Exclusive Interview with The Last Stand's Ky Furneaux!

We've got another "Last Stand" EXCLUSIVE for you! TheArnoldFans spoke with Ky Furneaux, stunt woman for the movie's lead actress, Jamie Alexander. When we last heard from Jamie, we were informed that Schwarzenegger received eight stitches on his forehead. Arnold later confirmed it was seven stitches a few days after he tweeted "Got a little banged up on set today." Just like any one of his tough guy film characters, he was back at work over an hour after his stitches. Now let's hear from Ky Furneaux direct from the set of The Last Stand! Come with us now to Belen, New Mexico, pull up a chair and listen up as our full interview with this talented and ass-kicking stunt woman begins NOW!

TAFs:  You've come a long way in movies and have starred in a few big budget films. An Arnold film is no exception. How do you like being involved in Schwarzenegger's comeback film?

Ky Furneaux: It is very surreal to be involved in a Schwarzenegger movie.  I think he has the most distinct voice in action films and also quite the iconic look.  I always smile on set when I hear lines similar to "I'll be back" or "Get down, I'll cover you" in his accent.  I rarely get star struck on sets having worked in film for over 10 years but I did kind of stare when I saw him first come to set. 

TheArnoldFans:  Since Arnold performs so many of his own stunts, he has had a couple of accidents that could have been disastrous. What was your most dangerous stunt and have any gone wrong causing some bad injuries?

Ky Furneaux: I quite often get asked about my most dangerous stunt and I find that question so hard to answer.  Most stunts seem dangerous before you do them and then when they go smoothly, you wonder where the danger was.  Some of the most dangerous seeming stunts have gone well and then the simplest stunts have gone wrong and ended up with the worst injuries.   I guess the ones with the most potential for injury are ones such as when the Destroyer (from THOR) blasted Sif up the road.  It's hard to see in the movie but I flew headfirst up the street for about 60 feet and had to roll out of the flight with my head about a foot from 2 real cars.  An inch out in the flight could have ended very badly for me.

The worst injury I had was from a stunt in the movie Push that read on the script "She trips and falls".  I headed to work that day expecting an easy day but they amped up the trip and made it a slide instead of a fall and it ended up being quite a big wire stunt.  It's a long story but the short version of it was during that stunt I smashed the head of my humerus (shoulder) and dislocated it.  I ended up having to do the stunt 6 more times onto the broken shoulder.  Lucky I heal well and quickly.

TheArnoldFans: Could you comment on how Arnold was injured on "The Last Stand" and how maybe it could have been prevented?

Ky Furneaux:  I don't know that I can comment on this incident. 

TAFs: We understand. We'll wait to hear from Arnold to give us the details.

TAFs:  I see on Twitter that you're taking some road trips and bonding with Jamie Alexander. Did she request for you to be her stunt double for The Last Stand?

Ky Furneaux: I have been Jaimie's stunt double and friend for about 5 years now.  She requests me on all her projects.  We often fill our days off with exploring and road tripping to places we haven't been. 

TAFs:  When did you first meet Jamie? Was it being her stunt double on THOR?

Ky Furneaux: I first met Jaimie about 5 years ago when she won the role as Jesse XX on the ABC Family show Kyle XY.  Her character was somewhat of a superhero and had some great action.   I had to do an audition fight scene for her with some other stunt women and she ended up choosing me as her double.  We have worked together ever since. 

TAFs:  In addition to Marvel's Thor, you recently finished stunt work on The Avengers. Were you Scarlet Johansson's stunt woman or were you doing stunts for a new character?

Ky Furneaux: I doubled Cobie Smulders who played Agent Hill on Avengers.  She is a new character who is essentially Samual L Jackson's right hand "man". 

TAFs:  What was your overall experience on The Avengers working with the cast and the director, Joss Whedon?

Ky Furneaux: I had a great time on Avengers.  Cobie is a really down-to-earth fun person who was very into working hard to make her stunt sequences look good.  RA Rondell (the stunt coordinator) has been an idol of mine since the Matrix movies and he was a fantastic boss who really cared about the safety of his performers.  Also after working on Thor, it was like coming back to family with the Marvel crew and cast.

Joss Whedon seemed like he was having a lot of fun directing this movie and the vibe on set was always light.

TAFs:   How do you pump yourself up mentally to do a big, dangerous stunt?

Ky Furneaux: I am a real perfectionist when it comes to my stunts and I am also a pretty laid back person.  The bigger the stunt is, the more I like to make sure I am fully prepared, rehearsed and know exactly what the director wants and what I need to do to deliver the shot.  Once I have done that, I just relax the best I can.  I'm not a huge fan of "pumping up" mentally before a stunt because I find that my mind and body work better if I am calm and centered.  Once I have committed to doing a stunt, I try not to get worried about it because that doesn't change the outcome of what is going to happen. I am a big fan of visualization so I spend most of the lead up minutes to the stunt just seeing it going perfectly in my mind and then stretching so that my body will move the best it can through the motions.  I get more worried about stunts that have huge re-set times or only one chance to get it right than I do about dangerous stunts.  

TAFs:  How do you like Belen, New Mexico...The weather, the people, restaurants and local shops?

Ky Furneaux: We are spending most of our time in Albuquerque.  The time spent in Belen is just shooting time so we don't get any time to explore or meet the people.  I really enjoy New Mexico as a whole though.  I love the scenery and how laid back it is here.  There is also a really fantastic local artist community so there are some really cool shops with one of a kind stuff in them.  Our favorite restaurant is The Flying Star.  It is a small chain restaurant that we fell in love with when we were filming Thor in Santa Fe.  It has really great fresh food and good menu options including an all day breakfast menu.  Sometimes on days off we will end up eating there twice a day. I do enjoy the weather here also.  After coming from LA, it's kind of refreshing to need to wear winter coats and see snow falling.

TAFs:  Can you give our readers some hints of the types of stunts you will be performing for The Last Stand without giving anything away? For instance... jumping from car rooftops, falling, extreme fighting, etc.

Ky Furneaux: I wish I could say that I am doing some really cool stunts in Last Stand, but the truth of the matter is that the role for Jaimie is a tough small town law enforcer.  All the stunts that her character has been required to do have had to do with shooting, running and dodging bullets.  Jaimie has been doing all of her own action and I have really been here to make the situations as safe for her as possible rather than stepping in and doing any of it for her. She is the true action hero in this movie.

TAFs:  What do you think of the director's work so far... and what do you think Jee-woon Kim is doing for The Last Stand that other directors would not? 

Ky Furneaux: That is a really hard question to answer because I am not really versed in director specific work. Jee-woon is using some really interesting angles and filters with this filming and I think that the audience will not be disappointed with how visually different this will be from the usual action movies. 

TAFs:  When you sign on to a film, do you know every big stunt upfront that you need to do... or do you find out your stunt tasks along the way of production?

Ky Furneaux: Every project is different.  If you are signed on as the lead double for a big action movie, you generally tend to find out the stunts as you go along.  If there is a very specific skill required such as free running or a high fall, then you will be told about the stunt and asked if you have the skills to do it or trained to do it.

Sometimes you will be only hired for a few days of work on a movie and then you are usually told the specific stunts you will be doing. You can also be subject to script changes.  I have arrived at work thinking that I will be playing the character that is near all the drama only to find that the writers have decided that my character will be the one getting knocked over the edge and into the water.  I always bring my full stunt kit to every job just in case.

TAFs: What can you tell me about the stunt coordinator's work on this film? :)

Ky Furneaux: There are two very talented coordinators working on this movie, Darin Prescott and Wade Allen.  Darin has a lot of experience in driving sequences having coordinated movies such as Ryan Gosling's latest movie "Drive".  Wade is an ex-cop who has had a lot of weapons and combat experience.  As you can expect with an Arnold movie, it will be a high action movie but as it's a shoot-em-up type movie, there are no huge wire stunts required.  Most of the stunts are driving stunts, bad guys attacking and good guys defending type stunts with a few Johnny Knoxville gag type stunts thrown in to entertain.  Darin and Wade are great guys to work for who work hard to keep the whole cast and crew safe.

TAFs:  What are your top 3 Arnold movies?

Ky Furneaux: Terminator, Total Recall and Last Action Hero!


Thank you, Ky! We look forward to your talents on the big screen in January 2013 for The Last Stand and in 2012 for The Avengers!  Follow Ky Furneaux at her websitewww.kyfurneaux.com and twitter.com/#!/kyfurneaux

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