I have always been fascinated by stand-ins for movies and TV. If someone vaguely resembles someone acting on a film or in a TV show they are hired to stand in for the actor for lighting and camera adjustment purposes.
Once everything is set up and ready the actor comes on set and takes their place and filming or rehearsing can start. At which point the stand-in presumably sits down until the next short needs to be set up. Lather, rinse, repeat. I assume they are paid for the entire day, from the moment the show up on the set until they are no longer needed, but do they do anything else? It seems a waste to have them sitting around just waiting for their half hour of standing time. Any how hard is it to become a full-time stand-in? Couldn’t a mannequin do they same job for a lot less money?
Your paying the actor to sit while the stand-in is working, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t pay the stand-in for waiting. You never know when the director might want to reset the shot in a way that the lighting needs to be adjusted.
The problem with the mannequin is that the skin doesn’t reflect the same way real skin does. It might be possible nowadays, but there’s probably no reason to switch the system. You’d need someone to dress the mannequin anyway; it’s easier if the stand-in dresses him- or herself.
If you ever see a movie shoot, you’ll learn that there’s a lot of standing around doing nothing. While you’re setting the lights, for instance, other technicians have to wait. The prop person has to be there in case a prop fails or breaks, etc.
Sometimes the stand-in is in dialogue scenes doing over-the-shoulder shots for the other actor’s dialogue.
Antony Perkin’s stand-in was the one doing the shower scene with Janet Leigh in Psycho - Perkins wasn’t on set at all.
In some cases, very mild stunts. Nothing so big it requires an actual stunt-double, but big enough that the talent shouldn’t do it.
In some of Roger Moore’s performances as James Bond, Moore wouldn’t even climb down a short ladder; a double did it for him. Is climbing down a short ladder a “stunt?”
In some of the behind-the-scenes videos I’ve seen, they mentioned that the stand-ins get a lot of work in second unit, which is the unit that travels to all the locations and gets background shots. Any scene where the hero is only seen from behind, and a half a block away, is probably the stand-in.
I think you are taking the term “stand-in” too literally. Not only would there be skin problems with a mannequin but there would be mobility problems as well.
I think they also use the “stand in” for pick up shots (is that what they call them?) Scenes shot from far away, like the main character on a horse riding along a seashore, where it’s just an establishment shot and you don’t see the character’s face.
That person is called a “photo double” which is different from a stand-in. A stand-in doesn’t have to resemble the actor except for basic coloring, height and weight. I was a stand-in a few times during the decade I did background work, but I never looked enough like the actress to be her photo double.
In addition to reading off-camera lines, stand-ins often take notes regarding blocking or actions and pass those notes along to the actor.
And yes, they do go sit down, or go get a snack or coffee at craft services, while the scene is being shot. On some sets the stand-ins are also used as background actors, which is just miserable because then you never get a break. :mad:
That person is called a “photo double” which is different from a stand-in.
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For what it’s worth, Michael Caine’s famous autobiography – come for the quote about JAWS IV, stay for a genuinely entertaining read – has him explain that “Reg Turner, my stand-in, is a real East End Cockney who always has a smile on his face and always knows where the food truck is parked. He has perfected my walk and mannerisms so exactly that I get lots of days free when he does the long shots.”
When I was around 20, I was hired as a local stand-in for a major Hollywood film. At the time, the guy I stood in for was mostly unknown. Though he would go on to be the main male star of a long-running popular procedural TV series that is still on the air (though without him) now 17 years later. The movie starred 2 A-Listers. They had their own full-time stand-ins, who made sure to let me know they were “real actors.” They both looked a lot like the main actors, and the dude was doing some kind of lines (acting, not coke) while we were standing around. I was under the impression they used locals for the lower-billed actors.
Yeah, during my “scenes” I was mostly standing on a porch of a house with look-alikes of the 2 stars while they adjusted lighting and such. We acted out the movements of the scene. Other than that, we were just standing around. Dinner was pretty good. I also think some dude in the A-list actress’s entourage was hitting on me, but maybe not. I overheard some interesting conversations and phone calls of movie producers and related types of people.
I thought I did a horrible job, but they called me and asked me to come back and go with them to the next city. I declined. So I only worked 1 day as a stand-in. I have the paystub somewhere. It was 2 days work, including 1 as an extra. I was cast as an extra and plucked out of that group because I was approximately the same height and build and had similar hair as male actor #3. He’s 18 years older, though.
Well, I live in Los Angeles, and was a member of the actors unions, so when I got laid off in 1999 I decided to pursue extra work as well as temping. (Screen Actors Guild had taken of the jurisdiction of the Screen Extras Guild by that point.) I went around to all the extras casting companies and signed up, had my photo taken and gave information on my clothing sizes. I signed up with a “calling service” and they booked me on jobs. I had some stand-in experience, like actualliberalnotoneofthose, when a TV movie shot in the city I was living in and I was pulled from the extras to be a stand-in for one of the leads while they were shooting in our city. So occasionally in Los Angeles I was booked as a stand-in when someone of my height, weight and coloring was needed.
The folks who worked as full-time stand-ins were usually people who knew somebody, usually a member of the crew. Nice work if you can get it, stand-in pays slightly more than background actor, and the long hours add up.
A friend of mine from high schooland his wife are professional stand-ins/extras/photo doubles. I believe he got into it because he always had an ambition to be an actor after being perfectly cast as Felix in our high school production of The Odd Couple. When he got laid off from his regular job, he went around to auditions etc. and got to know the ropes and make a lot of contacts. He never got big roles, but I think he makes a decent enough living on the periphery of TV and movies.
He says that whenever you see Dabney Coleman from the back in Boardwalk Empire it’s actually him. He also says the fact that he had his own police uniform also helped him get work, since it meant they didn’t have to supply one. (You can see a couple of his police roles on his IMDB page.)
His IMDB page only lists credited roles. He’s been in dozens of movies and shows uncredited. If you blink you’ll miss him.
