If your ideal movie is the kind that makes you laugh and scream, check out The Final Girls. The horror-comedy shows a bunch of teenagers whose outing to see the movie Camp Bloodbath turns frightful when they find themselves trapped in the movie. The kids now have to escape the villainous Billy Murphy, a former camper who was badly burned in a prank and now seeks revenge. The cast is studded with familiar names like Adam Devine, Alia Shawkat, and Taissa Farmiga, but who plays Billy in The Final Girls? Viewers never see his actual face, so even if the role was played by a star you might not know it.
In fact, the role of Billy isn't played by a mainstream actor but by an accomplished stuntman named Dan Norris. Norris has made over 50 appearances in film and television, including stunt work for major motion pictures such as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and 22 Jump Street. Since it was more important for the character of Billy to have the right physicality than to be played by a recognizable face, it makes sense that filmmakers would want the performer to be skilled in stunt work. This isn’t typically the case, though; most of the time stuntpeople are hired on films only for the sequences that are too dangerous or too difficult for the main stars to pull off. Here are a few amazing stunt performers who have served as doubles for some of your favorite actors.
Zoe Bell
New Zealand actress Zoe Bell is Quentin Tarantino's go-to for stunt work. She doubled for Uma Thurman in Kill Bill and then played herself in Tarantino's stunt thriller Death Proof. She is also known for being Lucy Lawless' double in Xena: Warrior Princess.
Bobby Holland Hanton
This British athlete is the muscle behind many of your favorite superheroes. He was the double for Christine Bale as Batman, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Ryan Reynolds as the Green Lantern, and Chris Evans as Captain America, among others!
Alicia Vela-Bailey
Despite starting her career as a gymnast and dancer, Vela-Bailey became a stunt star after doubling for Zoe Saldana in Avatar. Since then she has been the stuntwoman for multiple famous actresses in major blockbusters, including Kate Beckinsale in Total Recall and Shailene Woodley in Divergent .
Stunt performers are the backbone of many action and horror films, so it's awesome to get to see a stuntman play the major villain for the entire duration of the movie. Whether or not we see his face, Dan Norris is terrifying yet hilarious as he chases around some well-known scream queens. Check out The Final Girls in theaters, but please: don't try any of the stunts you see at home.
Images: Stage 6 Films, Bobby Hanton/Twitter, Alicia Vela-Baily/Instagram
