Double Dare
by Amanda Micheli
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DVD details
Actor: Eurlyne Epper, Jeannie Epper, Lucy Lawless, Lynda Carter, Zoe BellDirector: Amanda Micheli
Brand: Koch International
Cinematographer: Amanda Micheli
Editor: Purcell Carson
Producer: Danielle Renfrew
Producer: Karen Johnson
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 81 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-06-07
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: CAPITAL ENTERTAINMENT ENTERPRISES
DVD Reviews of Double Dare
DVD Review: Topnotch documentary about two female stunt legends
Summary: 4 Stars
When Amanda Micheli started filming DOUBLE DARE, about two top female stunt doubles, she certainly had no idea how lucky she had become. One of the two women was Jeannie Epper, one of the top female stuntwomen ever, a pioneer in a profession where women had previously been doubled by men (best illustrated in the film by a still photo of Irene Ryan, best known as Granny on THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, standing beside a man dressed up in an outfit similar to hers) and perhaps best known as the double for Lynda Carter on WONDER WOMAN. Her inclusion in the documentary was basically a no brainer, but selecting Zoë Bell had, in 2001 when filming began, to be something of a gamble. Though she possessed over-the-top skills as a stunt double, she had only one item on her resume. That one item, however, was doubling Lucy Lawless on XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS, perhaps the most stunt intensive role for a woman ever seen on television. They certainly had no idea how Zoë Bell's half of the story would develop and luckily for both her and Micheli the film ends with Bell in Beijing where she is filming the stunt scenes for Uma Thurman in Tarantino's KILL BILL. The rest, as they say, is history. Tarantino was one of the first directors ever to express strongly in public fashion how much a production had relied on the work of a stunt double. He went on to make the film DEATHPROOF (the second half of GRINDHOUSE made with Robert Rodriguez), the second half of which was built around a stuntwoman riding on the hood of a Dodge Challenger while a car driven by a mad man slams into the car at high speeds. It was a role written for Zoë Bell and she pulled it off magnificently.
If much of the documentary focuses on the immensely talented up and comer Bell, it is equally focused on the pioneer Epper, who in her early sixties is finding work harder to come by but who is determined to keep working as long as she can. Unlike Bell, who came to stunt doubling completely on her own (though I had wondered whether she was related to Peter Bell, who was the stunt coordinator on XENA -- she isn't), Epper is part of a large family of stunt doubles. Her father, who is shown in some wonderful old sequences, was a leading stuntman, and her brother is a top stunt coordinator. Her daughter is also a stuntwoman, though during the filming of the documentary her career was being hampered by a shoulder injury. What the two women the film is built around have in common is that they are remarkably likable personalities. Jeannie Epper comes across as a deeply caring and upbeat person, perhaps best illustrated by the fact that when her friend Ken Howard (THE WHITE SHADOW star) had to have a kidney transplant, she donated one of hers upon discovering that she was compatible with his blood type. I'm not sure what more you can say about a person than that. As for Zoë Bell, her base facial expression seems to be a huge grin accentuated by the lip ring she wears most of the time when she isn't working (there is a very, very funny moment when Zoë is asked by Epper whether her lip ring didn't interfere with a certain sex act made famous in the Clinton years and she replies that no, she is great at that particular act). They both seem like people you would love to know.
The disc also comes with a lot of great deleted scenes. Most of these center around Zoë Bell on XENA. There is also a scene that confirms what one often hears about XENA, that Renee O'Connor did much of her own stunt work. And indeed, although there is a stunt double dressed much like O'Connor, she isn't called upon as O'Connor is able to do all of Gabrielle's fight scene. I always thought that one of the ironies of XENA was that O'Connor, who played the sidekick, was actually the more athletic of the two actresses. In fact, a number of affectionate but unflattering nicknames attached themselves to Lucy Lawless and I have suspected for a couple of years that the line that Lawless that spoke in the episode "Downloaded" in BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, about always being a complete klutz after being resurrected (for non-initiates, on BSG Cylons, when they die, have their consciousness downloaded into a new and identical body). Also, in the Season Three BSG gag reel produced for the wrap party (available on Youtube though it probably will be included in the Season Three DVD extras) there is a shot of Lawless walking down a sidewalk on the New Caprica set when she suddenly stumbles and falls forward. But very much to her credit, in this film Lucy Lawless states that Xena was played by two women. (And let me add that in every interview I've seen Lucy Lawless seems to be massively likable -- on top of this the two Kiwis I've known have also bee utterly loveable individuals. Is everyone in New Zealand likable?)
I strongly recommend this film to just about anyone. Fans of KILL BILL or XENA will love it for background for one of the hidden stars of both films. Students of film will love it for getting a sense of how the role of women stunt doubles has grown over the years (anyone will recognize many of the stunts that Jeannie Epper is shown performing, such as Kathleen Turner's stunts in ROMANCING THE STONE). And students of Gender Studies will appreciate the struggles that women have had in pursuing their profession (e.g., having to perform stunts with minimal padding because the actress they are doubling usually has a fairly revealing outfit on, so that Zoë Bell had to do Xena's stunts wearing no padding on her arms).
Description of Double Dare
DOUBLE DARE is a double-barreled, action-packed documentary about the struggles of two stuntwomen in male-dominated Tinsel town to stay working, stay thin, and stay sane against the backdrops of Xena: Warrior Princess, Wonder Woman, and Quentin Tarantino?s Kill Bill.Bestsellers in DVD
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