Burrowed in a beige building block in Auckland’s industrial east, a neat line of stunt hopefuls wait their turn to take their first step on an “air ram”. With enough power to flip a full sized car, the menacing looking metal pedal is designed to vault the “stunties” high into the air, as if tossed from an exploding building.
Standing by and keeping a watchful eye, Dayna Grant points up to the rafters of the converted warehouse at least 10 metres above, fondly remembering a time she was tossed up high enough to touch the ceiling. But today’s NZ Stunt School class of ex-circus performers, working stunt people, and retirees, won’t come close to that.
In New Zealand’s stunt industry, Grant is its matriarch. She has fended off warlords as Xena: Warrior Princess’s stunt double, dangled beneath moving trucks on the set of Mad Max, and more recently has been trying to fill the talent gap through her organisation, NZ Stunt School.
“A year ago we were doing an intake of new students every three months and it was only just filling, now we have an intake every month and it’s booked a full two months in advance,” said Grant.
Over the course of the global pandemic, New Zealand has become a production safe haven for international film studios, playing host to the likes of Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop, James Cameron’s Avatar sequel, and Amazon’s big budget The Lord of the Rings series. With limited border exemptions available to meet the surge in demand – 24 stunt professionals have been approved by Immigration New Zealand since the border closure – this has meant plenty of work for the local stunt industry.
Mark Trotter, who’s responsible for booking stunt people on live-action television show Power Rangers, says trying to source talent is getting harder and harder as time goes on.
“It’s been extremely difficult. There were times we needed 15 players, but we could only find seven or eight because there’s just no one,” said Trotter.
To cope with this growing need, NZ Stunt School, which has classes on how to safely be engulfed in flames, jump off tall buildings, and sword fighting 101, has opened up its books to include anyone who might fancy a career in stunts.
“When we started in 2010 we were catering to a specific group of fit, young stunties and actors wanting to improve their skills. Today, especially with the Covid job losses, we’re seeing a huge range of ages and abilities coming through the school,” said Grant.
Mike Delamore, 66, joined NZ Stunt School in June after an extended stint as an extra on an “unnamed Amazon project” – the going term for the local worst kept secret, Lord of the Rings – where he got his first taste of the stunt world.
The former professional sailor had spent a life doing “Captain Cook stuff”, leading researchers and scientists on expeditions through uncharted areas of the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic Islands, so when his son cheekily challenged him to try out for a job on the “unnamed production”, he was game.
“I mean, some people go to play golf, bowls, bridge at my age, I guess. What do I do? I do heroic stuff on set,” said Delamore. “Sometimes they bring in stunt people to do some of the action scenes, but of course, being a fairly capable person, I thought, you know, I could probably do some of that as well.”
He joined the NZ Stunt School’s Fight for Camera workshop where he was taught basics of hand to hand combat, learned how to choreograph a fight scene, and got a chance to be on the books for Grant’s agency, NZ Action Talent.
Delamore fits into what Grant calls the action extra category, a film extra with enough of the fundamentals to be in the background of action scenes, a role which typically fetches between $350 and $450 a day.
Graduating to becoming a stunt performer capable of performing the high-risk, high-skill stunts and earning upwards of $700 a day is a far taller task.
“Some people join the school and within six months we have them working as full-time stunt performers, but it’s very dependent on their abilities and how quickly they can pick things up,” said Grant.
“People that come from a gymnastic or high performing sports background are often naturally able to learn a lot of the skills needed, but I need to be absolutely sure that they’re going to be capable and safe on set before I would put them forward as a stunt performer.”
The fine line separating safety and mortal danger is ever present in the stunt world, where performers must make highly precise athletic manoeuvres, often over multiple takes.
Grant herself was recently injured. She’s now in recovery as she focuses on her health and her businesses NZ Stunt School and NZ Action Talent.
Action extra Delamore has no interest in pursuing the high flying stunts of the top brass.
Filming has finished for his Amazon production, and he’s on the island fixing up his boat, patiently waiting for the call up to his next small role.
“Reluctantly I will admit that I’m 66 years old and it’s probably not the best idea to hurl myself off tall buildings or down the stairs,” said Delamore.
But would he consider being set on fire?
“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind that at all.”
