Holly Raczynski knows how to take a hit.
Through the course of her career, she鈥檚 also become accustomed to taking kicks, throws, bullets, blasts, explosions and the odd tumble down a flight of stairs.
When the Provincial Martial Arts club instructor isn鈥檛 teaching karate to her Salmon Arm and Sicamous students, Raczynski can typically be found in the Lower Mainland doing stunts on TV and movie sets. Her filmography, available on IMDB.com, includes movies Watchmen, Tron: Legacy and Tucker and Dale vs Evil, while her TV career includes work on Smallville, Fargo, Wynonna Earp and Supergirl. As of late, she鈥檚 had frequent work on the set of Arrow, about DC Comics superhero the Green Arrow, and is the stunt double for Kelly Overton, star of the Syfy Channel series Van Helsing.
Raczynski also recently had a two-month stint doubling for Sophie Turner (aka Sansa Stark/Queen of the North of Game of Thrones fame), who reprises her role as Jean Grey in upcoming X-Men film, Dark Phoenix.
鈥淪he鈥檚 the lead character in that one,鈥� said Raczynski. 鈥淚 worked with her a whole pile 鈥� she was great, she was amazing to work with.鈥�
Unfortunately, what was supposed to have been a four month job for Raczynski was reduced to two due to an injury sustained during one of her stunts on the X-Men set, putting her out of work for about seven months. Raczynski acknowledges it鈥檚 an inherent risk of the profession.
鈥淎ll the stunts we do, they鈥檙e all calculated risks,鈥� said Raczynski. 鈥淚鈥檓 not a daredevil. We train for what we do. We know how to fall, we know how to move our body through space, we know how to control those elements the best we can, and you always take all the safety precautions you can.
鈥淭hat said, I mean, it鈥檚 like any job, you can hurt yourself doing anything.鈥�
Raczynski鈥檚 Hollywood North career began through a contact in the martial arts world. He gave her the name of a stunt co-ordinator in Calgary. Eventually she and the co-ordinator met. She gave him a video of herself demonstrating her various martial arts and gymnastics skills.
鈥淭hen I got hired to do a stair fall,鈥� laughs Raczynski. 鈥淢y first stunt wasn鈥檛 martial artsy, it wasn鈥檛 really gymnasticy 鈥� I had to slip on marbles in this show and fall backwards headfirst down a set of stairs. So that was my first stunt, we shot it twice, it went great. And then from there, it kind of started to snowball.鈥�
Raczynski says her big break came when she auditioned for Watchmen. The team doing the stunt co-ordination for the film, U.S.-based 87eleven, was impressed by her fighting skills, but found her acting skills lacking.
鈥淚 could fight, really fight, but real fighting is different from movie fighting鈥� it鈥檚 all reactions,鈥� said Raczynski. 鈥淪o they gave me a smaller role in Watchmen, but through all of that they invited me out to train. I went to LA and trained with those guys, and that鈥檚 where I learned more of the reactions and more of the fun stuff. So that was a huge honour to be invited out there. And then Tron: Legacy came along and it was the same stunt crew who got hired to do that job, so they phoned and hired me鈥︹��
Not one to get star struck, as her busy life allows little time for watching the shows she鈥檚 in, Raczynski speaks highly of the celebrities she鈥檚 had an opportunity to work with.
鈥淚 guess people in any industry get a little high and mighty sometimes and whatever, but in my experience everybody has been amazing,鈥� said Raczynski. 鈥淏ecause, I mean really, we鈥檙e the ones making them, or their character, look cool, look amazing.鈥�
Though it鈥檚 sometimes difficult to know exactly what a stunt will entail, given how a scene will often change from how it鈥檚 scripted to how it鈥檚 filmed, Raczynski says her training, both with fellow stunt people and as a martial artist, plays a huge factor in her ability to do the job. This is something she鈥檚 shared with her karate students, two of which had an opportunity to watch Raczynski from the set of Van Helsing to see how things are done.
鈥淲hat I鈥檓 trying to do with the karate program in town here is help give kids the opportunity to reach out to that kind of thing鈥�,鈥� said Raczynski. 鈥淵ou get your martial arts background and get a bit of your tumbling and knowing how to fall and these things, that鈥檚 huge. You鈥檝e got to go in with something. You can鈥檛 just go, 鈥業 want to do stunts because I think it鈥檚 cool.鈥� Not enough. You鈥檝e got to be physically able, you鈥檝e got to be strong, you鈥檝e got to know how to take direction well, especially with young ones, they鈥檝e got to be able to understand all that stuff and be able to take criticism and not take it personally鈥� That鈥檚 why I like keeping the karate program going here, even though I鈥檓 working lots, because it can provide such an opportunity for kids to develop these skills to be able to go into something bigger.鈥�
Looking forward to another season of Van Helsing, Raczynski says she enjoys her work 鈥� the hits, the falls, the explosions 鈥� and hopes to keep doing for as long as she鈥檚 willing.
鈥淪o long as my body is healthy and strong and I鈥檓 physically able to and feeling good about it, I can鈥檛 see a reason for not doing it,鈥� said Raczynski.
lachlan@saobserver.net
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