We have good news for you. You can have a cool career and make a good living. No need to choose between loving your job and paying your mortgage. The following profile, part of the BlackEnterprise.com Cool Jobs series, offers a peek into the nuts and bolts, perks and salaries behind enjoyable careers.
Clay Donahue Fontenot, is one of the most sought-after stuntmen in Hollywood. He embarked on the journey to career stardom 23 years ago, after leaving Florida for California.
An award-winning stuntman, Fontenot has worked as a stunt double and stunt coordinator for some of the biggest names in the industry, including Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx and Wesley Snipes.
Stuntmen and stunt-women typically perform stunts or “gags” intended for use in either a motion picture or dramatized television. Their industry is crucial for motion picture production. Most traditional film insurance packages will not cover stunts or gags. Actors that commit to a major movie project are required to sign insurance policies that govern and restrict their activity for the duration of the filming. If there are any mishaps on set, production shuts down. As imagined, it increases production overhead, driving up costs.
That’s why stuntmen are required—to do the heavy lifting. They get paid to risk personal safety.
BlackEnterprise.com caught up with Fontenot while he took a few minutes off from filming the latest installment of the “Fantastic Four” franchise in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to discuss breaking into and making it in the industry, the dangers working in the shadows, behind the action and the rewards.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on the latest “Fantastic Four” movie. We are shooting in Louisiana. I’m the stunt double for Michael B. Jordan who is playing Johnny Storm, the Human Torch. Yes, we are introducing a black, Johnny Storm to the world. That’s all I can divulge right now. I can’t really give any other details, except to say that it is going really well.
How do you prep before starting on a shoot?
We usually get called in depending on how big the gag is or how big the show, to prepare and rehearse. You’ve got to make sure you’ve done your homework. Especially for the bigger, more dangerous gags. Smaller stunts usually require you to run around the
corner and get shot and fall down. But for some of the car flips and high wire gags that involve accuracy and placement and other things that need attention-to-detail, you’re given mandatory rehearsal times. After the stunt is approved by the highers ups, on shooting day you just go into your mind set and ramp up your focus and make sure you are on your mark.Continued on next page …
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What are some of the movies you’ve worked on and what kind of stunts did you do for them?
I did all the “Blade” movies with Wesley Snipes. I’ve worked on movies with him for 14 years— “US Marshals,” “The Art of War,” “7 Seconds,” we did all those together. Then, I started working with Denzel Washington, whom I still work with. We just finished the movie “The Equalizer,” which is about to release soon. We also did “Unstoppable” and “Two Guns” together.
I’ve also worked with Jamie Foxx on “Django” and in “Spiderman 2” which is playing now. And I
did all the work in the Iron man suit for the final third of the first movie. I did some “War Machine” stuff for Don Cheadle, but when the two suits had to fight each other they had to call in another stuntman.
What skills and experience are needed to be a stuntman?
Usually an extreme sports background or a specialty background. Professionals who are interested in the career must cultivate a range of physical skills. We have horsemen, who are specialty guys, and snow boarders, [for example.] They’ve found a specific niche, however, usually some kind of professional or expert-level background in a sport or [related aptitude.]
Are there a lot of stuntmen of color like you in the industry?
That’s a tough question. I don’t have the data in front of me. There are about 108,000 SAG members in LA. About 21,000 of those members are working actors that actually make a living at it. Roughly 50 or 60 of those making a living as stunt players are of African-American descent.
What’s the craziest stunt you’ve done?
One of my more challenging gags was the rope swing in “US Marshals.” I had to swing 18 stories high and land on a moving train. If I landed short I could have fallen to my death. If I had bounced, I would have rolled off the train and landed on the tracks and gotten electrocuted.
What motivates you to go into work each morning?
Recognition for being good at what I do. As long as the audience believes that their favorite actor is doing this crazy stuff that’s really cool in movies, they’re gonna continue to go see the movie. And as long as the right people who do the hiring for these movies know who the proper stunt people are—who the good stunt people are—that’s all I really care about. I just want to do a good job make sure that what is put on film is absolutely the best that we can muster and that the coordinators recognize that and continue to hire.