simulated battles with gun fire and arrows, romanticized the American Old West.
Stage combat
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, swordplay stage combat scenes in touring theatrical productions throughout Europe, the Commonwealth of Nations, and North America were typically created by combining several widely known, generic routines known as "standard combats". During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, fencing masters in Europe began to research and experiment with historical fencing techniques, with weapons such as the two-handed sword, rapier, and smallsword, and to instruct actors in their use. Notable among these revivalist instructors was George Dubois, a fight director and martial artist from Paris, who created performance fencing styles based on gladiatorial combat as well as Renaissance rapier and dagger fencing. Egerton Castle and Captain Alfred Hutton were part of a wider Victorian era group based in London, involved in reviving historical fencing systems. Circa 1899–1902, Hutton taught stage fencing classes for actors via the Bartitsu Club, where he also served on the Board of Directors and learned the basics of jujutsu and the Vigny method of stick fighting from his fellow instructors.
Early cinema
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