It’s hard to fathom the reason there’s not a stunt category for the Oscars yet, especially when we see behind-the-scenes videos of stunt people at work. Whether practicing fight scenes, action sequences being shot, or the incredible dedication it takes to pull off big stunts safely, it’s clear a number of Hollywood movies would never be possible without stunt people.
We were reminded of that yet again when stunt actor C.C. Ice shared an amazing video on her Instagram. Ice, who got her first big tentpole work doing stunts for the Hunger Games movies, worked her way through Marvel movies and TV series to eventually be Elizabeth Olsen’s stunt double in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame.
Ice shared a behind-the-scenes video from the set of Infinity War of one of Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch’s many epic fight scenes, namely, the fight between Wanda and Proxima Midnight. That fight takes place in Edinburg, Scotland, where Wanda and Vision have been hiding out and exploring their relationship. They’re eventually ambushed by two of Thanos’s generals, Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive and a fight ensues between them, along with Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson, who enter in the middle of the fray.
Ice’s video shows the portion of the fight that finds Wanda and Proxima going toe-to-toe between some pillars and it would be fascinating enough on its own but some early CGI work was also added in, making it pop even more:
The caption reads
“A little throw back to the Avengers: Infinity War Scotland sequence previz: the fight thru the pillars: Wanda vs Proxima! One of my favorite fights with an awesome team!! Fighting against @taijtsu1987. Thank you, @thesamhargrave @moganderton, @jyou10, Danny H, @mhugghins24, and the entire rigging team for keeping us all safe! So proud of Lizzy for training hard with the team and making this scene so amazing on the big screen in the final edit! She rocked it! What an inspiration. Special thank you to Kyle and Anis for all the guidance, patience, and being amazing fight partners as Proxima & Corvus. I will always be grateful to you. ❤️🐱 Love you all!”
You might notice she tagged Sam Hargrave in her caption, who worked as both stunt coordinator and fight coordinator (though uncredited) on Infinity War. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the director of Extraction, the action movie starring Chris Hemsworth that blew up Netflix in April. That film was Hargraves’ directorial debut, and it slayed. It helps to have someone who has a real eye for action directing action movies rather than having to rely solely on a second unit director or AD filming action sequences separately.
Hargrave has followed a line of stunt coordinators who have turned to directing in recent years, such as David Leitch and Chad Stahelski, who made their mark in stunts doing The Matrix franchise before moving on to co-direct John Wick. Since then, Stahelski has gone on to solo direct the second and third John Wick movies and Leitch has directed Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2. Nash Edgerton and Ric Roman Waugh are two other more recent stuntmen-turned-directors.
While we have yet to see a notable female stuntperson turn to directing, noted stuntwoman Zoë Bell has been stunt coordinator for a few high profile movies in recent years, including Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and the upcoming Haymaker. Bell also coordinated and directed the “Boss Bitch Fight Challenge” short after a bunch of Hollywood stuntmen put together a stunt video that was noticeably absent of women. And quite frankly, it slayed:
If Bell ends up becoming the first notable stuntwoman to make the jump to directing a feature film, we won’t be mad at all. As for C.C. Ice, you can next see her doubling Scarlett Johansson in the upcoming Black Widow.
Black Widow is in theaters on November 6. Add Black Widow to Your Watchlist to be alerted when tickets go on sale.
