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