USA: Get hit by a car or fly through the air at a New York stunt school

Record ID: 777442

  • Title: USA: Get hit by a car or fly through the air at a New York stunt school
  • Date: 3rd September 2007
  • Summary: JAMES FALLING DOWN STAIRS
  • Embargoed: 18th September 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA90IXKXI0X3EW69S0FTQEQ0RD9
  • Story Text: New York city's first stunt school opens for the adventurous who want to learn to fall from great heights, get hit by a car, or just fly through the air while dreaming of movie stardom.
    To earn money he falls down stairs, is blown up and hit by cars -- and now stuntman Teel James Glenn will pass on his skills to would-be daredevils at what is touted as New York City's first stunt school.
    In a vacant lot in the city's borough the Bronx, students will be able to learn tricks of the trade, such as how to jump from a 50-foot-high (15 metre-high) platform, at Hollywood Stunts professional training center.
    "I'm usually the big goon going 'hey you can't go in there.'. And then I get knocked down the stairs or set on fire," said Glenn, 52, of his key movie roles during a 30-year career.
    Glenn, who described his specialties as stair falls and sword fights, is one of 17 instructors at the school founded by Bob Cotter, a 14-year veteran of the industry who spent several years looking for a location and securing insurance.
    The first courses, ranging from four days to three weeks, are due to begin in September. Children aged 10 to 17 can also take an eight-week course to learn skills such as tumbling, trampoline, falls, and bungee pulls.
    "There is a lot of interest in stunt work and it's not only for stunt people, it's also for people who want to do theme park shows, ok, and people that want to just have a challenge for themselves, because it is very challenging," said 55-year-old Cotter.
    That challenge comes with a price tag of $800 for a four-day course, while a three-week course costs $2,800.
    Tall scaffolding and a large yellow and pink air cushion for teaching high falls dominates the school's lot, which is also littered with other stunt equipment, including a set of bright blue stairs, a mini trampoline and a stunt car.
    Stuntman Stephen Bodi, who is learning to become an instructor, says his martial arts training prepared him for his specialty, getting hit by a car.
    "Basically what you have to do is make sure that you roll over the car, you're dissipating the impact. It's basically physics, instead of absorbing all the kinetic energy, you're dissipating it or just letting it sort of like bypassing it so you don't get injured," said Bodi.
    Glenn said people needed to be a little afraid, even experienced stunt experts, or they would get hurt.
    "You can't be this fake macho because this will get you or somebody else hurt and that's reprehensible," he said.
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