Q&A with Stucki Action's director Marcel Stucki
"We all work to together, very hard and very close, but we also want to have a good time."
By Sponsored Content 9 May 2023
Stucki Action was founded by Taurus World Stunt Award nominee Marcel Stucki and have worked on a variety of productions, from horror-comedies to Netflix action series.
The Bern, Switzerland based team combine years of experience with passion for filmmaking. KFTV spoke with founder Marcel Stucki about the greatest challenges he's faced, and the joys in overcoming them.
What are some of the most complicated stunts you’ve had to organise?
Well, the last complicated stunt we where able to pull off, was a canon roll car turnover for a Netflix series that is going to air in June this year.
This stunt takes a lot of preparation and know how from the whole team and needs to be carefully planned with the production. The stunt from the outside may look very simple, but it’s a tricky one to do.
What is the process to choreographing a stunt and how do you select the right kinds of stunt-people?
First of all I think it’s very important to get to know the vision of the director. So what I like to do first is to have a briefing with the director to get a feel for their vision. Then the creative works starts and my team and I get together and start designing the stunts.
When It comes down to talent, it is always of course a question of their abilities but also of their personalities. Because we all work to together very hard and very close, but we also want to have a good time.
Have there been any particularly challenging productions, and how did you overcome those challenges?
I think every productions has its own challenging situations. Sometimes it is all about the money the other times it is all about the schedule, and so on. I never heard of any production going from A to Z without any challenging situations. But to overcome these challenging situations is very fulfilling.
What is the most misunderstood part of your line of work, both by professionals within the industry and the general public?
Stunt people often are seen as tough fearless men and women that are willing to take any risks. It is exactly the opposite, we plan, rehearse and analyse a stunt as many times needed, so we can make it look dangerous but be as safe as possible.
What stunts are more complicated than people realise?
Of course there are more simple stunts like a basic falls or a little fight scenes, but overall for me as a stunt coordinator the most complicated stunt is the one I am not doing by myself. That means taking the responsibility to put another person, mostly a friend, in a dangerous situation. That is something that can become very complicated.
Have you had any productions that you’ve particularly loved to work on?
On our latest feature film production Mad Heidi (a Swissploitation action horror comedy) we really had a great time working with the cast and crew. Not only because the project was crowdfunded from people around the world, but also because of everybody who was working on the film. You really could tell the love for filmmaking by every single person on the project.
What was the most challenging learning experience you've had on a production?
Well for me as a stunt coordinator, who is responsible for the safety of my stunt people and the safety of the crew members and actors and actresses, it is very important to know when to speak up.
For example, few years ago on a TV series I coordinated, I think it was I night shoot and we had a big gun shoot out planned for the night. The schedule was already really tight, so by the time we got to the shoot out at 5 am, all the actors and crew members where already really exhausted.
So when the first assistant director walks up to me and said "hey can we now quick shoot this" I said: "No, it's going to be very dangerous now, as I told you two hours ago. It is going to become too dangerous for everybody involved."
Maybe I did not make any friends that night, but as we all know now bad accidents with guns can happen anytime. Of course the director blamed me for not finishing the schedule that night, but I think its still better to protect someones life than to quickly finish up a complex sequence.
What is the most misunderstood part of your line of work, both by professionals within the industry and the general public?
Stunt people often are seen as tough fearless men and women that are willing to take any risks. It is exactly the opposite, we plan, rehearse and analyse a stunt as many times needed, so we can make it look dangerous but be as safe as possible.
What stunts are more complicated than people realise?
Of course there are more simple stunts like a basic falls or a little fight scenes, but overall for me as a stunt coordinator the most complicated stunt is the one I am not doing by myself. That means taking the responsibility to put another person, mostly a friend, in a dangerous situation. That is something that can become very complicated.
Have you had any productions that you’ve particularly loved to work on?
On our latest feature film production Mad Heidi (a Swissploitation action horror comedy) we really had a great time working with the cast and crew. Not only because the project was crowdfunded from people around the world, but also because of everybody who was working on the film. You really could tell the love for filmmaking by every single person on the project.
What was the most challenging learning experience you've had on a production?
Well for me as a stunt coordinator, who is responsible for the safety of my stunt people and the safety of the crew members and actors and actresses, it is very important to know when to speak up.
For example, few years ago on a TV series I coordinated, I think it was I night shoot and we had a big gun shoot out planned for the night. The schedule was already really tight, so by the time we got to the shoot out at 5 am, all the actors and crew members where already really exhausted.
So when the first assistant director walks up to me and said "hey can we now quick shoot this" I said: "No, it's going to be very dangerous now, as I told you two hours ago. It is going to become too dangerous for everybody involved."
Maybe I did not make any friends that night, but as we all know now bad accidents with guns can happen anytime. Of course the director blamed me for not finishing the schedule that night, but I think its still better to protect someones life than to quickly finish up a complex sequence.
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