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Michelini is one of a growing number of women
passing through the Campus Univers Cascade (CUC), which bills
itself as the world's biggest stunt school, and looking to break
into European cinema and Hollywood as a stunt double.
"I'm used to thriving in a graceful and feminine world," the
29-year-old said between rounds of simulated fights. "And now,
I'm in quite the opposite."
Nearly a third of the school's current intake are women.
Demand for female superheroes in the film industry is growing
and with the growth of online streaming platforms such as
Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Plus, 24-year-old Marine Dolle
believes she'll be a precious commodity on the job market.
"It's choreographed, it's calculated, it's technical," Dolle
said of the challenges of safely executing dangerous stunts.
Sometimes, the school's women students don't even finish the
course before they are snapped up by studios on either side of
the Atlantic.
Keeping the talent in France is proving difficult, said the
school's parkour trainer Malik Diouf.
"There's really a small pool of stuntwomen," Diouf said. "As
soon as they have the slightest skills, they leave directly to
work with the Americans, the English or the rest of the world."
It was once commonplace for studios to use stuntmen in wigs
instead of female doubles, a practice known as wigging.
In a landmark lawsuit in 2018, U.S. stuntwoman Deven MacNair
sued a production company and Hollywood's acting union over
dressing up a male double rather than hiring a woman.
Attitudes were evolving, said CUC director Lucas Dollfus.
"We don't need wigs anymore," he said. "The women are badass in
any case."
(Reporting by Ardee Napolitano; Writing by Richard Lough;
Editing by Janet Lawrence)
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