VOA慢速英语--Help Wanted: Stunt Women for Hollywood

The success of action movies like Wonder Woman and television shows like Wandavision show that viewers like seeing women fighting, flying and jumping.

Stunt¹ performers often take the place of famous male and female actors in these action films so the big stars do not get hurt. At one point, movie producers would commonly use stuntmen wearing hairpieces, or wigs², to perform these actions for female actors.

The practice began to change in 2017 when an American stuntwoman, Deven MacNair, started a discrimination complaint. She said a producer had used a stuntman³ to perform a stunt for a female actor on a set she was working on.

Lucas Dollfus is the director of Campus Univers Cascade⁴, or CUC, in northeastern France. He told the Reuters news agency, "We don't need wigs anymore. The women are badass in any case."

CUC calls itself the world's biggest stunt school. About a third of the students at the school are women like Valeriane Michelini. Once trained as a dancer, Michelini is now training to fight, crash through glass windows and jump out of helicopters at CUC. She said fighting has a different kind of movement than dancing.

"I'm used to thriving in a graceful⁵ and feminine world," the 29-year-old said. "And now, I'm in quite the opposite."

April Wright makes films that tell stories about real life, called documentaries. Her film Stuntwomen: The Untold⁶ Hollywood Story came out in 2020.

She spent many hours talking with women who do stunts⁷ in Hollywood, including those who started in the 1960s and 1970s. "Generally, women are holding their own, and getting most of these opportunities," Wright said.

Wright said stuntwomen do not usually go to a stunt school. They often find work by learning from or meeting people in the industry. Some make videos on YouTube or TikTok to show their skills.

"Sometimes stunts run in families," Wright said. "Not every stunt woman had that, but a lot of them had fathers that helped them develop the skills."

Malik Diouf is a trainer at the CUC stunt school in France. He said CUC cannot keep the students in school, as more women are needed for stunts with the growth of streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime.

"As soon as they have the slightest skills, they leave directly to work with the Americans, the English or the rest of the world," he said.

Wright agrees that this is a good time for women to get jobs as stuntwomen.

"There is a lot more television and movies being made right now that have women doing action, and so there's a lot more opportunity now for women to get into this profession."

There is also more work for stuntwomen because the actors in movies and television are more diverse. That means there are more opportunities for women from different racial backgrounds. Once they get started, Wright said it is a good idea for stuntwomen to keep learning new skills. Perhaps they might go to a driving school to learn how to control a car in a chase or a race.

"Stunt people have to keep their skills up to par⁸," Wright said.

While the opportunities may be growing, it is still not an easy business. Stunt people may know how to fight or fall out of cars, but they still get hurt.

Wright said stunt people are very careful in the way they prepare for their work because they know it is dangerous. Sometimes it may be just a broken bone. But in 2017, stuntwoman Joi Harris, who had been a professional motorcycle racer, died in a chase during the filming of Deadpool 2.

"I knew some stunt women, but I did not know this much about it before I started the film. And it was really exciting to meet them, you know, because they're very inspiring people."

Words in This Story

stunt - n. a difficult and often dangerous action

complaint- n. in the legal world - a formal charge saying that someone has done something wrong

badass- adj. tough and skillful

thrive –v. to flourish or succeed

graceful –adj. moving in a smooth and attractive way

hold their own – idiom, to stay in a good position or keep a job

diverse –adj. made up of people or things that are different from each other

up to par – idiom, meeting requirements or expectations

inspire –v. to cause someone to appreciate someone else

1 stunt   

n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长

参考例句：

• Lack of the right food may stunt growth.缺乏适当的食物会阻碍发育。
• Right up there is where the big stunt is taking place.那边将会有惊人的表演。

2 wigs   

n.假发，法官帽( wig的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They say that wigs will be coming in again this year. 据说今年又要流行戴假发了。 来自辞典例句
• Frank, we needed more wigs than we thought, and we have to do some advertising. 弗兰克，因为我们需要更多的假发，而且我们还要做点广告。 来自电影对白

3 stuntman   

n.特技演员

参考例句：

• The stuntman will double for the main actor during the action scenes.一些动作场景中，特技演员代替主演。
• The stuntman flew the aircraft upside-down within a hair's breadth of the rooftops.那位做电影演员替身的杂技演员驾驶着飞机翻过来又倒过去，差一点撞着平顶房的屋顶。

4 cascade   

n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下

参考例句：

• She watched the magnificent waterfall cascade down the mountainside.她看着壮观的瀑布从山坡上倾泻而下。
• Her hair fell over her shoulders in a cascade of curls.她的卷发像瀑布一样垂在肩上。

5 graceful   

adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的

参考例句：

• His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
• The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。

6 untold   

adj.数不清的，无数的

参考例句：

• She has done untold damage to our chances.她给我们的机遇造成了不可估量的损害。
• They suffered untold terrors in the dark and huddled together for comfort.他们遭受着黑暗中的难以言传的种种恐怖，因而只好挤在一堆互相壮胆。

7 stunts   

n.惊人的表演( stunt的名词复数 )；（广告中）引人注目的花招；愚蠢行为；危险举动v.阻碍…发育[生长]，抑制，妨碍( stunt的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He did all his own stunts. 所有特技都是他自己演的。
• The plane did a few stunts before landing. 飞机着陆前做了一些特技。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 par   

n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的

参考例句：

• Sales of nylon have been below par in recent years.近年来尼龙织品的销售额一直不及以往。
• I don't think his ability is on a par with yours.我认为他的能力不能与你的能力相媲美。