'Drastic change' needed to end practice of 'wigging' on British film sets
The practice of 'wigging' - when a stuntman puts on a wig to double as a female character - used to be more common within the film industry but is largely frowned upon today.
Friday 13 December 2024 03:26, UK
"Drastic change" is needed to end the "backwards" British stunt industry's use of men in wigs pretending to be women, according to leading female stunt experts.
"From my point of view, it's heartbreaking," says stunt co-ordinator Tiger Lilli Rudge talking to Sky News at Space Studios in Manchester.
A stunt performer for 15 years, she now helps train other women with the skills needed to work in film and television, all too aware from her own experience that they will be fighting on multiple fronts.
"Women put in all the time and effort and are more than capable to do a job…and then you put a wig on a man," she says.
She adds: "The excuse that they use is that they had to use the man because there wasn't a woman to do the job, and I can tell you that that is absolutely rubbish because I know hundreds of women that are capable car drivers, bikers, whatever, there's so much talent out there."
Decades ago back when male-centred action films were more en vogue, the practice of "wigging" used to be quite common. Today it is largely frowned upon.
It is a term, used within the industry, to describe the process of a wig being put on a stuntman so that they can double as a female character for some of the more dangerous action scenes.
On Amazon Prime's big-budget spy show Citadel, as you might expect, all the primary cast have their own assigned stunt doubles who are gender and race-appropriate.
But Sky News obtained photos of a stunt driver wearing a wig and given heavy make-up to pass as female.
Filmed just a couple of months ago, it is understood it happened after an incident with the original female driver meant they turned to a last-minute replacement - and a man happened to be the only person available quickly with the right set of skills.
To some female stunt performers and drivers, this explanation is familiar - there just aren't enough women in the trade - but we've been told even those with the prerequisite skills are not often being booked because, they say, the stunt world remains a "boys club".
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"It's very backwards," Ms Rudge insists. "America is much better...we are massively behind here and I think it needs drastic change."
She says: "The opportunities for women are much lesser so… they have to get all these skills, the bikes, the cars, the horses, yet when it comes down to hiring they're not getting an opportunity.
"Anything with a weapon, anything with danger, it will automatically go to men....there is a stereotype with women for some reason that they aren't as good as men."
A recent study carried out by academic Dr Laura Crossley - a film lecturer from Bournemouth University - found that despite an increase in female action roles women still struggle to get into core stunt teams.
"The overwhelming evidence is that it's very difficult for women to progress to the roles of the stunt directors and stunt coordinators," Dr Crossley explains.
"They tend to be the people who will determine who gets brought onto the stunt teams and predominantly they are men."
She adds: "I don't think it's necessarily something that's being done that's mendacious or that it's deliberately trying to freeze women out, I think there's just this ongoing culture... because stunt workers have existed in this sort of shadowy area for quite a long time... they just don't tend to get that kind of transparency.
"It is jobs for the boys... if a stunt woman is brought in, she isn't always part of the core team, she might just be brought in for a scene and then if there's something else that arises along the way and she's no longer around, the stunt director probably turns to his core crew and just goes 'okay, you're up, you're going to do it'."
In 2024, she argues, it's hard to justify that a man in a wig is the only option.
"This is something that we knew was happening in the 60s and 70s, to a certain extent, but I didn't realise it had carried on for so long....it should absolutely be industry standard that men cannot double for women and white stunt workers cannot double for people of colour," she says.
Given the nature of closed film and television sets, it is hard to say for certain how often men double for women.
In relation to the photos we obtained from the set of Citadel Season 2, Sky News understands Amazon MGM endeavour to find gender and ethnic-specific stunt doubles and that stuntmen dressing as women happens only with the rarest of exceptions.
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But Ms Rudge argues it shouldn't be happening at all.
She said: "This comes from the top - production need to acknowledge female stunt coordinators, female coordinators will acknowledge women....unless there is more hiring of women, this isn't going to change."