Data about on-set injuries is scant. Leslie McMichael wants to change that—and upend the way her colleagues’ bodies and brains get handled.
. That experience and seeing her peers get smacked, thrashed, and tossed about have left her concerned about how the work affects performers’ health, particularly their noggins.can cause cumulative long-term damage, especially if the person doesn’t take time to recover. And neuroscience has repeatedly linked brain injuries to memory problems, sleep disruption, personality shifts, headaches, and depression.
Unsatisfied with simply driving, she and a cousin would take turns blindfolding each other. The masked person would take the wheel, while the one riding shotgun shouted directions to swerve between giant hay bales. “We thought that was the funnest thing ever,” she says. “I would never let my kids do that, but that’s what I did.”
Then, in 1996, a friend from the martial arts community urged her to talk to her film agent. McMichael soon landed a gig as an extra on , a show about crime fighters who motor around in a sports car that can transmute into an armored vehicle. The series shot one season in Calgary, Alberta.
When she felt things reaching the broiling point, she yelled, “Hot!” and the crew sprayed her with a fire extinguisher. as it happens, isn’t the stunt person’s most dangerous feat. Wirework, martial arts, and high falls together resulted in the greatest number of on-the-job injuries, accounting for 37 percent of the total, according to a report published in 2012 by Actsafe, a Canadian nonprofit that provides health and safety guidance to the arts and entertainment industries.
So she identified Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California, where she could do a Ph.D. online, and focused on her peers—who had become more relevant to her than rat brains. “People were getting messed up,” she says. She’d run into performers she knew from ages ago who had trouble making conversation or couldn’t find their way when driving. They had memory problems, trouble sleeping, depression. “They just seemed not all there.
Russell had also been interested in what his field might do for stunt performers. “Their job is to not look like they’re there,” he says. “That’s kind of how they’re treated by the healthcare system.” Although the results are still in review, Russell gave a preview. First, film sets don’t often host people specifically versed in cranial-impact injuries, just what Russell calls “first aiders,” or paramedics if something particularly risky is scheduled. The survey found that 80 percent of participants had suffered concussions. “You actually think about what stunt performers do, and you go, ‘How was that not 100 percent?’” he says.
According to union rep Stewart, who also coordinates research with Russell, head injuries are the biggest safety issue facing stunt people, so studying how, how often, and how badly concussions occur is key. “By understanding what they are truly experiencing over the span of their careers,” she says, “we can target supports to optimize safety, health, and wellness.”
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