If you’ve ever spent your morning commute daydreaming about starting afresh with your career, this feature is for you. Each week, we speak to someone from a different profession to discover what it’s really like. Today we speak to stuntman Neri Orlando Dragon Sesti.
The minimum day rate is anywhere between £600 and £700… depending on whether it’s a TV or cinema. In our industry, we also get something called adjustments. These are in place for when we are asked to do a stunt that can be more demanding or taxing on our body. So far this year, I have only got one day on set; last year, I got just over two months. So if you find enough work, you can comfortably make enough money to live, but the majority of people I know have to find some other source of income to keep themselves afloat.
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It’s not uncommon for days to go all the way up to 16 hours… And this can be for multiple days. Of course, you are (and should be) paid for any extra time or work that you have to do, but it can be very challenging nonetheless.
You background is one of the variables that can impact how you become a stunt performer…. For example, someone based in London, that has a background in gymnastics, is fully supported by his family to train as much as he wants, and has some good connections to the industry, will have a very different start and advice than someone that lives in a rural area in a different country, lives by himself, did some sports as a kid, and has to work a 9 to 5 to pay for basic living.
The industry can be toxic… making it so hard for eager and extremely talented young performers to get in and improve.
With fire it’s a seconds game… between an awesome stunt that we are all proud of or some very nasty consequences. During my training I had some close calls with me or my friends. You can be a “safety” and you have your friend on the other end literally in flames – you have to trust that he and everyone else involved with that stunt are alert and ready.
I’m not a big fan of underwater stunts… more specifically with scuba tanks and being in deep underwater. I like free diving and cliff diving. But something about the oxygen tanks makes me a bit uneasy.
I love falling from heights… I would love to do them from higher heights, but it’s hard to find places to train them. I would love to fall 20 metres, maybe even 30.
Neri performing a stunt
When we are at work there is a certain amount of pain that we are sort of expected to be able to handle… Bumps and bruises are part of the job and come along for the ride, so learning to navigate your own body in terms of its pain threshold and how to manage it is a big aspect of what we do.
In the first few years of my career, I really struggled with loneliness… I was constantly travelling to new countries and places to learn new things about stunts, but by doing so, I was away from family and from friends. On average, I moved from one place to another every two to four months. It took me a long time to get used to being with myself and being my own friend when I needed it. I feel extremely grateful for having amazing parents who have always given me unconditional love and have pushed me to do more and always been in my corner.
Insurance can vary from country to country… I have one policy from Italy and it costs me just under £1,000 a year. I haven’t claimed it yet but it’s nice to have. There are sometimes insurances on set but they usually aren’t the best if you get a bad injury as they cover the bare necessities.
So far the only work I have refused is… SPACT work. It’s a position in productions in the UK between an extra and a stunt performer. I refused it because what I was being asked to do was something that I feel a stunt performer should do. Obviously they don’t pay the same rate for SPACT as they do for stunts.
Lots of people would assume my job is super exciting all the time, but… It’s very common on set to spend hours waiting before you do a stunt scene. You could be waiting for eight hours, and then they suddenly call you on set, and you hope you have enough time to warm up. I did one job where I spent three days on standby and then got used on the fourth and fifth day, that’s three 12 hours days on set just waiting.
When I worked on The Odyssey… it was amazing watching Christopher Nolan work; his attention to detail and extremely clear plan on what needed to be done to then actually executing it was a marvel to watch.
Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas after the 2024 Oscars. Pic: Reuters
A bad co-worker can make life a real nightmare… As stunt performers, we are always trying to show the utmost professionalism on set, always making sure that everyone and everything is safe so that everyone else can work with peace of mind. To do this, there needs to be a lot of trust between us. This can be really hard to do when you have someone on the team that does things unsafely or not paying attention, making the rest of the team always on edge.
Sometimes less is more… What makes a stunt look bad depends heavily on what kind of stunt it is. If it’s a fight, it’s bad if you can see the choreography, if the performers anticipate the moves and don’t play their character and show the emotions needed for the scene. It’s important that we don’t do too much. For example, if a kid punches me in the face and I jump and do two twists in the air before hitting the ground, it’s a bit unrealistic. It’s important that when we plan a stunt or a choreography, we keep the focus on the story, and not just try and do the biggest and coolest possible stunt at every opportunity.
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I have always been a massive fan of Jackie Chan… I am always in awe, especially with the fight choreography and its attention to detail, and I have a real love for comedy, to which few can compare. Drunken Master would be one of my favourite movies in this regard.
Something about a 9-5 life that sounds like bliss is… the routine. My life is so all over the place and it’s so hard to build habits and routines because I am constantly moving and changing environment. Never knowing where or when money will come in. Where I can go workout or do specific training. Having a circle of friends you can always hang out with.
If I could go back and talk to my 16-year-old self, I would tell them to… have more confidence in myself, to feel like I deserve to be in the rooms that I am in, and to make the most of everything. A phrase I have internalised and that has become a big part of my life now is “just try”. Whenever I am unsure about a decision, I try the thing and then I will have more information on it. Spending tonnes of time on it beforehand for me doesn’t help, I overthink too much.
One thing I’ve learned about people in my career is… that every person in the world is the way they are because of the life they have lived, many living lives that are so different that it is almost impossible to compare to one’s own. But at the end, they are also just a person; they laugh, they cry, they eat, and sleep.
