00:00When I go to work, I light myself on fire,
00:04I jump through glass windows, hang from helicopters,
00:07and get blasted by cars.
00:10I'm Lucy Romberg, and I'm Melissa McCarthy's stunt double.
00:19I describe my best day at work by going home in one piece.
00:24One of the biggest misconceptions is probably
00:27that stunt people are fearless.
00:28For me at least, that's not true at all.
00:32I'm literally afraid before every single stunt I do.
00:36I still get the butterflies,
00:38but I think the butterflies keeps you honest.
00:46Everyone gets into stunt work differently.
00:48For me, I was a national champion gymnast in college.
00:50I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life,
00:52so one of my teammates was out in L.A. doing stunts and acting
00:55and just kind of basically convinced me to come out and try it.
00:58Working with Melissa McCarthy,
01:01I can't even say it's a dream come true
01:03because it's so much more than that.
01:04There's no way I could have ever have dreamt
01:06to get to be working with someone so talented, so loyal, so wonderful, so funny.
01:12I love to put on the wardrobe, put on all my stuff, and I become Melissa.
01:18No! Oh, my God!
01:21Stump performers are absolutely actors.
01:23I mean, we have to embody that character.
01:25We have to become the character of the person that we're doubling,
01:28or it doesn't work.
01:30I have conversations with Melissa all the time.
01:32Like, is this funny? Is that funny?
01:33Anyone can fall down the stairs,
01:35but it's up to the stunt performer to be able to do it over and over again consistently
01:39and make it look as gnarly and out of control as it can be.
01:47Some stunt performers make over a million dollars a year,
01:51and a lot of performers make six figures.
01:53Some performers make $10,000 a year.
01:56The biggest compliment as a stunt performer you can get
01:58is being put into an actor's contract.
02:01I mean, that's a huge deal because production has to come to you first.
02:04The fact that Melissa put me in her contract, she trusts me enough,
02:07it warms my heart more than I could ever portray.
02:11This helmet has actually literally saved my life.
02:14I got crashed into a brick wall head first,
02:17so had I not had this on, it could have been not so great.
02:20These look like chicken cutlets, huh? Pink.
02:24It doesn't look like much, but, I mean, the impact that these can take,
02:27it's a difference between being bruised up on take one
02:30and being able to do 25 takes and walk away without any dings.
02:36Some of the most dangerous stunts I've gotten to do
02:38is getting hit by a car.
02:40I got to hang from a helicopter on Spy,
02:43where the pilot was, like, literally trying to, like,
02:45get me to fall off.
02:49Bravery is definitely important.
02:51You need to be tough.
02:52You need to know that there are going to be times where you get hurt.
02:56I have lost friends.
02:59My buddy, John Barnacker, was killed on an accident on set.
03:04But, yeah, he was way too young, way too vibrant, way too,
03:08way too good of a person to deserve that, so.
03:11Some delicious baby spinach.
03:16Shove that in.
03:18And some kale.
03:20As a stunt performer, your body is everything.
03:23Crows and blueberries.
03:24So you have to treat it with the utmost respect.
03:27And then I take a lot of hits to the head, unfortunately,
03:31so my memory's not the best.
03:33I put in a little bit of lion's mane.
03:35I tried doing it just in water, but it's, you can't even get it down.
03:39Like, it's the worst thing you'll ever taste in your life, so.
03:42The stronger you are, the less likely you are to get injured.
03:44Our bodies really are a temple, and if I can't work because I'm injured,
03:48then I have no income, so it's imperative to take care of yourself.
03:53The secret to life and the shake of champions right here.
03:59I love boxing.
04:00It's good for us for choreography, for fight choreography,
04:03because it helps you to remember the combos,
04:05and the more you train your mind, the easier it becomes.
04:09I do martial arts, I do boxing, I do yoga, I do sprints,
04:13I play soccer, I play tennis, racquetball.
04:18Sorry.
04:19Boom. You okay?
04:22You know, the healthier your body is, the longer you'll get to work,
04:25and the more money you'll make, and the less likely you are
04:29to not be in a wheelchair when you're 80.
04:35Good girl, baby.
04:36Knee, yeah.
04:39Body image is an interesting thing.
04:42You know, growing up as an athlete, as a gymnast,
04:44being in a leotard in front of thousands of people,
04:46it's, you know, kind of makes you very self-aware.
04:50And so, when I was in college, I developed an eating disorder,
04:53and it was a really big struggle to overcome that,
04:58and then from there, I came to Hollywood with the most beautiful,
05:03skinniest people in the world, and so, you know,
05:06that kind of led into issues of its own, just, I'm not thin enough,
05:10I'm not pretty enough, I'm not good enough, I'm not talented enough,
05:12all these things start to creep in, but it's taken me a long time,
05:16but I finally reached a place to where I have the confidence to love myself
05:20and to allow myself to love myself.
05:22She's just a little badass.
05:24She's like her mom.
05:25Yeah?
05:26We're tough, huh?
05:27Oh, come on.
05:29Yeah.
05:32As hard as this industry is anyways, it's even more difficult as a woman.
05:37I've just had to work extra hard and stay dedicated and just honestly not give up
05:42and take rejection with a grain of salt and just keep my head forward and let's go.
