FULL SPEED BEHIND
FROM THEFIELD
TALES
that car coming
for me? NBD
JWAUNDACE CANDECE,
PROFESSIONAL STUNTWOMAN
as told to Sara Chodosh / illustration by Pedro Piccinini POPSCI.COM•FALL 2019 107
I’ve been in the business since 2003,
performing stunts both in movies and
on television. I do all kinds—fire burns,
in-car crashes, even high-speed chases—but
the freakiest, most brutal feat I’ve ever pulled
off was a blind car hit. That means I was run-
ning into the street, and the incoming
car slammed into me from behind, at
a speed of 30 miles per hour.
There are so many things that can go
wrong when performing a stunt like this.
So directors use multiple cameras at
various angles to be sure they get enough
footage for the scene in a single take.
The key to nailing this move is to end up on
top of the car, so you have to be tall enough for
your hips to reach the hood. Otherwise you have
a higher probability of ending up under the
wheels. For this one, which featured a New York
City taxi, I was good to go with an inch to spare.
Stunts like these happen fast. Once I felt the
impact, I tried to get into a rag-doll posture: as
limp as possible. Being too stiff or tense in-
creases the chance that the force of impact
could break a bone. If you are loose, your
body will fold into whatever position
provides the least amount of resistance.
The next thing I saw were my legs. I
had hit the hood—thank goodness—and my
body had flipped like I was doing a backbend.
Two seconds later, I came off the side of the car
and landed on the ground. It was all over.
I used to be a professional wrestler, and
learning to “take a hit” really helped. You have to
trust your strength and feel it. It wasn’t until I
saw the footage that I thought, Oh, I’m really
crazy. When I got home, I kissed my son and
promised I’d never do a stunt like that again.