How Zendayas Stunts In The Greatest Showman Were Filmed

How Zendaya’s Stunts In The Greatest Showman Were Filmed

As trapeze artist Anne Wheeler in The Greatest Showman, Zendaya hardly used stunt doubles. Here’s how the actress managed the gravity-defying feats.

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How Zendayas Stunts In The Greatest Showman Were Filmed

Zendaya can sing, dance and act, and after doing many of her own stunts for The Greatest Showman, she has some trapeze skills under her belt, too. In her portrayal of Anne Wheeler, an acrobat and trapeze artist, Zendaya soars through the air using various ropes and bars in several of the film’s musical numbers. During “Rewrite the Stars,” Zendaya and Zac Efron engage in intimate trapeze stunts together as their characters grapple with their romantic feelings and the fear that society won’t accept their relationship.

Society and acceptance are some of The Greatest Showman’s driving forces for the plot. The story takes inspiration from the life of the famed showman P.T. Barnum of Barnum’s American Museum and the Barnum & Bailey Circus. From an impoverished young boy to a man wanting to provide for his family, Barnum relentlessly pursues anything that will help him make a name for himself. After minimal success showcasing oddities in his museum, Barnum enlists the help of playwright Phillip Carlyle (Efron) and forms a popular circus troupe with some unusual performers. The show faces criticism, as did the film itself, and Barnum’s ambition ends up costing him almost everything. In the end, the troupe’s resolve to stick together inspires him to start fresh and pursue a more modest life.

Phillip and Anne’s romance first began when he noticed one of her stunning trapeze routines, and it turns out that Zendaya did many of those eye-catching stunts herself, though it was far from easy. When production for The Greatest Showman first started, Zendaya recalled that director Michael Gracey welcomed her to set by saying, “You might want to start working out” [via Self]. He went on to explain that she would have regular trapeze rehearsals and that he wanted her to use the stunt doubles as little as possible. So she got to work on her upper-body and core strength in order to pull off the gravity-defying feats.

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After a while, Zendaya got the hang of the equipment she was using and the height at which she was performing during her training. She felt confident — until she showed up one day and discovered what the real set looked like. The actual set-up was about 15-20 feet taller than she had expected, according to the actress. While she had also gotten used to practicing above a net, that wasn’t an option for her real scenes because nets weren’t commonplace during the film’s time period. Just as she was about to ascend for the first time, Hugh Jackman happened to walk by. “Zendaya, you’re a bada**,” he said to his costar [via Elle]. That was all the motivation she needed.

Though Zendaya’s trapeze moment as Anne with Zac Efron’s character is one of the film’s most stunning scenes, it took a lot of work to get to that point. During the song’s climax, each is grasping a rope and drifting apart from one another midair before coming together and spinning in an entwined circle — at least, that was the finished product. The duo learned the entire routine on the ground, unsure of what it would look like once they were in the air. Once they were, multiple body slams and bruises ensued as the timing and coordination of the spin became tricky to master. “There are some very famous outtakes of them swinging in and just slamming [into each other] and just hanging limp. It’s not graceful at all!” said Gracey [via MTV]. However, the final result in The Greatest Showman proves that practice makes perfect. Who knows what Zendaya will master next.

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Link Source : https://screenrant.com/greatest-showman-movie-zendaya-own-stunts-shot-how/

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