Bringing Action to Life with Stunts and Motion Capture

Professional stuntwoman, motion capture performer, and champion martial artist, Thekla Hutyrova sits down with host Candice Bloch for a fun conversation all about bringing action to our screens - on film, television, and in video games. Thekla has worked on films such as Alita: Battle Angel, Logan, and Deadpool 2, shows such as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Ms. Marvel, and video games such as God of War: Ragnarok, Mortal Kombat 1 and Spider-Man 2. 

In their conversation, you’ll learn about how stunts are coordinated and executed, both on and off sets, some of the technology that helps make it happen, and discover more about the profession, the process, and the skills it takes to execute action safely for our entertainment. You’ll leave this episode with a greater appreciation and respect for the professionals that enhance our visual stories, and even some everyday useful information!

You can follow Thekla on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/theklahutyrova

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Transcript

00:00 - VO (Host)
One, two, three and action. Welcome to Media and Monuments presented by Women in Film and Video in Washington DC. Media and Monuments features conversations with industry professionals speaking on a range of topics of interest to screen-based media makers. 

00:24 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Thanks for joining us. I'm your host, candice Block, and today I'm excited to welcome our guest, tekla Hutirova. Tekla is a stuntwoman and motion capture performer with a background in martial arts, who brings action to life for movies, television and video games. She's worked on films such as Alita, battle, Angel, logan and Deadpool 2, shows such as Agents of SHIELD and Ms Marvel, and video games such as God of War, ragnarok, mortal Kombat 1, and Spider-Man 2. Today, we're going to talk all about the often underappreciated work of motion capture and stunts. So welcome to the show, tekla. Thanks for having me. So you, as I mentioned, you have a background in martial arts. Can you tell us some more about your foundation and your start in this field, like how you went from martial arts to the entertainment industry? 

01:10 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
Yeah, so I started in Taekwondo initially it was Junri Taekwondo for martial arts nerds who care I. Then, once I got my black belt in Taekwondo, I started competing on what's called the Nazca Circuit, which is the North American sport karate association. So it's a lot of. I did uh forms and weapons competitions so it's the way I describe it as kind of like gymnastics routines with martial arts instead of dance, so you do a lot of like acrobatics and and weapons work or whatever, but it's based on a performance like situation um, and a lot of people from that tournament circuit ended up coming to hollywood, to la, to do the step thing and I was kind of trying to figure out what to do with my life at the time. 

01:53
I fell into film a little bit and acting and stuff in arizona, where I grew up and did a few little projects there as an actor and I was like, oh, maybe I'll try, um, you know, just moving to LA and I did and it's been working out well so far. I moved here in 2015, um, and been here ever since kind of started, you know, teaching on the side, uh, because I did that a lot growing up as well from through my martial arts, and now I'm you just paying all my bills through stunts and film stuff. 

02:26 - Candice Bloch (Host)
So yeah, it's pretty cool, that's so exciting and, as we heard some of the projects you've been on, you clearly found your calling and it has been working out for you. It seems like you're going to stay there for a while, so yeah, so I mean, what were some of your major milestones in becoming, like a professional? This is the way you make your living Like. For example, what were some of your first major film credits? One of my first big ones was actually Logan. 

02:53 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
I did a lot of the previous work for it. So previous is where the stunt team basically take the action that's scripted and give a film. Like we, we film it in a gym, but we film out all the action like it's kind of a fun situation. I don't know if you've seen them uh before, but it's like there's a bunch of cardboard boxes everywhere and like if there's a car involved in the scene, we'll make one out of cardboard boxes or like a door or whatever. So it's I don't know. 

03:24
It's like arts and crafts aspect to it, but it's um just like a. It's called pre-visualization, so it's to show the director and the producers and everyone how we see the action working um. So it's the stunt coordinator usually putting it together and kind of getting a head start on filming so that we know what we're shooting once we get into principal shooting. So I did a lot of that for logan. And then the first uh motion capture thing I did was for sony santa monica studios with, um, god of war, I played atreus for a lot of it and they actually found me off youtube like the studio was looking for someone to do some bo staff stuff for the valkyries, uh, and they like found my video and were like hey, do you want to come and try this? And I happened to already live here and everything, so it worked out really well. 

04:10 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Nice, yeah, no, it sounds like a lot of that sort of motion capture and previous stuff is like bringing storyboards to life, like even more sort of. But for our, for our listeners who might not be aware, can you break down the differences between, like, uh, stunt performers, stunt doubles doing stunts for motion capture, and pre-vis stunt coordinators, like kind of the different categories within that world? 

04:35 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
yeah, I'd love to um. So top down within stunts there's second unit director, which is the director of all the action, um, in a movie. Usually the bigger projects have them. Tv doesn't have them as much and smaller productions don't have them as much. Below them is a stunt coordinator who is in charge of basically everything. Usually sometimes they're the same thing with stunt coordinator and second unit director. 

05:02
A lot of times second unit director is more of the bigger vision and then stunt coordinator is more the nitty-gritty stuff. They're in charge of the stunt budget. So they're uh the ones working with ad, with the assistant director, to kind of come up with, uh, the budget for stunts. So, like days that we need doubles, for days we need stunt people, equipment rentals, all that sort of thing, um, and then below them sometimes they have assistant stunt coordinators too, or people that fill in for them on the days they're not there. And then below them is fight choreographer. So they're the ones usually hiring all the stunt people or at least sourcing them. So they'll email people and search for them, get their information and everything and try to get them in front of production and in front of the people finding you on youtube and whatnot. 

05:51
Yeah, yeah, exactly basically, mocap has a bit of a different thing. 

05:55
There's not as many, um, this is more for like features, uh. 

05:58
And then there's stunt performers, which includes stunt doubles, but it's also just anyone who is doing stunts as either a character doing their own kind of stunts, like they're the cop that runs in, says freeze and then takes a bullet or whatever, or they're the people in a crowd running away and dying or you know whatever zombie stuff. So a lot of times you can be a stunt performer but not necessarily have to double someone, um. And then, yeah, there's stunt doubles, which is the one that everyone kind of knows. It's where you know you dress up as the actor and like do falls or like do their fight scenes, and how much of that depends, like, how much of that that you do depends on how much the actor is is willing to do of their own action, uh, so a lot of times they'll want to do their fighting and and all that stuff and then like the car hits and the you know wire stuff and the falls they leave to us right, or if they just want to look extra, extra skilled, and you have those skills exactly. 

06:58
Yeah, so we usually we usually end up doing a pass with them, um, and then with the other, like we'll do a pass with the actors, then we'll do a pass with one of the doubles over their shoulder and then that actor, and then switch it so double actor, um, and then the two doubles if there's like a wider shot or whatever. Um, technology has done a lot to kind of help along with that as well. Like a lot of the marvel movies and stuff will just put dots on your face for tracking markers and then just face replace the double um. So that's kind of a cool little technological advancement that has happened within the last several years. I guess probably I don't know, I'm not gonna say how many people don't know, but it it's more recent than not, um, but not super recent, yeah, that's. That's like film and TV kind of. 

07:45
And then motion capture tends to be a little more casual in a way, like you have the director and the animation directors and sometimes they'll bring in a stunt coordinator. 

07:56
We're kind of trying to push for them to bring in a stunt coordinator more often and earlier on in the process, just so we can kind of break down the action and give them an idea of, like, how this could be shot and worked through. But, um, traditionally it's kind of just you bring in the stunt performer and they don't really even know what they're doing on the day, necessarily, and then you just get a bunch of different animation animators and animation directors uh, just kind of being like, okay, so now we need this, great, and then now we need this. Then you just get to work together with them, which is really fun and collaborative because you get to be working directly with the person who's going to be manipulating the data. Um, but it it's really nice to have a stunt coordinator there to kind of be the in-between person and and be the person that plans it out a little better yeah, so is that. 

08:45 - Candice Bloch (Host)
I mean there's like animated films. But is this also kind of the same thing for video games? Like how is video game stuff different than film stuff and television stuff? Like how do all three of those kind of compare? 

08:57 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
uh, animated films typically don't use motion capture um. They're a little more purist about it. Like pixar never uses motion capture, they will bring in people for reference but they're not credited in like a motion capture because they're technically not in the movie, because they don't bring in the data from the motion capture um and they just animate off of what they see um, so it's a bit more the motion capture um and they just animate off of what they see. 

09:27 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Um, so it's a bit more. It's no dots on you, yeah, no, no motion like an example of how it might look. 

09:29 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
Yeah, exactly. So it's like a video reference or they'll just find stuff on the internet or whatever. But they do sometimes bring people in for specific fight scenes or just movement styles. Um, I did that for raya the last dragon with a few people, where they just kind of had us do a bunch of random things, like now do it in a muay thai style and like do this sort of I don't know whatever, um, but so they bring you in and then like kind of see how realistically you'd be moving. Uh, what's the difference between motion capture and like movies that do use motion capture? You mean so like games versus the interaction? 

10:05 - Candice Bloch (Host)
yeah, like like video games versus a film that's going to use some like how, how is that different? Because a lot, of, a lot of our listeners for one um, are more in the film and television world and and might not be as versed in the video gaming world, but the video gaming world is massive and important and still does all this stuff which. But there's parallels and there's this overlap that you have and things like what you do. So I'm just curious, like what overlaps there might be or differences in terms of, like, production style or timelines or how stories are created and things like that uh. 

10:37 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
So I worked on alita battle angel, which is kind of a cool little mix of both. So we had like a live set which had motion capture cameras like trickled in around and then people would have suits on if they were more motion captured than human. Or like the people that had maybe like a cybernetic arm only had a suit for their arm and then they had the tracking markers there but they were a person person otherwise. So it's kind of a cool little mixing of the two. Um, they're also different in in terms of, like you were saying, like uh, timeline of how long they get to work. 

11:18
Um, films tend to be a little faster than games. Games get a little more time, it seems, between stuff. So like if you're working on a video game, you can work on the entire game and only work like a couple weeks in total because they'll bring you in for a day. It's usually like you and maybe a couple other people, unless it's a cinematics um shoot where there's like actors with cameras and everything the face capture stuff, um, but if it's just motion capture, like, it's maybe you and maybe one or two other people. I've been on the volume myself for eight hours just doing a bunch of different movements and everything. So for for video games there's cinematics, which is all the story, story mode stuff, where the actors get their face captured, they put their voice in um, like the cut scenes and stuff like this, yeah exactly so. 

12:08
It's the cut scenes and stuff. So that's one aspect of the interactive video game world. And then there's in-game stuff where you do all the navigation, where you're like running and and you do all the movements, so you do all the fight stuff, um, with all the like specialty moves and everything. The in-game stuff is usually where it's you or you and another person for eight hours just like doing crouch runs in the volume at an angle, uh, so that they get an idea of how the camera is gonna move or how the person's gonna move, um, those are fun but they're definitely tiring and a lot uh. But they're really cool because you get to work, you know, with, uh, with the animators and everything, um. 

12:48
And then the, the cinematic ones are a little more like theatrical in a way, where it feels more like a movie, um, and that's kind of how the movies would be shot too, where you just have a bunch of actors, you have your set that you've made, like you have your little pvc doors and stuff, and then they do their full scenes and then sometimes we'll have the stunts just kind of happen on the side at the same time. 

13:11
So that's time synced, um, or we'll just do it back to back and kind of jump in and out the same way you would in a live action movie. Um, the contracts are also different, like SAG, because some people are SAG Screen Actors Guild, just like actors. The contracts are different. So SAG has a different one for theatrical versus interactive, and it doesn't matter if it's motion capture or not. Obviously all interactive is going to be motion capture because there's not really any live action interactive stuff. But it's the same for motion capture if it's theatrical. Uh, so that's different because you don't get residuals on video games. There's a massive difference there. 

13:54 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Um, apparently you can't track it that's frustrating, yeah, I mean I, I hope, when people or they, they say that yeah, yeah, exactly, but it's the same thing streaming though. Well, hopefully that will change. But I mean it's also for everyone listening, have more appreciation when you're hitting your combos and playing games that someone was involved in punching a million times or kicking a million times to get it to look as good as it does. It's not all. Just, you know, a computer makes it happen. 

14:26 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
It's based on people, so I think that's really, really, really cool yeah, um, that's, that's awesome, um, and it's very specific too for for interactive, because you do have to like hit a certain like shape at the beginning and shape at the end. 

14:41
And we do a lot of work in game to work with the animators to like have the right feel of when the player presses the button, of how the movement works, so like they'll say, like wind up longer, or, you know, this should come out fast so that they feel like they're they call it button feel, so they feel like they're going like you know, so it just feels intuitive. 

15:03
So it's kind of cool to see that side of it too, um, where you're like trying to work to make the final experience really cool. And yeah, like you know, a lot of times the voice actors get credited a lot more for the character and it's, you know, it's fine because there's um more of us work on maybe a specific character, like you don't necessarily just keep the same character, like if, if you're not there for a day of shooting or whatever, someone else might do some of the movements for it, so it's harder to track that sort of thing. But yeah, we're kind of working towards trying to get more credit for motion capture performers as well, because we are such a big part of the character and yeah, yeah, yeah as well, because we are such a big part of the character and yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess it's half, probably um, or like a third, I guess, because there's face, there's movement and then there's voice and a lot of times those aren't the same person. 

15:55 - Candice Bloch (Host)
This is more of a collaborative effort, more of a yeah, effort yeah, I mean, and speaking of all that collaboration stuff and going back a little to the, to the film and television type stuff, you were mentioning that hybrid now that's happening to help with faces just putting over other people. So when I'm sure everyone listening has seen, you know, behind the scenes stuff or whatever, like you were talking about, with stunt doubles that look just like the actors that they're doubling. Stunt doubles that are look just like the actors that they're doubling. Um, how, how much has, like your specific five foot height, because you're, you're not very tall? Um, how dare hey, it's out there, it's public knowledge. Um, but, um, how much? How much has that like, uh, helped or hurt or changed? Like what kind of roles you get? And has the digital stuff kind of opened up more possibilities where people don't have to look quite as much like certain actors? 

16:53 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
um, I don't think it's opened up in in the sense that they don't have to look as much like actors. Uh, just because our camera picks up so much more now, like it's so much more high definition, that you do kind of have to have even more details, uh, specifically matching and everything versus like back in I don't know cowboy movies or something like when, when cameras were like 720p or you know a lower resolution, you could probably get away with hiding a lot more. Um, so not necessarily in that sense, but I, as far as my own personal like stuff, I do. I, there are a few actors that are around my height which I will double. 

17:34
Um, I've doubled children. I've doubled like boys sometimes, because obviously when they're younger they're shorter, um, so more of that sort of thing. Like I'll double kids, I'll, I'll, um, there's a few actresses that are a bit shorter, um, yeah, they tend to be like quite a range of humans to double, but it's definitely not like as common as like a five, seven, five, eight, whatever, right well, you know, you get to be the one who does all the kits, which is there's some really cool young characters too, and yeah, and the kid shows are kind of fun because you get to like fall into a chocolate fountain, ride a segue into a couch, um you know that sort of thing. 

18:17
So it's like, oh, this is like super silly, um, super silly stuff. 

18:20 - Candice Bloch (Host)
And then I enjoy being on set with those two because like it's just a fun little energy too um, yeah, it seems like a lot of stunt work and the types of types of stuff that you do is very, you know, fights and battles and violence and whatever. So I can imagine there's that nice balance where it's like a better, more positive I mean not just like narratively the experience? 

18:43 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
yeah, absolutely I. I do enjoy the fights a lot, coming from martial arts background and stuff, and I've gotten into like fight choreography and coordinating a bit more of my own not my own stuff, but like, uh, some smaller movies and things. So I do enjoy putting together the violence, um, and it's weird because like when you're, when you're in it and you're making it up and everything, it doesn't feel like, oh, we're killing this person and everything. It's all like a lighthearted sort of situation and I feel like sometimes the darker the tone of the movie is supposed to be, the lighter we have to be to kind of contrast it so we end up having more fun when we're being really dark with it. It's kind of backwards, but it's like I don't know. I feel like a lot of people in film will feel that way yeah, you know, I could see how that makes sense. 

19:30 - Candice Bloch (Host)
And also you're the most like, keenly connected to knowing that it's fake. You know, because you're, yeah, doing that, that action enough times that you're like, oh no, I'm making it look like that person died. So I know, know that they didn't. You know Exactly. Yeah, but it sounds like I mean cause, I know also, with stunt doubles, if you do look particularly like a certain person, you have like, in essence, if they're going to be an action star for a while, some like job security there because they'll stay with the same person for a while. 

20:03 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
I mean, there are some people that have done that, but but yeah um, it's up to the actors to request that and obviously production can deny them if they, if they're not, you know, adamant enough or a big name enough. 

20:14
But I do feel like a lot of actors don't know that they can request who their stunt double is as well. So a lot of times, if they're on a different show with a different stunt coordinator, you may not get to double them again. Um, because it's it's so random in a way, like it's the stunt coordinators who end up hiring the stunt people. So if, if the actor you know, you double an actor for a day or a week or something on a tv show and then they go to a different movie or whatever, that's a completely different stunt team and a completely different stunt, and then they go to a different movie or whatever, that's a completely different stunt team and a completely different stunt coordinator. So they're not going to necessarily know that you doubled them on this show or whatever. So it's not necessarily like a big thing. But, yeah, they can absolutely request whoever is doubling them, which is cool and something that actors should be aware of. 

21:03 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Yes, actors, actors, take note um they're super happy with one, you know so like well and again it goes with you know um the rapport and the connection and a good working experience and of course that always pays off like the better you are to work with, the more you get yeah, always. 

21:20
It Isn't that funny how that works out in like everything, yeah, like a human thing, right, well, so I mean, I feel like I could pivot to something more dark or more lighthearted here, but I'm just going to go darker injuries or or things that have happened, because a lot of times stunt people come on to do the dangerous things that the other people can't do for different liability reasons and everything. And then also, what kind of like insurance does the stunt person need? Is that a whole special thing that you guys have like different levels of? 

21:58 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
uh, not that I know of. As far as insurance like, obviously if you're working on a production, they have to cover it if you get hurt, um, so the production insurance would cover anything that happened on set. Um, if you get hurt while you're training, that's on you. 

22:15 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Uh, so get hurt on set, just kidding don't never don't get hurt any in exactly, yeah, um, but yeah so know, we have, like SAG, health insurance, which is a big help when you can get it which is like you have to earn so much through SAG a year to get it and keep it, which is great If you're not earning anything because there's a strike. Yeah, yeah, in case you all didn't notice that tone yeah, tone shift. 

22:43 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
Yeah Well, you said, said darker, so we're going darker, right? 

22:46 - Candice Bloch (Host)
that's true. That's true. 

22:47 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
Yeah, um, as far as injuries, you know we we bring in stunt people to do the dangerous thing, but we also bring them in to do the thing that they're hopefully skilled at, which draws the danger down a lot, because, at the end of the day, we're here to do the thing over and over and over again and to do it safely, right. 

23:08
So we we're really here to mitigate the risk, because we are highly trained in in what we do, um, and we are there to be able to do stuff over and over again, uh one, so that we're not changing everything every time a shot happens. You know like if they're like, fall from this building down exactly to here, you could be like, okay, great, where, exactly right there, cool, and camera can know that that's exactly where you're gonna go. Or if you're doing the fight, you know like there's just more of that experience brings in a more, uh, reproducible effect. Um, but of course, people do get hurt and, uh, I have been lucky so far, um, but a lot of my friends have gotten like bad concussions or you know like just fairly serious things. 

23:56
A lot of times it's concussions, uh, just because like you do stuff enough times or something goes wrong or, like you know, or like overuse, injuries or wear and tear, that kind of ends up being pulled on a little too hard. Uh, after doing, you know, wire work all day, um, yeah, so yeah, absolutely, there's definitely injuries involved, but we do try to mitigate it as much as possible well and, as you said, you are highly trained. 

24:23 - Candice Bloch (Host)
So, speaking of that training, are you constantly training between projects and learning? New skills Are there? You know new weapons you like to pick up? Or like how do you stay, how do you stay loose? And I'm assuming you're still learning more, or yeah absolutely, I'm taking jujo and jujitsu classes right now. 

24:40 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
I just got my blue belt in juiu-jitsu, which is kind of fun because I've been doing it for years on and off, um, and then I've been doing judo a lot as well, uh, officially out of school, which is different from like just doing it for stunts, because we do train it a lot for stunts, but it's it's fun to know the practical uses of it as well. Um, and yeah, we we're always trying to find new things to train. Um, I go to tempest, uh, which is a parkour, free running gym in northridge a lot. It was just kind of a group of my friends. I guess you could call them like a stunt team or whatever. 

25:16
Um, not really a team, but like just friends. We train with a lot. We make social media videos, like little fight scenes and things. We train kind of just run through the basics a lot to keep that up, and then it's a lot of a lot of like just basic boring workouts and then yoga sometimes to stay limber and everything because you want to obviously balance the, the hard-hitting stuff, with like a recovery sort of situation as well um, I know that you do a lot of the more like fighty, flippy, actiony. 

25:53 - Candice Bloch (Host)
You know physical stuff. There's also that side of stunts that's like the people that get lit on fire and do crazy driving stuff. Is that anything you have an interest in eventually getting more into, or do you kind of staying where you are? 

26:07 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
Well, of course, I like driving a lot. I've been training it a bit. My boyfriend actually is a amazing stunt driver and camera car driver, so he's been teaching me some stuff. It's very fun to slide cars. The actual application on set ends up being, more often than not, just a precision sort of situation where, like you have to drive up really fast to a camera or you have to hit a you know breakaway mailbox without hitting the person behind it, which is something I did last week um, so it's just kind of the more more simple. 

26:43
Stuff ends up happening a lot more often. Um, which is kind of the same with the fight stuff. Like you'll end up doing trips and falls way more often than you'll do, like a whole kung fu sort of um fight scene. And then, yeah, like fire stuff is is just something that ends up happening. Whenever it does happen, uh, you get called in because you're a good double, not necessarily because you're like specializing in fire. It's more the fire prep team that is really responsible to help with that and it's kind of the technology behind it that makes it what it is. So you put like the layers of the cloth specific fireproof cloth and then like the layers of the gel and stuff, and it's actually more cold than hot because so much of that, like the gel that they use, is like cooled before you put it on, so you're just freezing while you're on fire which is kind of fun. 

27:36 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Please, yeah, we on fire already exactly no, for sure. 

27:39 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
And and usually they're doing it at night in the cold, obviously, um, because why wouldn't they? So, yeah, it's. It's uh. Yeah, that one's more on like the, the prep team and then the guys that put you out and everything but, um, it's cool. Yeah, it's just kind of. I've gotten hired a lot more for the fight stuff, but yeah well, it's really cool and sounds like. 

28:01 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Sounds like you mentioned you know, your friends and now your boyfriend and everything. It sounds like you're that there's kind of a close knit community. I mean, obviously there's less stunt performers than actors, you know, like it's a highly specialized thing. So how close is that community and how big is it, Would you say? 

28:20 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
would you say it's gotten a lot bigger in the last several years again, I think, probably maybe like 10 years or something, when I even when I started, like eight years ago it was it felt like it was smaller for some reason, but I that might have just been because I knew less people, um, but it has it used to be way smaller, like the people that kind of grew up in it like second generation stuff. People would like they'd kind of know everyone who was working all the time. And I do feel like now, because of so many different streaming services and so many different projects going on, like there's there's a lot more opportunities, so obviously there's a lot more people involved um so it has gotten bigger. 

28:59
I think you can look up the statistic on sag of like how many people are registered as stunt people. 

29:06 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Uh, it's, I think, somewhere around like 2000 or something, but I'm terrible with numbers um, I feel like I should have, uh, researched that and then could fact check that right now. You, you can find it later. Yeah, just put it on real quick. We could put that in the show notes. Exactly, that's podcast speak, right there, right, but it does seem like there's also a lot more ways that people get content with all the different streaming services and people creating their own stuff. So that would, I'd imagine, do a lot for that world. 

29:43
So that would, I'd imagine, do a lot for that world and also this recent-ish resurgence in all of the superhero type stuff tends to lend itself more towards stunt work than a quiet rom-com might, even though that stuff does have things in there. You have a fun, zany thing that happens and you need someone, like like you were just saying, to hit the mailbox and not the person Exactly Stunt driver for that. 

29:59 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
Exactly and, surprisingly, like, a lot of the like comedy falls and stuff end up hurting more because you're supposed to just bounce up and laugh it off, as opposed to like being able to make it look gnarly. 

30:11 - Candice Bloch (Host)
So it is interesting like because yeah, like comedy stuff is a lot more painful actually. Well, they do say comedy is more difficult than drama. So that's why it's for the people. It's just because of the stunts, yeah, exactly, um, but yeah, I mean speaking of also the, the characters of it. You're not just um, you know, like, how important is it to take into account the, the story and the character that you're doing stunts for, because it's not just coming in to do action mindlessly. So, yeah, like, how important is it to know like the whole story and context and character, motivation and all that stuff yeah, I mean, I find it pretty important. 

30:48 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
I know there's some people that just kind of come in and, you know, do the fall and are happy with that. I do think at the very least, if you're coordinating or or you know chore, choreographing something like, you really need to make sure that it's connected to the story, because otherwise you're just doing action for action's sake and it's like, yeah, that's cool, but if it feels disconnected from the general story it's not gonna play as well. Um, and I I do also feel like if you know the character, you're gonna be able to kind of portray them better and like make the same choices that they would. So a lot of times, if we're like doubling someone for a longer time, we'll we'll watch them walk and kind of mimic that as well. Or like if we're running for them or whatever, which sometimes happens, like they'll be on a on on a first unit and we'll go off to a second unit and like do some of the other stuff. 

31:41
Um, so yeah, like that being able to kind of get into the character I think is very important, because it's it's in the little things too, right. Like, even if it's like a close-up of a hand, like if they're scared, it's gonna be a little different than if they're happy about something. So like that, that sort of acting kind of gets through to the audience, I think. Um, and obviously if you're getting pulled on a wire to the ground, it's like a two second thing, it doesn't matter nearly as much as like maybe in a fight scene or like in a in a longer shot. So yeah, it's kind of dependent on on the project itself. But I do think it's a bigger part of the job than a lot of people might say. 

32:26 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Yeah, well, I mean it's, I mean it's certainly appreciated, because ultimately the whole point is to not have people know that a stunt person is doing that part right, it's to kind of disappear into it and make, make that character have like a seamless yeah, it's about the character. 

32:43 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
Absolutely everything we do is in service of the character um, so do you think? 

32:47 - Candice Bloch (Host)
uh, have you it's? It sounds like, just by the nature of what you do, you've learned a lot about filmmaking in general. Do you know? Did you expect to get into this and learn about all kinds of things like camera angles and editing and all this stuff as well, or is that you know, something you knew would come with it? 

33:06 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
I mean to a to a point. I think you have to, you know, learn about it and be interested in it. I don't know how much I was expecting to learn about it. I do make a, you know, concerted effort to learn more. I think you can go through your career without knowing a lot of stuff and just have people tell you like, oh, make sure you're whatever being bigger or something. But if you know, like, what lens they're on, like if it's a longer lens, like maybe your actions are not going to have to be as big because they're closer in, even though they're like halfway across the house, um, so just kind of knowing all that stuff is is very helpful for the performer. Um, and obviously again, if you're like helping create the action, it's massively important. And but I was, I was kind of into editing as a like when I was younger too. 

33:58
Um, I had like a little video camera and like kind of made little demo reels and stuff for for a while. So I was interested in editing and like camera stuff before I kind of fell out of it for a minute when I first moved here because I was focusing on the other stuff. But it's it's, it's definitely fun and I'm, you know, I also act and like come from that background. So like breaking down scripts and characters and stuff is very interesting and just storytelling as an art in general is very interesting to me, so I've been studying that quite a bit well. 

34:31 - Candice Bloch (Host)
that's why you are the professional that keeps getting hired over and over. You just do it so well. Let's keep getting that in. But we're running a little close on time and there's still a few more things I want to ask, so I'm going to just ask them. So what do you think about? I think by the time this airs it might be already out. It's not out yet. What are your thoughts on the upcoming ryan gosling and emily blunt movie, the fall guy, and do you think it's good to bring like more of a shining, a light on the profession as a whole? Do you hope it will lead to more like recognition of the craft? 

35:07 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
yeah, it looks so good. Every preview I see I'm like legitimately excited about it. Um, david leach, the director of it, is actually a like his. His background is in stunts, um, so I think that just brings such a more authentic feel to it. Uh, and yeah, I think it looks freaking awesome. Like I love david leach. I've worked with him before not on this, but on some other things and like I'm really excited, uh, to see it as well. Um, because it really does look absolutely fantastic and the people I feel like people that I know have seen it somehow already maybe they went. 

35:43 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Well, it did already premiere it. Um, yeah, so they uh south by southwest and yeah, that's what people have seen it yeah, um, and I've just I've heard great things, so, yeah, I'm excited about it well, I'm even more excited now to get sort of the stamp of excitement from an actual stunt woman. 

35:58 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
Absolutely, and I also appreciate like just how much their campaign is to like highlight stunt people as well. Like Ryan Gosling's been amazing about it and same with Emily Blunt. Like their whole thing is like yeah, like stunt people are friggin' cool. Let's you know, give them a shout out and everything, and I think it's yeah, I mean they. 

36:20 - Candice Bloch (Host)
They need the credit. I know that, like, for example, casting, is going to have an Academy Award in 2026. So hopefully stunt work is right. 

36:30 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
We've been working on that one for a while as a community. But yeah, like stuff like this would definitely go a long way towards helping that process. Yeah, having like bigger directors of of um, you know like blockbusters speaking out for that, uh, you know like chas talesky and david leach, especially like right, that helps a lot. 

36:52 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Yeah, I mean I'm I'm hoping that this helps, uh, get more people appreciating it and supporting that as well, because there's so much that goes into filmmaking, as absolutely everyone listening here knows. Um, if they don't do your research, yeah, if you don't listen to all the other episodes and find out all of them, binge them, let's go. Yeah, because it's just so much. But what you guys do is such a amazing and commendable and highly skilled thing. I'm flabbergasted that it's not awarded the same kind of recognition that some other categories and things are. Yeah, it's wild. If I could, I would vote for that to happen, but I'm not a member of the Academy. 

37:30 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
I'll work on it, though I don't think that's an option, though I don't think there's like a hey all these films, vote for these, and then should stunts have an Oscar. 

37:39 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Well, actually, earlier in the season we had one about talking a little bit more about how the Academy Awards work and how the nominees and things happen. 

37:51 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
So you can kind of learn about how different categories happen and who helps make those happen. Yeah, absolutely. We also do have our own stunt awards. It's called the Taurus Awards and then obviously SAG Awards we get included in and stuff. So there are options. Uh, like, the taurus awards are a big thing for the stunt community but, yeah, an oscar would be would be cool. They're just trying to. I think the another issue is like do you give it to the stunt coordinator? Do you give it to a performer? Um, so it's just like something like details exactly, and then it's like oh, you just get like a little finger of it if it's like 20 people. 

38:23 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Yeah, you each get your own statue? No, I don't know why not. 

38:28 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
They can yeah so it's just details to iron out, but I don't think it would be that hard to figure out yeah, we're working on I. 

38:34 - Candice Bloch (Host)
I think it'll happen some someday, um, but speaking of the someday stuff I know you're you. You said you have do a little bit of coordination and design and choreography type stuff as well. Is that something that you plan to keep doing more? And is that a thing that kind of like extends the career path of stunt performers? Like, if you're not doing as much, you kind of you know, like when a professional athlete starts coaching or something, uh, is that? I don't think it's as bad as coaching, but well, you know it's. 

39:01 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
It's an avenue to maybe not quite be doing as much of the physical, but still, yeah, absolutely yeah of course, um, and honestly, I think it's a bigger part of it than than performing, cause you get to be a part of the creative process, uh, and you know, know, bringing the vision to life and more of the storytelling aspect of it as well. And, yeah, absolutely it's a, it's a career trajectory sort of situation, uh, and a lot of people not a lot of people, but some people, you know go stunt coordinator, second unit director, director, like david leach with the fall guy, and you know, um, I think that's a really cool trajectory as well. I also am, you know, writing a tv series with a friend and, like I, the storytelling stuff is so fascinating to me, um, so hopefully something, uh, so hopefully I make something happen with that as well. 

39:50 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Yeah, well, everyone, keep your eyes peeled. Yeah, it's gonna take a second we'll be back to talk about that one. Yeah, exactly, you heard it here. She did promise when, when she's got some bigger stuff, you got to come back on the show absolutely to talk about those. Absolutely I'd love to um. So yeah, just to kind of uh wrap it up if someone's an aspiring stunt person, what kinds of skills should they be developing? 

40:13 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
uh, falling just falling, just learn how to fall. Uh, no, if you're looking to get into stunts, um, obviously having some sort of athletic background helps a lot. Um, if you have, you know, control of your body in any way, it's massively helpful. Uh, from a young age or not, um, and dancers end up being really great with fight choreography because they're so good at picking up choreography in general and like physical movement. So that's a huge step up as well. They just need to learn how to like hit things harder and like make that impact, sell. 

40:47
So, if you're a dancer, maybe take a Muay Thai class. If you're anyone else, maybe take some judo to learn how to fall and throw people. Just the falling in general is such an important thing. There's also, you know, a bunch of tutorials and stuff on youtube. I'm sure a lot of them are probably good. Obviously, if you're going to practice any sort of falling or anything like, make sure you have a safe space to do it, make sure you have a nice soft landing place, all the like. Just, you know, don't be stupid. 

41:20
Um, but yeah, like movement in general, martial arts, I always say like muay thai because it has a lot of different striking things as well as good footwork. And then judo, because you know it helps you with the falling, because you kind of have to do it and like acrobatics of some sort. You know, like take a tumbling class or whatever, um, but you can also come at it from a different angle. Like there's people that come from motocross, there's people that come from bmx driving, um, I think the main thing is like networking as well, like you obviously have to have the background, but like come to la, go to atlanta. Uh, if you're in europe, like london or whatever, like there's a lot filming there. Canada has a massive stunt community and a lot of some people are pretty open to you. Know, if, if you've got something behind, you like to helping people out, um, so yeah, just find a stunt gym, find a gymnastics gym, you'll'll find someone Feel free to reach out to me on Instagram. 

42:18
I answer questions if you need them. But yeah, get the movement in, get the networking in. 

42:26 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Yeah, be strong and stretchy and passionate, exactly, and don't break easily, right, right, yeah, tuck your chin, tuck your chin, just don't break, that's solid advice If you're falling, tuck your chin. That's the one okay, there you go. That's good advice for just life in general. So even if you're not going to be doing it professionally on screen and getting paid for it exactly, learn how to fall. 

42:47 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
Keep your hands in. 

42:49 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Don't reach over the ground because you're going to break everything that's honestly, that is probably the most useful advice we've given on this podcast. Practical advice, right? Practical advice for every, every single listener. Yeah, um, uh. So yeah, anyway, we are way over, but you're just too interesting and I had to skip a bunch of questions. I'm so sorry. I just hope that our listeners have an even greater appreciation of all the action that they see on screen as they play their games and watch their tvs and shows, and all that of all the action that they see on screen as they play their games and watch their TVs and shows, and all that about all the amazingly talented and skilled stunt performers that make it possible, I guess. Finally, if anyone wants to learn more about you and your work, you did mention Instagram, but where else can people go to find out more about you? 

43:31 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
Mostly Instagram. I'm working on getting a website together, but I'm slacking. I also have a YouTube, but I don't upload there as often as I would like, but it does exist, but Instagram is probably the best one. Tiktok's a close second, but I'm not on there as often. Yeah, I think honestly, just message me on Instagram, that's the best one. 

43:50 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Okay, and it's at your name, yes, which we will put in the show notes, because it's not necessarily that phonetic for most of our listeners. 

43:58 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
That's exactly how you say it. What are you talking about? I have the regular spelling. 

44:04 - Candice Bloch (Host)
Right, exactly, exactly. Anyway, thank you so much. This is really fascinating. Thank you for bringing all of these really cool things to life. A lot of what you do are a lot of the movies and things that I love to watch. That makes me so happy of what you do, or a lot of the movies and things that I love to watch, so I'm actually so happy. Yeah, so, thank you so much for talking with us and good luck with with everything. 

44:19 - Thekla Hutyrova (Guest)
We'll keep our eyes peeled for all the cool projects that you've got coming up thanks for having me and thanks for putting all this together and having so many different aspects of you know film brought in one place. Of course, you know we love it. Okay, thanks, awesome have a great one. 

44:33 - Candice Bloch (Host)
bye, okay, thanks. 

44:34 - VO (Host)
Awesome. Have a great one. Bye. Thank you for listening to Media and Monuments, a service of women in film and video. Please remember to review, rate and subscribe wherever you listen to this podcast. For more information about WIF, please visit our website at wifasandfrankvsandvictororg. Media and Monuments is produced by Sandra Abrams, candice Block, brandon Ferry and Tara Jabari, and edited by Emma Klein and Juliana Yellen, with audio production and mix by Steve Lack Audio. For more information about our podcast, visit mediaandmonumentscom. That's a wrap. For more information about our podcast, visit mediaandmonumentscom.