5/14/2021

FUTURE LOOKS FEMALE : HONOURS ESSAY



Valeriane Michelini trained as a dancer before opting to tap into the growing demand for stunt women and a career of jumping out of helicopters, leaping from buildings and brawling.

Michelini is one of a growing number of women passing through the Campus Universe 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, reported Reuters. 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,'' she said of the challenges of safely executing dangerous stunts.

Sometimes, the school women students don't even finish the course before they are snapped up by the 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,'' he explained. ''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 commonplace for studios to use stuntmen in wigs instead of female doubles, a practice known as wigging.

In a landmark lawsuit in 2018, US stuntwoman Deven McNair sued a production company and Hollywood's acting union over dressing up a male double rather than hiring a woman.

Attitudes are evolving, said CUC director Lucas Dollfus. ''We don't need wigs anymore,'' he said. ''The women are tough in any case.''

The World Students Society thanks The Express Tribune.

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