They say by no means meet your idols, however for stunt performer and martial artist Ashlee Fidow, assembly the legendary Donnie Yen on the set of Mulan—the place she was one among star Yifei Liu’s stunt doubles—was something however disappointing. io9 not too long ago spoke to Fidow about her Mulan expertise (along with “fangirling” over Yen, it additionally included a harrowing underwater stunt that didn’t make the ultimate movie) and her high-flying profession to date.

This is the third and closing a part of our collection—try Part 1 and Part 2—highlighting extraordinarily cool stunt performers engaged on a few of your favourite sci-fi and fantasy tasks. Aiko Tanaka, the creator of this collection, spoke with Fidow who stated working with Mulan’s Chinese stunt staff was a excessive level for her. “A lot of them came from Wushu backgrounds at a very top level, so I was able to learn a bit of Wushu throughout the whole process and actually pick their brains and watch them move. It’s awesome when you [collaborate] with other stunt performers around the world because you’re learning skills that you may not have at the time,” she says.

Liu had two doubles on Mulan, and Fidow says that working with the opposite stunt performer was a rewarding expertise regardless of the language barrier between them. “We couldn’t speak to each other but we could kind of communicate with body language… the great thing with what we had to do was all physical expression, so it was like doing a dance together.”

Fidow admits that she didn’t suppose stunt performing can be her profession at first. “I think with my lifestyle, having done martial arts when I was young, it kind of led me there by accident,” she says. About 10 years in the past, a buddy advised she exit for an audition, which she nailed—resulting in her first stunt position. “I remember jumping off some cliff at a quarry and doing my first high fall, and then thinking to myself, ‘Oh my god,’ just freaking out going, ‘This is what this is!’”

Obviously, she caught with it—apart from Mulan, her lengthy checklist of credit consists of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Ash vs. Evil Dead, Alien: Covenant, The Meg, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Avatar 2—and she or he has some actual speak for anybody who’s enthusiastic about plunging into the biz like she did: “My advice to anyone that’s starting stunts is making sure they know what they’re getting into to begin with. Knowing your limitations is a huge one. Every stunt person has different skills, every stunt person offers something completely different to a team, and it’s just knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are.”

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You can see extra from Fidow on Instagram.

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