‘Drastic change’ needed to end practice of ‘wigging’ on British film sets
“Drastic change” is needed to end the “backwards” British stunt industry’s use of men in wigs pretending to be women, according to leading female stunt experts.
“From my point of view, it’s heartbreaking,” says stunt co-ordinator Tiger Lilli Rudge talking to Sky News at Space Studios in Manchester.
A stunt performer for 15 years, she now helps train other women with the skills needed to work in film and television, all too aware from her own experience that they will be fighting on multiple fronts.
“Women put in all the time and effort and are more than capable to do a job…and then you put a wig on a man,” she says.
Some stuntwomen say the industry remains a “boy’s club”
She adds: “The excuse that they use is that they had to use the man because there wasn’t a woman to do the job, and I can tell you that that is absolutely rubbish because I know hundreds of women that are capable car drivers, bikers, whatever, there’s so much talent out there.”
Decades ago back when male-centred action films were more en vogue, the practice of “wigging” used to be quite common. Today it is largely frowned upon.
It is a term, used within the industry, to describe the process of a wig being put on a stuntman so that they can double as a female character for some of the more dangerous action scenes.
On Amazon Prime’s big-budget spy show Citadel, as you might expect, all the primary cast have their own assigned stunt doubles who are gender and race-appropriate.
But Sky News obtained photos of a stunt driver wearing a wig and given heavy make-up to pass as female.
Tiger Rudge, stunt co-ordinator
Filmed just a couple of months ago, it is understood it happened after an incident with the original female driver meant they turned to a last-minute replacement – and a man happened to be the only person available quickly with the right set of skills.
To some female stunt performers and drivers, this explanation is familiar – there just aren’t enough women in the trade – but we’ve been told even those with the prerequisite skills are not often being booked because, they say, the stunt world remains a “boys club”.
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“It’s very backwards,” Ms Rudge insists. “America is much better…we are massively behind here and I think it needs drastic change.”
She says: “The opportunities for women are much lesser so… they have to get all these skills, the bikes, the cars, the horses, yet when it comes down to hiring they’re not getting an opportunity.
“Anything with a weapon, anything with danger, it will automatically go to men….there is a stereotype with women for some reason that they aren’t as good as men.”
A recent study carried out by academic Dr Laura Crossley – a film lecturer from Bournemouth University – found that despite an increase in female action roles women still struggle to get into core stunt teams.
Dr Laura Crossley
“The overwhelming evidence is that it’s very difficult for women to progress to the roles of the stunt directors and stunt coordinators,” Dr Crossley explains.
“They tend to be the people who will determine who gets brought onto the stunt teams and predominantly they are men.”
She adds: “I don’t think it’s necessarily something that’s being done that’s mendacious or that it’s deliberately trying to freeze women out, I think there’s just this ongoing culture… because stunt workers have existed in this sort of shadowy area for quite a long time… they just don’t tend to get that kind of transparency.
“It is jobs for the boys… if a stunt woman is brought in, she isn’t always part of the core team, she might just be brought in for a scene and then if there’s something else that arises along the way and she’s no longer around, the stunt director probably turns to his core crew and just goes ‘okay, you’re up, you’re going to do it’.”
In 2024, she argues, it’s hard to justify that a man in a wig is the only option.
“This is something that we knew was happening in the 60s and 70s, to a certain extent, but I didn’t realise it had carried on for so long….it should absolutely be industry standard that men cannot double for women and white stunt workers cannot double for people of colour,” she says.
Given the nature of closed film and television sets, it is hard to say for certain how often men double for women.
In relation to the photos we obtained from the set of Citadel Season 2, Sky News understands Amazon MGM endeavour to find gender and ethnic-specific stunt doubles and that stuntmen dressing as women happens only with the rarest of exceptions.
But Ms Rudge argues it shouldn’t be happening at all.
She said: “This comes from the top – production need to acknowledge female stunt coordinators, female coordinators will acknowledge women….unless there is more hiring of women, this isn’t going to change.”
Dame Judi Dench has revealed she can no longer leave her house alone due to her deteriorating eyesight.
The 90-year-old actress has macular degeneration, a condition which leads to a gradual loss of vision.
In a new interview on Trinny Woodall’s Fearless podcast, Dame Judi says “somebody will always be with me” when she leaves the house.
“I have to [have someone] now because I can’t see,” she continues. “And I will walk into something or fall over.”
Reflecting on how she used to feel about attending events alone, Dame Judi said she was “no good at that at all”.
“And fortunately, I don’t have to be [alone] now because I pretend now to have no eyesight,” she laughs.
In July 2023, Dame Judi said she was determined to work “as much as I can” despite her health issues.
“I mean, I can’t see on a film set anymore,” she told The Mirror’s Notebook magazine. “And I can’t see to read. So I can’t see much. But, you know, you just deal with it. Get on.”
Dame Judi with her daughter Finty Williams. Pic: PA
Dame Judi’s acting career began in the 1950s when she made her stage debut in a production of Hamlet at London’s Old Vic theatre.
In the decades since, she’s conquered the worlds of TV and film, winning an Oscar for her role in the 1998 movie Shakespeare In Love and, more recently, playing the head of MI6, M, alongside Daniel Craig’s James Bond.
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Dame Judi has also cemented herself as one of the UK’s best stage actresses, winning a string of Olivier awards for starring roles in plays including The Winter’s Tale and Macbeth.
Her most recent screen credit was in 2022, for a small role in Christmas film Spirited. She has continued to make public appearances and last October, she was a speaker at the Cheltenham Literary Festival.
From the sampled vocals of Mel & Kim to the instantly memorable lyrics of Rick Astley’s biggest hits, Stock, Aitken and Waterman’s songs ruled the UK charts in the late 1980s.
With a blue plaque being installed on the side of the Bermondsey building that housed their “hit factory”, the trio spoke to Sky News about spotting Kylie’s “spark” and claiming they “invented” AI.
At their peak in 1989, Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman songs made up a whopping 27% of the UK singles market.
It remains one of the most successful partnerships in the history of pop.
Waterman admits feeling “knocked out” by the 40 or so crowd that came to watch them receive the honour – including 1980s artists Brother Beyond, former staff who worked on their records, and fans.
“These are some of the kids that every day used to be here after school wanting autographs. Of course, they’re all grown up now!” laughs Waterman.
The partnership produced countless hits for some of the biggest stars at the time.
“We had a method of working, we tried to taper the songs to how we thought the public would perceive the artist and we were quite successful in that regard,” says Matt Aitken.
Waterman adds: “If it didn’t work, we didn’t bother.”
The trio wrote Kylie’s first hit, I Should Be So Lucky, in 20 minutes
They also penned Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up
In 1988, their success went into overdrive thanks to a collaboration with a young Australian soap actress called Kylie Minogue who they hadn’t even heard of at the time.
“When she arrived at the studio we were unaware that she was even turning up,” Mike Stock explains. “So we had to come up with a song pretty quick.”
They wrote her 1987 debut hit I Should Be So Lucky in just 20 minutes.
“She was a great deliverer of a song,” Aitken says.
“When she was sat in a corner you wouldn’t know she was there but the minute a camera went on… she sparked,” adds Pete Waterman.
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Back in the day most of their hits were recorded on a simple 24-track tape machine but now, with advances in AI software, songs can be produced in an instant.
So how do the trio feel about artificial intelligence being the new “hit factory”?
“AI? We invented it!” jokes Waterman.
“You’ve got to incorporate influences from the past but… the difference between AI and what we did [is] we had emotion,” he says.
“We fought over songs if a lyric didn’t work. It doesn’t work without emotion.”
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