Show Notes
Marvin Campbell was an Olympic Gymnast and has gone on to be an accomplished Stuntman. In his interview he talks about this unexpected transition and some of his most exciting stunts, including working on the crane to crane jump on Casino Royale, and why you should always pack your pads when someone tells you “It’s a simple job”!
We also talk about something we haven’t discussed on the podcast before: Race. Marvin gives some insight into what it’s like to work as a black performer in an industry that is still overwhelmingly white.
At the time we release this interview there are approximately 442 members on the British stunt register, and only around 6% are black men or women, a percentage that obviously does not represent the diversity we need to be aiming for in the industry.
We also touch on a practice known within the industry as “blacking up”, where white stuntmen are made up to double black actors. Although this practice is much less common than it once was, it does still happen, and we believe it is valuable to talk about why that is the case. During this moment where every industry in the world is examining itself and its relationship to racism, we think it’s a good conversation for people to hear. We hope you enjoy.
Please note: Interview with Marvin recorded in April 2019 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Cunning Stunts, A Podcast Series
Greg began as a gymnast, which soon turned to Tumbling at the age of 7, when Damien Walters became his coach. It was Damien that got Greg his first job on a film, where he performed his first stunt on Kick-Ass, when he was just 12 years old. Since then Greg’s credits include, The World’s End, Kingsman, Wonder Woman and Spiderman as one of the Spiderman Stunt Doubles. In this podcast episode Greg talks about his early years competing in tumbling, his memories as a child stunt performer and some of his more recent jobs and stunts. We hope you enjoy.
Horses have been in Sam’s family since the early 1940’s and her Father is the well-known Stunt Coordinator, Steve Dent. Sam started her career with a shovel in her hands and is now an established Horse Master. As well as her on set duties, Sam’s job also includes training horses and teaching Actors to ride. All this and more is talked about in this episode. We hope you enjoy.
Bobby began as a gymnast, which eventually led to a career in Stunts. He is now Chris Hemsworth’s Stunt Double, part of the successful fitness company Centr and has just released a children’s book, all of which are discussed in this podcast episode. David and Bobby also chat about who else Bobby has doubled, stunts that Bobby has performed and upcoming projects. We hope you enjoy.
Josie Forman is daughter to Tina and Dave from Episode Two. She is part of the new generation of stunt performers and has been on the British Stunt Register since 2016. Since then Josie has begun to build an impressive list of credits including, Bond, Maleficent, Star Wars, Game Of Thrones and Spider-Man. In this podcast episode Josie tells us about her training for the register, some of the stunts she has performed and some of her early memories of her parents working as Stunt Performers. We hope you enjoy.
Damien began in gymnastics and tumbling, and it was one of his YouTube videos that landed him his first job as a stunt performer on Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Since then Damien has built up an impressive list of credits including, Kick-Ass, Captain America, Kingsman, Assassin’s Creed and Bond, he is now an established 2nd Unit Director. Damien has also written and directed his own movie and in this podcast episode he talks about this new venture, his journey to becoming performer and some of the stunts he has performed. We hope you enjoy.