- A Hollywood.com exclusive interview with star Alisha Weir’s stunt double for the new movie ABIGAIL.
- Behind-the-scenes on the set.
- Breaking into the business as an actress and stunt person
- Working on Game of Thrones and Teletubbies.
Forging a career in Hollywood is a lot like making your way through a treasure map. Healthy doses of talent and lucky breaks, along with falling into the right situations and meeting the right people can take artists and performers on to careers that are magnificent journeys. That is certainly the case for Rachelle Beinart, who’s built a reputation as one of the most prolific women in the business as an actress and stunt performer.
Although she stands 4’10”, it’s hard to imagine a tougher woman in Hollywood than the British Beinart. She began her career nearly two decades ago as an actress (work she continues to do), but began doing stunts in 2012, which has become her professional bread and butter.
From the Wild West to Westeros
Beinart’s biggest splashes thus far have been as a regular stunt performer and White Walker in Game of Thrones, and, as an actress, playing the role of Po in the reboot of the children’s classic, Teletubbies.
Despite her acting, stunt work is Beinart’s calling card … though she admits that she fell into both rather by accident:
“I used to train and compete in gymnastics when I was younger, and whilst at University I met some stunt guys at an adults gymnastics club. It introduced me to the world of stunts!” she tells Hollywood.com “I was already a martial artist and a horse rider, having trained Kung Fu for years. So I had a few skills under my belt. Also being petite, I knew I would have a niche market stunt doubling for kids. So in my early 20s I trained for the British Stunt Register, qualifying in 2011.
As for her acting work, Beinart says that was more unexpected.
“I was offered a role on a kids show called Zingzillas, playing a monkey in an animatronics suit, and filmed for two seasons. From that role, I landed an audition for the reboot of Teletubbies and won the role of Po, and did two seasons of that, as well as the voice of the TV show and ongoing animated shows.”
In many ways, stunt work is acting, but how does Beinart differentiate between the two, if at all?
“It’s funny, I don’t overly consider myself an actress, as I’m always in a suit that covers me up!” she says. “Even recently, playing Janis Goblin on Dr. Who, you couldn’t see my face. Saying that, I do enjoy the acting side of things, but I consider my main career to be in stunts. Stunts has helped enormously with my creature performance/acting work. It’s given me the strength to deal with the weight of the costumes and the coordination and flexibility to sell the character.”
Beinart adds that to be a good stunt performer, you really need solid acting skills as well. “Doubling as children, I am screaming down the house a lot of the time, escaping dinosaurs, or being kidnapped or thrown down the stairs! So, I don’t differentiate between acting and stunts that much, as they tend to go hand in hand in my career.”
That Po Teletubby
Almost every performer in Hollywood has a “Holy crap, I can’t believe I got this” gig. And which holds that special place for Breinert?
“Acting-wise it has to be Teletubbies,” she recalls emphatically. “It was an iconic show to be a part of, and it was such a small crew and a fun show to be a part of. We didn’t stop laughing, and I’m still great friends with the fellow ‘Tubbies’ to this day.”
And her big break doing stunts?
“Probably playing ‘Young Wonder Woman’ on Wonder Woman 1984, Breinart says. “It was a bit of a dream job as I spent so much of iton horseback, doing trick riding, galloping along the beaches and cliffs in the Canary Islands, and working with an amazing young actress, Lilly Aspel, who was up for so many of the wire stunts herself. So we had a lot of fun together on that job.”
Child of the Forest
With so many credits under her belt, Beinart has worked with a lot of different people under varying circumstances. Asked which is her favorite crew/production to have been with to date, she finds it hard to name just one. But she finally puts her finger on it.
“It would have to be Season 6 of Game of Thrones,” she says. “I was on most of the seasons, either doubling for Maisie Williams, or being a White Walker. But in Season 6 I played a Child of the Forest, and the stunt team had the best time together. It was really intense as we were in the makeup chair at 1 a.m., and in prosthetics for six-seven hours, so we were shattered most days. But we pushed each other through and have the best memories from that crazy, sleep-deprived experience.”
Abigail
Beinart’s most recent work is acting as the stunt double of the titular character in the horror thriller, Abigail. It’s the story of a band of unlucky kidnappers who hold the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of shady mafia leader for ransom, only to discover they made the mistake of their lives. Their hostage, it turns out, is actually a bloodthirsty vampire and they are all together locked inside a mansion.
Alisha Weir stars as the title character, alongside Dan Stevens, Melissa Barrera, Giancarlo Esposito, Kathryn Newton, and Angus Cloud in what will be his final acting role following his untimely death in the summer of 2023 at age 25. Bloody carnage ensues as the hapless criminals go into survival mode against the violent, possessed child.
Beinart was kept busy as Weir’s stunt double, given all of the action. As it turns out, she loved her experience.
“Abigail was a small crew for a film, and the directors and producers were all so friendly, which made the whole production so much fun to work on,” she explains. “Working with Alisha Weir, who played Matilda in the musical version, was amazing. She is a grafter and a hell of an actress, and we trained together almost every day for her fights and stunts. We had a lot of fun stunts to do, under Stunt Coordinator, Gee Nagys, and worked in Dublin with a very talented team. It made my months away from home in the UK fly by.”
Beinart remembers one stunt in particular that was so impressive that it made the movie’s official trailer, but not before she had the crew rolling on the ground in laughter while preparing for the big scene:
“There was one stunt where I had to smash through a wooden door as Abigail. Being a vampire, she has super strength. When we tested the prepped door, the directors, producers and crew came to watch the rehearsal, and on ‘Action!’ I sent myself full pelt into the door, only to bounce back into the corridor. I couldn’t make a dent! “
As Beinart recalls, “They scored the wood on the door a lot more to increase the fragility, and the crew came back for round two. I sent myself as hard as I could, went flying through the door like it was air and landed face first on the other side in front of everyone.”
It was embarrassing to say the least, she says, but they all loved it. On the day of shooting, the crew thankfully prepped the door accordingly, knowing what she was capable of getting through while making it look realistic at the same time. The result again made everyone happy.
“I’ve seen the shot in the trailer for the film and it looks great!” Beinart says, with a satisfaction only a stunt person could know.
About the Author:
Born on the East Coast but currently residing on the West Coast, Andrew Martin has contributed to a variety of newspapers, magazines, blogs and other mediums but most fondly remembers his Master’s thesis exploring the impact of the Boston Red Sox on social identity in New England. He enjoys writing about history, sports, culture and investing and recently published his first book–Baseball’s Greatest Players: 10 Baseball Biographies for New Readers, a children’s book about baseball history.
