Amy Johnston - From Martial Artist to Star (Action Talks #26)

Amy Johnston is a stuntwoman, actress and director known for films like Lady Bloodfight and Accident Man, and games like the Uncharted and Spiderman series, Last of Us 2, and God of War Ragnarök. We talk about her beginnings as a martial artist, her work with Thousand Pounds, and how she made the leap to being a leading actress. You can see her IMDB here: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1829217/ Edited by Julia Bresnan Action Talks on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKvT1cdaRn78tV4vF78InER7GhxCKaxU5 Action Talks on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7D289YtkiQIkSVhNLDX8O2 Action Talks on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/action-talks-with-eric-jacobus/id1686666319 Telegram: t.me/ericjacobus My studio SuperAlloy: www.superalloyinteractive.com Blog: www.ericjacobus.com Timestamps: 0:01:22 Childhood, Family, Los Angeles 0:02:13 Early influeces 0:04:44 Moving to LA, and its challenges 0:05:37 Finding community in LA and filming indie action 0:12:40 First official stunt job 0:16:50 Stunt teams and productions are like Dojos 0:18:04 Working with different action teams 0:20:18 What Amy looks at when doubling actors 0:24:59 Advice for new stunt performers 0:29:25 Social media 0:31:56 Differences between mainstream and Indie action, and the competative mind set 0:37:41 Acting habits of stunt performers 0:41:11 Amy's process when approaching fights 0:44:23 Hung Yan Yan's action design in Lady Bloodfight 0:47:08 How to match choreography to filmmaking 0:50:12 How the audience perceives action 0:53:34 Are producers discerning when it comes to action? 0:56:01 Eyes are on the screen when there's a face 0:57:56 What kind of fights engage Amy 0:59:52 Amy's short film "The Gate" 1:03:45 Showing vulnerability makes action relatable and human 1:05:07 Marvel style of action 1:09:43 Accident Man 1:10:36 Motion Capture 1:15:44 Differences between motion capturing cinematics vs. gameplay 1:20:10 Starring in films 1:23:20 Action Comedy 1:26:18 Romantic action comedy