Recognize those legs doing splits? Yeah that’s me.
A commercial I was in just came out recently and I wanted to share it. I was the double for quarterback Will Levis, and in this commercial I had to perform a very specific stunt: the chair splits. The idea was to create a composite shot with Will’s upper body, and a stunt double’s(me) legs to get what you see below. The whole process was interesting.
When I heard I got the callback I had one week to prepare myself. This is not necessarily a skill I train regularly and it had been a while for me. I wanted to make sure I had a performance ready chair splits for the callback. I trained daily, and the training included general hip mobility, relaxed split holds, active contractions, and of course reps of the actual suspended splits. I had to be careful not to overdo it since I was on a daily training regimen.
During the callback I was able to easily perform the trick, and even discuss a few details and offer some options to the director on how we might film the shot. It didn’t help that my computer randomly shut down mid-zoom meeting but it all worked out in the end. I ended up booking the gig, and the next step was to attend the costume fitting the day before the shoot.
We decided on shorts as I have a pretty similar complexion and build to the quarterback. I will say I am not a fan of the football cleats: it’s the barefoot life for me. At the fitting, I was also able to talk to the director and art department on the specifics of the shot. The prop was 3 mayo jars glued together, so what you see is real. Not the most stable thing to do splits on, especially on soft turf! We had to coordinate for stability of the prop, and to make sure everything was done safely.
Finally comes shoot day. I arrive on set, go to holding and chill out for a bit. The expectation when being on a film set is that you might be waiting around for a long time. Because of that, I didn’t want to start warming up until I knew I was going to be up soon. Turns out, my bit was the first one of the day, so I didn’t have to wait very long. I got suited up in costume and headed up to the field. Still not a fan of the football cleats.
As soon as I got there, everything was set up and we had to do a little bit of prep and troubleshooting to get things to work. I was asked how long I needed to warm up. Now I can do splits cold, but it’s better to be safe so I said 5-10 minutes. I did some leg swings, horse stance, cossack squats, and some warmup splits. After that I was good to go with our mayo jar setup.
It was tricky and it took a few tries to get a solid split hold. Next it was time to roll cameras. We did 3 takes and got what we needed. Not bad! How do you think we got the shot?
I just wanted to share my experience here, and you can see the short commercial below. It’s part of a longer series of silly football/mayo gags.
I did however want to make a note about the splits, and the concept can apply to many other skills. When you spent the time to do something, the body remembers it. That’s why I was able to perform the chair splits in a week despite not previously training it for a couple years before that. It’s also why you shouldn’t be distraught if it takes you a long time to learn something. This means you will have a greater chance to retain what you learned. When you know the process you took to get something, it becomes much easier to replicate it when you need to do it again.