Go Behind The Scenes With A Hollywood Body Double

[jwplayer id="7214480"]

Perhaps the most under-appreciated job in Hollywood—at least by the general public—has got to be the body double, mainly because when they do their job right, you never know they were there. Vulture (link below) recently chatted with Laura Grady, a woman who's done double work for everyone from Marisa Tomei to Helena Bonham Carter. 

For the famous computer enhanced sex scene from Fight Club seen above, Grady got some interesting direction from David Fincher.

“Fight Club was my favorite by far. It was just incredible. There was so much work on that set; it was literally two weeks of just these scenes in bed! You cannot be shy. There was also a body double for Brad Pitt, so we spent two weeks with David Fincher on a set and green-screen, just reenacting all of those sex scenes. I did see Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter throughout the day, but they were never in my scenes — the body doubles did their thing, and then Brad and Helena did their thing. So I never got to interact with Brad, unfortunately. David Fincher is just a master genius. He took so much time with us. He really, really cared about how we looked. And all those scenes — it was the most intricate sex scene I’ve ever done in my life. And it was pretty hard-core. We were all over each other, me and the body double. He wanted us to choreograph it, like a dance. He would come up with these phrases to give you ideas of what he wanted, like, ‘You’re in molasses,’ or ‘You’re in water, it’s streaming.’ And then when you see the movie, it’s just exactly that."

[jwplayer id="7214481"]

Despite having some less-than-seamless body double work, the 1998 comedy Slums of Beverly Hills also gave us a look at Laura's breasts as she stood in for Marisa Tomei.

“Marisa Tomei was maybe the nicest lady ever, and she had an incredible body. I think she was trying on bras in a scene with Natasha Lyonne. So it was just a little bit of nudity. Oh, and there was a towel scene, too, she comes out of a shower. But that was fun. Easy.”

[jwplayer id="7214482"]

One of my personal favorite films is Crank, and Laura also did some double work for Amy Smart in the infamous Chinatown sex scene.

“My most fun moment on set was Crank. Jason Statham made me feel so comfortable. I can’t remember exactly what he said, but I remember telling my husband later — something so charming, like, 'Don’t worry about it, I got ya, love.' He didn’t make me feel stupid or naked. And I had to be completely topless, and it was this crazy scene outside with all these background actors. But I was like, 'This is not a bad day. I’m taking my clothes off for Jason Statham. I’ll be okay today.' I remember getting the call for Crank 2; Amy Smart requested me and I thought that was really nice. But I was pregnant and couldn’t do it, and I was so upset. But you can’t be a pregnant body-double. It’s a liability.”

For even more stories, check out the full article over at Vulture.