Something new and interesting that I will never do again...
So I'll try anything once. Well, not hard drugs, don't want to get addicted. Oh, and not anything too sexually depraved. And definitely nothing too dangerous that's not carefully monitored. Now that I think about it...I'm not so daring. So how the hell did I end up standing in the middle of a street staring down a car and waiting for it to hit me?
On July 1, a hands-free cell phone law goes into effect here in California. We are the state that needed it the most and from what I understand somehow we are implementing it last. Actually, the law passed 2 years ago BUT for some reason doesn't come into effect until July.
In any case, a friend got me involved in a PSA being shot for this new law. It's quite funny, actually. Bob Saget (Full House, America's Funniest Home Video and now 1 vs. 100) is driving and talking on his cell phone without a hands free and he hits a woman crossing the street, then hits a girl on roller skates, avoids hitting two hot girls jogging, then runs over a little old lady, then hits Ralph Nader and...you get the idea. When it's all done, he has hit 12 people. It's actually hilarious unless you are the one being hit by Bob.
The thing I have always said, from the minute I got into stunt work was that I WOULD NEVER DO A CAR HIT. Never. Yes, it's a stunt. Yes, the car is driven by a professional and Cole McKay is as pro as you can get. Yes, there is a stunt coordinator (Steve Hart) who's top notch, and knows what he's doing. Yes, you get to wear some padding. BUT, and this is a very big BUT, you are still getting hit by a car. An actual car.
There is no way to fake it. There is no camera trick. You can learn how to dissipate the impact. You can learn how to land in the least painful way. But, there is no escaping the fact that you are still hitting concrete when you land, after getting hit by a car.
I saw a friend do one once and I almost ruined the shot by gasping so loud when I watched him get hit. It took everything in me to NOT run over to him afterwards.
So cut to me standing in the middle of the street waiting to get hit by Bob Saget. Replaying the conversations I had with my friend and desperately trying to recall why I actually said yes to this.
We did it three times. Three times. The first time I got stuck on the hood which they had tried to make more comfortable by placing a little bit of padding on it. The problem was that as I landed on the hood, it was so soft, and concrete is so hard, that my subconscious took a little convincing to get me to push off.
The last two I managed to flip myself off, land on my feet and then drop to the ground. So those weren't so bad. And where the camera was placed, the hit sold.
I also wanted everyone to know that I just found out that I'll be stunt coordinating a feature film! That's in May. I also got the job as the spokesperson for the commercial I told you about a few months ago where they made me audition other women who were trying to get my job.
In the meantime, I'm teaching one the producers from Never Back Down how to do high falls. So, I'm keeping busy, and definitely staying away from oncoming cars!
