NZ Fitness October/November 1999

NZ Fitness

October/November 1998

Falling for Xena - Stunt Secrets

Double Take
by Sandra Erikson

It's a job a gym junkie would kill for. Next time you see Xena: Warrior Princess chop up a rival or take a high dive, think Zoe Bell or Carmel O'Loughlin. As Sandra Erikson finds, fitness is op of the job description for the two stuntwomen who stand in for Lucy Lawless in the long-running TV series.
She has a tough life, that warrior princess Xena. It's hard work fighting the forces of evil on the popular television show - so hard that a girl needs a helping hand now and then. Or even a few helping hands. For XWP star Lucy Lawless, that means getting stunt doubles Zoe Bell and Carmel O'Loughlin to help provide some of that hard-hitting action that's won the fearless warrior a worldwide following.
A typical working day for Bell and O'Loughlin, who alternate on the Xena set, can mean leaping off castles or waterfalls, flipping between galloping horses, swinging from a harness, doing a fight sequence 20 times over. It's rough, it's tough, sometimes tedious, but they love it. For these sporting thrill-seekers it's a dream job.
The women can hardly believe their luck that they're being paid - well to do something that is so adrenalin-charged, so physically and mentally challenging.
Bell, 19, started stunt work only months ago but now has a ful-time contract as Xena's double - re-enacting the action scenes Lawless has already shot, but doing them several times over for the wide shots and close-ups which are edited together to create a whirl of sound and fury.
When O'Loughlin is not donning a Xena wig and leathers, she is called on to double a range of characters for the Xena and Hercules series - one of her favourites being the fiery villain Nebula. Sometimes she puts on a beard to play a man in fight scenes. Every day is unpredictable - but that only adds to her enthusiasm for the job.
Both women have a background in gymnastics and martial arts - crucial qualifications for stunt work. They've also had training in screen fighting and handling weapons.
On the set, each stunt is carefully rehearsed, with a co-ordinator checking safety aspects, making sure the stuntperson is comfortable with what they're being asked to do.
O'Loughlin says the best way to avoid getting hurt - in big battlefield scenes for example - is stay focused. [Didn't Xena say this??]
"There's a risk in everything you do, but the health and safety care is great. They take amazing precautions and if you're not happy, it's your call. We're trained to do the job and do it well. The majority of injuries happen when someone is out of their league - when a new stuntperson might get hyped up and feel pressured."
Although Bell and O'Loughlin haven't been badly hurt in any stunts, they do admit to sporting some bruises after a busy day in action.
"You get a few bumps and bruises, but you never notice them at the time because of the adrenalin of it all, " says O'Loughlin. "It's only when you get home and crawl into the shower!"
Diving off a 10m-high waterfall was one of the most stomach-churning stunts she's faced. To make matters worse, she had a magpie on her arm which started to peck her - and she loathes birds. In another water stunt, O'Loughlin had to act as if she was drowning if a river. As she was swept down the rapids, the acting nearly became reality as, fully clothed, she struggled to keep her head above the icy water.
For Bell, car stunts for Shortland Street have provided her most anxious moments. In one scene she took a hit from a moving car and had to roll over the bonnet - which she did with such force she cracked the windscreen. But she was so well padded she didn't feel a thing - in fact, she was more worried about damaging the car. Another time, she had to jump out of a car travelling about 35km/h and roll on to the verge. In such stunts, her gymnastic training gives her the confidence to "know where to put my body".
The teenage years spent doing competitive gymnastics have also given Bell and O'Loughlin the skills to perform breathtaking flips and tumbles, to fall without injury, to push their bodies to the limit. On top of that gymnastics taught them discipline - training up to three hours a day, five hours a week - and how to perform under stress.
O'Loughlin, now 27, represented NZ in gymnastics for six years, retiring after the 1990 Commonwealth Games where she finished 4th in the teams event and 10th in the individual.
Bell did competitive gymnastics from the age of nine to 17, and she still does some coaching. At high school she also got involved in diving, swimming, badminton, squash and athletics.
"I really enjoy using my body as a tool," she says, "and I love sports that involved adrenalin and totally manipulate all parts of your body."
When she retired from gymnastics two years ago - and the "withdrawal symptoms" of not training five days a week set in - she took up international tae kwon do. There she met martial artists involved in stunt work, and after "pestering" NZ Stunts director Peter Bell she did one of his training sessions and landed her first stunting job as an Amazon woman for Amazon High, an American television pilot programme. As she got called in for more and more stunt work, she had to give up her job helping at the Stonyridge Vineyard and restaurant on Auckland's
Waiheke Island.
O'Loughlin's awe-inspiring list of skills includes muay thay kick-boxing, snowboarding, surfing, mountain biking, tramping, rock climbing, hip hop dance, modeling and drama.
She's also been placed in national aerobics and body building competitions. A BPhysEd graduate of Otago University, she juggles stunt work with her consultancy business as a sport and training specialist. She's been a sport development manager for Sport Waitakere, an aerobics and personal trainer at Les Mills World of Fitness, lectured in sport science and nutrition and coached gymnastics and diving. Her various tv roles include featuring in a recent episode of Trading Places, where she swapped jobs with a taxidermist and had to stuff a duck.
Bell may be a comparative newcomer to camera work, but she's been quick to learn the tricks of the trade, such as swinging her head so the wig obscures her face, and punctuating the action with grunts and othersound effects. Like O'Loughlin, she enjoys the novelty of each working
day on Xena, whether it's pivoting around a staff, running up people's bodies and "kicking" people in the head or fighting off a swarm of attackers. She confesses she rather enjoys the "dirty work" and rough and tumble.
While Bell and O'Loughlin are seldom on set the same time as Xena star Lucy Lawless they say she is "great - very friendly and relaxed".
The stuntwomen point out that while the job can be exciting, there's nothing glamorous about it. The hours are long - up to 12 hours a day, the costumes, harness and make-up can be comfortable, they're never sure where and when they're working until the night before, and starting times can vary from pre-dawn to mid-afternoon.
"There are days when I start at 6am and wait around in my make-up and costume for three hours before there's any action," says Bell. "But that's all part of the job." To pass the time, she writes or draws in a journal, or does some light training.
But serious training has to be done after hours, and Bell admits she sometimes has to force herself to exercise at the end of an exhausting day on the set.
She has joined a small gym where keyholders can get access any time - so she can sometimes be found there working out at 3am with other stunties. Her usual routine is a warm-up dancing to music, half an hour on the bike, half an hour on the bags (punching and kicking), half an hour doing tae kwon do kata, or movements.
She tries to do a 90-minute workout three or four times a week and also keeps up her fitness with swimming and running.
But while Bell enjoys the feeling of being fit, she finds it's the power of endurance rather than fitness-oriented stamina that counts in stunt work. "You don't need to be a super-athlete - the most important thing is the attitude. You've got to be patient, to put in the time to get the shot right and not to be put off by things."
O'Loughlin says she loves training. Stunt work doesn't build fitness, so she goes to the gym four or five times a week, fitting in three weight training sessions and three Body Jam sessions for cardio. She does a lot of own body weight exercises for conditioning and enjoys Body Jam dancing classes because as well as being social and fun it gives her a good blowout. She also does about three yoga classes a week, and also does some yoga in downtime on the Xena set - stretching, centering, focusing and breathing exercise.
Both women enjoy their food and make the most of the nutritious meals provided on the set. Bell says she'll often carb-load with baked beans and eggs or bananas if she's got a big stunt ahead.
And if she has her way, there will be many more big stunts ahead. Now she's got a taste for it, Bell is keen to develop her new-found career to take up some of the "endless options" available. She's heard about some great stunt schools in Australia and the US and opportunities of stunt work in theme parks such as Disneyland.
O'Loughlin is also relishing this latest stage in her varied sporting career. While she keeps her feet firmly in the "real" world - teaching high school girls about the importance of a balanced diet and healthy metabolism, for example - she says she loves stunting and puts everything into it. She admits it is hard work and the future may bring something more low-key.
But for now, Bell and O'Loughlin are more than happy being warrior women.