History Main / StuntDouble

* [[http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0585050/ Shelley Michelle]], whose legs and body have been seen in numerous films under the guise of being someone else's, including ''Film/PrettyWoman'' (as Creator/JuliaRoberts -- it's her body in the movie's well-known poster, and her legs in the "boot scene" at the beginning), ''Film/ThePrinceOfTides'' (as Music/BarbraStreisand's legs) and ''Film/MyStepmotherIsAnAlien'' (doubling for Creator/KimBasinger, especially in the dressing scene at the start).

* When he couldn't find out as an actor, ComicBook/WonderMan put his invulnerability to good use by becoming a stuntman.

** Creator/DanielCraig and Creator/PierceBrosnan claim to have multiple scars from their stuntwork. Brosnan in fact busted his ankle during filming the pre-titles sequence for ''Film/DieAnotherDay'', requiring production to be shut down for a week while he had surgery. Craig forced the production of both ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' and the 25th film to be shut down for weeks due to knee injuries.

Traditionally, female actors were often doubled by [[CrossCastRole small male stunt artists]], due to no woman with the required skills being available, or the stunts being considered "[[MenAreTheExpendableGender too dangerous]]" for a woman. This still happens but is increasingly controversial, as the increasing number of female professional stunt artists consider it to be sex discrimination.

Nowadays it's common for stunt doubles' faces to [[DigitalHeadSwap be replaced with the stars' faces in post production]]. An early example is ''Film/EventHorizon'': they didn't realise until they sat down to edit the film that Laurence Fishburne's stunt double's face was showing clearly for a couple of seconds in the finale (in his defense, ''he was on fire''). So, the star's face was crudely but effectively pasted over the double's. An earlier example of the same occurs in ''Film/JurassicPark''. This has opened the door to more flexible use of stuntmen.

* This creates some problems for ''Power Rangers.'' They always use a large number of ''Super Sentai's'' stunt team each year. The problem lies with ''Rangers'' always using a multicultural FiveTokenBand, whereas the ''Sentai'' stunt team is almost exclusively Japanese men. Sometimes this is painfully (or hilariously) awful. In a recent episode of ''Samurai,'' Kevin (who's African American) jumps into a battle and suddenly becomes Asian.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' occasionally uses stunt doubles. Fans poked fun at a scene where Tom Welling's double clearly has a beard.

* Former Altar Boy Luke Hawx insists wasn't chasing Wrestling/AJStyles for fifteen years out of any sense of [[TheResenter resentment]], no no, his career as a stuntman has kept him too happy for those kind of feelings.

* Leva Bates has a surplus of props and outfits from being the stunt woman of her own ([[ShowWithInAShow nonexistent]]) film studio.

* Former Altar Boy Luke Hawx insists wasn't chasing Wrestling/AJStyles for fifteen years out of any sense of [[TheResenter resentment]], no no, his career as stuntman has kept him too happy for those kind of feelings.
* Trinty, mostly seen in former Wrestling/{{N|ationalWrestlingAlliance}}WA members Cyberspace, Ohio Valley and Wrestling/{{TNA}} had {{the gimmick}} of a wrestling stunt woman.

* To emphasize how much of a loser The Intellectual "Savior Of The Unwashed Masses" Wrestling/DamienSandow had become since cashing in "Money In The Bank" on [[Wrestling/WWERaw Monday Night Raw]] and failing, he ended up being reduced to a stunt double...of ''Wrestling/TheMiz''.[[/folder]]

* In ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction'', the character Damian Drake Jr. is Creator/BrendanFraser's {{stunt double}}. The thing is, he's played by Creator/BrendanFraser.

* [[http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0533456/ Erin Mackey,]] who played the back of Creator/LindsayLohan's head in Disney's 1998 remake of ''Film/TheParentTrap''.

* The protagonist of ''L'Animal'' (played by Creator/JeanPaulBelmondo, who was also another example of NoStuntDOuble in real life) is a stunt double who's somehow a perfect lookalike of the actor he's doing the stunts for ([[ActingForTwo played by Belmondo]], yet again).

* Creator/JackieChan is a notable exception. He started off his career as a stunt man, and having become a lead actor since then, he still does many of his own stunts instead of enlisting a StuntDouble (although this is less common due to his age and past injuries as of late). Jackie Chan had stopped doing all of his major stunts by the time North American audiences knew who he was, though his publicists have continued the illusion.

* According to an unpublished story for SPIN Magazine that was released online in 2009, nearly every scene of Creator/WesleySnipes in ''Film/BladeTrinity'' is his stunt double. Snipes was allegedly unhappy with the Director and script, so he only fulfilled the bare minimum his contract required and was only on set to shoot close-ups and dialogue scenes. None of the cast or crew have verified the story, however, so take it with a grain of salt.
* Perhaps somewhat ironically, the 1978 Creator/BurtReynolds movie ''Film/{{Hooper}}'', about stuntmen, features a very obvious stuntman, when Hooper is riding a horse.

* In-universe example: In ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction'', the character Damian Drake Jr. is Creator/BrendanFraser's {{stunt double}}. The thing is, he's played by Creator/BrendanFraser.

[[AC:Films about stunt doubles:]]

* Parodied in ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' by having the heroes use their stunt doubles for a DecoyGetaway: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwV61t_Tec8 You've captured their stunt doubles!]]" Princess Vespa's double is a man with a moustache and chomping a cigar, just for extra RuleOfFunny.

** Creator/DanielCraig and Creator/PierceBrosnan claim to have multiple scars from their stuntwork. Brosnan in fact busted his ankle during filming the pre-titles sequence for ''Film/DieAnotherDay'', requiring production to be shut down for a week while he had surgery.

* Eric Christian Olsen (Marty Deeks) in ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'' has his own brother Daniel as a stunt double... ironically enough Daniel married Daniel Ruah, who plays Kensi!

* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' in general has used stunt doubles for the characters in Rider form (referred to in-fandom as 'suit actors') since [[Series/KamenRider the original 1971 show]], where the hero's actor broke his leg doing a stunt. ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'' spoofs its own usage: in a web-exclusive short, Kirihiko "interviews" the bad guys' cat Mick, eventually getting so mad that he attacks it, at which point Mick is replaced by an obvious plush. Then Mick changes into his monster form and gets revenge, at which point Kirihiko is replaced by a dummy in a suit with a photo of his face taped to the head, all while "he" continues to scream in pain.

* [[http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0585050/ Shelley Michelle]], whose legs and body have been seen in numerous films under the guise of being someone else's, including ''Film/PrettyWoman'' (as Creator/JuliaRoberts -- it's her body in the movie's well-known poster, and her legs in the "boot scene" at the beginning), ''The Prince of Tides'' (as Music/BarbraStreisand's legs) and ''My Stepmother Is An Alien'' (doubling for Creator/KimBasinger, especially in the dressing scene at the start).

There are also non-stunt doubles -- for instance, the anonymous girl who played the back of Patty Duke's head in ''Series/ThePattyDukeShow'' whenever the cousins needed to be in the same shot together. Non-stunt doubles are usually called stand-ins or body doubles, and are also used to block and light scenes when the main actors are busy elsewhere. The TalentDouble appears in instances where the required action is simply too difficult for the actor: complicated ice-skating or dancing, for instance.

* [[http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0533456/ Erin Mackey,]] who played the back of Lindsay Lohan's head in Disney's 1998 remake of ''Film/TheParentTrap''.
* [[http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0585050/ Shelley Michelle]], whose legs and body have been seen in numerous films under the guise of being someone else's, including ''Film/PrettyWoman'' (as Julia Roberts -- it's her body in the movie's well-known poster, and her legs in the "boot scene" at the beginning), ''The Prince of Tides'' (as Barbra Streisand's legs) and ''My Stepmother Is An Alien'' (doubling for Kim Basinger, especially in the dressing scene at the start).

* Jackie Chan is a notable exception. He started off his career as a stunt man, and having become a lead actor since then, he still does many of his own stunts instead of enlisting a StuntDouble (although this is less common due to his age and past injuries as of late). Jackie Chan had stopped doing all of his major stunts by the time North American audiences knew who he was, though his publicists have continued the illusion.

* Most of the Film/JamesBond actors did some of their own stunts, except for Roger Moore. However, Moore was a former trucker, and used this to great effect in ''Film/AViewToAKill''.

* Perhaps somewhat ironically, the 1978 Burt Reynolds movie ''Film/{{Hooper}}'', about stuntmen, features a very obvious stuntman, when Hooper is riding a horse.

* In Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay one was used for certain parts of the motorcycle chase when the T-1000 tried to crush the T-800 between the tow truck and the concrete barrier barely missing.

** The obvious use of stunt-doubles is (like absolutely everything else on the screen) a target for nitpicking. An episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' reflects most people's view of the importance of this as ultra-nerd Neil Goldman delivers a lecture on instances of Creator/WilliamShatner using a stunt double on ''Star Trek'' to his bored classmates. With tragic inevitability, someone on Wikipedia has in fact pointed out that that particular episode didn't feature any stunt work so the Family Guy writers are wrong (!)

** Website/SFDebris discusses this in his review of the TOS episode "Space Seed", noting that it's amazing what you could get away with in 1960s television when the screens were much smaller, often blurry, and frequently still in black and white.

** Even with steps taken to hide the doubles' faces, the switches are still sometimes obvious. Creator/JossWhedon points this out in the commentary for the "Hush" episode:

** The Disney seasons became more notorius for this than the Fox seasons; this becomes blatant in the Operation Overdrive episode that teams up Creator/JohnnyYongBosch and four Disney rangers. When the five have an unmorphed fight in a warehouse, Bosch is the only one whose face can be clearly seen at all times.

** "The Chase" is notorious for having the First Doctor's stunt double appear onscreen with his face clearly visible for ''minutes''.
** The Fourth Doctor's stunt double ended up playing the Doctor in many scenes in "The Sontaran Experiment" as Tom Baker broke his collarbone while recording. The cinematography of the serial is therefore rather weird, especially by ''Doctor Who'' standards, showing the Doctor mostly in head-and-shoulders closeup or in extremely long shots.
** Due to the dangerousness of the garment, the Fourth Doctor also had a 'stunt scarf' which was much shorter than the main one used. Both Tom Baker and his stunt double can be seen wearing the stunt scarf in various scenes where it would be dangerous to wear the full-length one, and both can be seen on screen at once in "The Android Invasion" (when the Doctor confronts his EvilKnockoff). At one point Tom Baker successfully petitioned the costume designers to get the stunt scarf sewn onto the main scarf to extend it to a monstrous 19'1".
** In "The Deadly Assassin", it's quite easy to spot the double in the fistfight scene in the river - Tom Baker's fine hair hangs down almost straight when wet, but the stunt double's synthetic wig repels water and remains in QuirkyCurls.

* In-universe example: In ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction'', the character Damian Drake Jr. is {{Brendan Fraser}}'s {{stunt double}}. The thing is, he's played by {{Brendan Fraser}}.

** The Disney seasons became more notorius for this than the Fox seasons; this becomes blatant in the Operation Overdrive episode that teams up JohnnyYongBosch and four Disney rangers. When the five have an unmorphed fight in a warehouse, Bosch is the only one whose face can be clearly seen at all times.

** The obvious use of stunt-doubles is (like absolutely everything else on the screen) a target for nitpicking. An episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' reflects most people's view of the importance of this as ultra-nerd Neil Goldman delivers a lecture on instances of WilliamShatner using a stunt double on ''Star Trek'' to his bored classmates. With tragic inevitability, someone on Wikipedia has in fact pointed out that that particular episode didn't feature any stunt work so the Family Guy writers are wrong (!)

** Creator/DanielCraig and PierceBrosnan claim to have multiple scars from their stuntwork. Brosnan in fact busted his ankle during filming the pre-titles sequence for ''Film/DieAnotherDay'', requiring production to be shut down for a week while he had surgery.