REFLECTING REALITY
Stunt coordinator Puven Pather wants Australia’s stunt industry to reflect a reality that’s not all white.
It’s 2019 and apparently I am one of the first POC (person of colour) to be graded as a stunt coordinator through the national Equity Stunt Grading Procedure. There was a part of me that didn’t quite believe it. The Story of the Kelly Gang was Australia’s first feature film, made circa 1906, so in 113 years of film and television I’m the first… really? It feels like this shouldn’t be significant but, unfortunately, I think it is.
I started training to be a stunt performer as a teenager in Melbourne in 1989. I was advised outright that I wouldn’t get much work because of my colour and that I looked too different. Being a naive teenager, I thought the “too different” part was because I had long hair.
I’ve been told many times that there’s nothing for me on a project because “you look too different” or “we’ve seen you already” even though I was in the background. In my early career, I actually thought they were right. But despite that I managed to make a career, mostly playing drug dealers, terrorists, prisoners, natives — you get the idea.
When I started, there was only one Maori male and one Asian woman stunt performer in the country. Last year, as the assistant stunt coordinator on a Chinese film shot in Melbourne that was partly set in Malawi, I helped put the word out we were looking for African performers. About 20 eventually auditioned.
I was on a mission and approached people on the street, in gymnastic gyms, CrossFit gyms, on social media. I even found a chef who was catering on the film. He will probably be the first person in Australia of African descent (by way of the Caribbean and England) to be graded as a stunt performer.
In 2002, there were no male Asian stunt performers in Australia. When US film The Great Raid, shot in Queensland, needed Japanese soldiers, notices were put out and people were auditioned, then put through a boot camp. A group of those guys now work continuously and not just here in Australia. So when the industry says there’s not a big enough pool of talent, they’re not looking.
In 2018, a significant Australian industry veteran said to me: “You’re very popular at the moment.” Having a healthy ego (I can leap off tall buildings in a single bound, after all), I thought this person was complimenting me on all the coordinating work I was doing. But then the industry veteran added, “even when it’s not appropriate… everything is about diversity!”
As with all gaslighting comments, it took me a moment to register what was actually being said, and the racial bias it carried. There is so much to unpack there. But people of colour would probably nod knowingly and shrug because, well, it’s not unique.
Thanks to social media, whitewashing in the film industry has become an open discussion and is forcing the industry to slowly change. But blackfacing stunt performers still happens in Australia and, to some, it’s funny.
To the POC actors getting doubled by a blackfaced stunt performer, it’s uncomfortable and unsettling. I know that because I’ve had these conversations with actors who sometimes also feel the need to diminish themselves as ‘coconuts’ or ‘bananas’.
The offshore films that shoot here are sensitive to blackfacing and wigging [male stunt performers standing in for women], and having representation on screen that is relevant to the real world.
The Australian industry is slowly being dragged into the 21st century, but there are still Australian stunt coordinators and performers (and, I’m assuming, producers because they don’t question it) who wouldn’t think twice about blackfacing.
It baffles me that anybody could be unaware of the ramifications of blackfacing in this Twitter-fed world. Unless you have been living in a cave for the past 60 years, there is no reason why you wouldn’t know what it means historically and the damage it can cause.
Thankfully, beyond me there are others in the stunt industry who see it as something that has to change. Make-up artists are also leading the way and are now refusing to blackface stunt performers.
As an actor, you are within your rights to know how you’re going to be doubled on a project and that the production has made an effort to find someone of a suitable race/complexion with the skill level to accomplish the stunt.
At the moment, there are no African women or Indigenous women registered as stunt performers. There is a substantial group of Asian men but just a handful of Asian women. There are still complexities and limitations in what can be accomplished.
But if the conversation is had, due diligence taken and all efforts made, even if a non-POC is used then the appropriate steps will have been taken. The important thing is that the conversation has opened.
I’m still waiting for Australian producers and directors to become part of the conversation to help change the environment. Maintaining a living in this industry is difficult, but if people can see there is a need and future for POC in the stunt industry, then it will encourage more people to pursue it and get the training.
If I’d listened to what I was told as a teenager when I started, I probably would have given up a long time ago. But I was dumb enough or smart enough (I like to think smart enough) not to listen to bad advice.
As a stunt coordinator, I’m in a position to be at the table and emphasise the importance of these conversations. I also hope me being in this position encourages POC to get into the Australian stunt/film industry. We have a lot to contribute.
Puven Pather is a stunt coordinator, stunt performer and filmmaker who has been working in film and television for more than 25 years. Puven was born in South Africa and moved to Australia in 1982.
Puven was graded as a stunt coordinator in 2019 by the MEAA National Stunt Committee. The Committee was created to formally grade and certify working stunt professionals through the National Stunt Grading System (NSGS). Working as a stunt performer, stunt coordinator or safety supervisor is about assessing risk, both for the individuals involved in a stunt and often for the rest of the cast and crew. The NSGS was put into place to verify that an individual has adequate experience, knowledge and is qualified to carry out stunt work as well as building a professional and safe stunt industry in Australia.
