Will Smith's 'Bright' stuntwoman slams bad editing that ruined elaborately planned 22-take action scene
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Stunt performer Kimberly Shannon Murphy, who worked on Will Smith's 'Bright', is now getting candid about the film's choppy editing. In the Netflix movie, Will Smith played a human LAPD cop who is compelled to work with an orc to defend an elf girl with a lethal magic wand in a world where both humans and mythological animals live. Bright, directed by David Ayer of 'Suicide Squad', debuted in 2017 to mainly unfavorable reviews from critics but strong viewership on Netflix.
Kimberly Shannon Murphy discussed her experience working on the Will Smith-starrer on the most recent episode of Corridor Crew's 'Stuntwomen React' video series.
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Kimberly's action sequence
The stunt woman said the crucial action scene where Lucy Fry's Tikka battles Noomi Rapace's Leilah in a petrol station was ruined by editing, despite her intensive training. The scene was ultimately edited up to seem like three separate stunts, despite her ability to do an aerobatic leap over a car with only three feet of clearance from the roof.
She said, "I doubled Lucy Fry and we did a stunt, talk about cutting things up and making me angry. You can see me rehearsing it, and then you can see what they actually put in the film. We shot it with six cameras, I did it 22 times. The stunt was we were in this gas station, the ceilings are 12 feet high, this car comes crashing through the glass, and she basically jumps over the car, goes upside down over the car, grabs the gun behind her and does a flip. So I had four people on my line, and everybody was doing something different. So, I was in a goo trap, which is what we call it when the wire [is put diagonally around you] so it helps you go this way and flip. I basically had three feet in between the ceiling and the hood of the car, it was kind of one of those things where everything had to go right, because everyone’s pulling. One person was lifting me off the ground, another person was flipping me over, another person was helping me do the backflip. By take three, I’m like, “Are we good?” It was kind of one of those really sketchy things, and the way they cut it up was you couldn’t even see that we actually did the stunt."
Have Hollywood stunts changed?
Many Hollywood productions have started to rectify the editing flaws of the past to better provide heart-pounding action, even though it might still be an issue with movies like 'Bright'. Directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch have gained fame since the start of the 'John Wick' trilogy for its masterfully planned and shot action sequences. They have also produced films that have achieved popularity, some of which include 'Nobody' and 'Bullet Train'. One can only hope that Ayer is applying these lessons to his work on the Jason Statham-starrer 'The Beekeeper', even though 'Bright 2' may no longer happen.
Watch the episode of 'Corridor Crew' below.