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Aurélia is “Anna”, for the stunts of Luc Besson’s film
“I have just finished filming in Poland. I have a little rest now. Many projects will come up but I can’t say too much about it”, smiles the one who came to recharge her batteries in Cahors with her family. Want to keep his next stunts a secret? Maybe. But above all, a permanent uncertainty. “We are always called quite late. As long as we are not on the plane, nothing is certain!” jokes Aurélia. 2022 has been a busy year for her. She went to Italy to voice Charlize Theron in The Old Guard 2. Before, it was London for Fast and Furious 10, still with Charlize. A few months earlier, she was Karen Gillan’s understudy in the role of Nebula for Guardians of the Galaxy 3 in Atlanta. And even before, she was on the set of John Wick 4 in Berlin. “It was three months of shooting, only at night. We ended up picking up the pace,” she says. 14-hour days, sometimes for more than a whole week. A life at 100 per hour, which corresponds well to this “daredevil”.
It all started with martial arts.
His first stunts for Luc Besson
Big productions don’t scare him. On the contrary, that is what she is looking for. “It’s important for my career. And above all, it was a bit of a dream to be able to double recognized names like Charlize Theron”, indicates Aurélia. You can find the latter in Black Widow with Scarlett Johansson – which earned her a Taurus World Stunt Award nomination. Or in the movie Anna by Luc Besson. A shoot which was, moreover, his first. She was 19 years old. Three months after her first training at Campus Univers Cascades, she tried casting. And bingo, she’s taken. Not bad for a start. “It was a big experience. At the same time, it was great but also very difficult. I knew how to fight, but I didn’t know how to choreograph. I learned on the job. In the evening, at my grand- mother, I was training to hold a gun in the small hallway to be credible. Everyone was happy with the result, even Luc Besson”, recalls the young girl. It was the film that revealed it. “The fight in the restaurant was amazing,” slips the girl’s dad.
The next step ? “I would like to shoot for a James Bond. Or be on the second part of the Fast and Furious 10 or even Atomic Blonde, always with Charlize Theron. We both get along well, I hope to continue to double her”, Aurelia dream. But, now, what she would like the most: to be a combat actress. Play as Lara Croft. “The stunt is something I know how to do. Acting, I have to learn. It’s complicated to get out of your comfort zone, you have to have self-confidence. They are starting to offer me small acting roles”, she smiles. His hard work pays off. And luck is surely on her side, as if everything she touches turns to gold.
“Today, I believe that everything is possible”
Behind the scenes of a shoot, the Lotoise is ready to face any stunt: cables where you have to fly 3 meters and fall to the ground at the percussion of a car. “There is this stress, this adrenaline before the stunt. We know it’s dangerous, but here we go”, describes Aurélia. A passion that comes from the martial arts that she has been practicing since the age of 4.
Aurélia would like to be able to do combat acting from now on.
For a film, there are first of all big repetitions. You have to create the choreographies from the script. The stuntwoman is not on the set every day, but you have to be there regularly. And above all, be available 24 hours a day. Aurélia also has an advisory role with the dubbed actress. “Some actors are more skilled than others. For example, Charlize is used to doing her fights. For these kind of actresses, I do everything that is falling, wiring, which is dangerous in short. others don’t know how to fight so there, I do everything”, details the young woman. On a film set, many stuntmen are needed. “For Guardians of the Galaxy 3, we were more than 250,” says Lotoise. Aurélia believes that you have to have a good ability to adapt, ambition and be persistent to become a stuntman. What would she say if a little girl came to her today with such a will? “I will tell him to go for it. To pursue his dreams. It remains a rather masculine environment, but it is starting to open up. Today, I believe that anything is possible.”