Texas Switch: The In-Camera Technique That Makes Actors Look Like Stuntmen

One of the common questions audiences have about action films is: Did the actor perform their own stunts? While a few actors perform some stunts, most are just beyond their capability or studios will not let them take the risk. Making an actor look like the person doing the stunts is a dilemma for filmmakers. However, this dilemma is, believe it or not, effectively resolved with a simple in-camera technique called the Texas Switch.

The Texas Switch involves an ‘invisible’ switch between actor and stunt double while the camera is rolling. The switch takes place when the actor goes behind a wall, a car, or some object with the stunt double emerging in their place on the other side. It also works in reverse with the stunt double going behind an object after performing a stunt to reveal the actor emerging in his or her place.

The Classic Texas Switch

There are plenty of examples of the Texas Switch in movies. Take a look at the opening scene in The Place Beyond the Pines, in which Ryan Gosling switches with a stunt motorcyclist, who performs the dangerous Globe of Death–a stunt only 22 people can perform. More examples are in Atomic Blonde, Baby Driver, and also in one of the early James Bond films, From Russia With Love (1962). Here, a dive-bombing helicopter attacks 007, nearly clipping him multiple times as he runs across hilltops. Its the stuntman taking the actual risk. In one scene the stuntman narrowly escapes the helicopter by diving over a large rock, where, out of shot, he switches with actor Sean Connery, who emerges from behind the rock and runs toward the camera.

Multiple Texas Switches in Daredevil

The Texas Switch is not always used in such a simple manner. It’s often used multiple times within a complex fight sequence, especially when there are multiple objects or doorways for the switch to take place between actor and stunt double. The iconic one-shot, no-cuts fight sequence that closed out the second episode of Season 1 of Netflix’s Daredevil is a great example. In the sequence, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) surprises a group of thugs, engaging them in a two-minute fight in a confined hallway.

Daredevil’s fight and stunt coordinator, Philip J Silvera, talked with Observer, about filming this fight sequence:

“We did do a few Texas Switches between our actor and our stunt double, but it was purely a one-shot fight. There were no cuts in that fight. Every performer, the actors, and the stunt doubles were in there performing that fight full on. I’d say there was a minimum of 105 beats, and they killed it.

“…Charlie would do a lot of things, and then there were things Charlie just wasn’t trained for. And we had a great stunt double, Chris Brewster, who worked great with Charlie. They had a great relationship. But Charlie did a great deal of it, and then the stunt double did things that just were physically out of Charlie’s training.”

If you look hard enough at the scene below, you’ll see where Cox and the stuntman make their switches.

In a sequence like this, the stunt double is more than a stuntman. He needs to double the actor’s performance (the way they move, their expressions) to give the scene continuity and make the audience believe the actor performs the stunt. In a well-choreographed fight sequence, the audience should never question who’s performing the stunt.

“There’s always little challenges around something like that,” added Silvera. “Charlie Cox has such a great way of interpreting the character that we were able to play off of. At times, there would be the little moments in between knocking a guy down, how would he move forward on them? Would he take a moment to sort of feel where they are, or would he just go in for the charge already knowing because this is something he has done his whole life? He’s been blinded since he was a kid, so part of it feels like second nature by this point. It was just finding that middle ground of how to approach it.”

Texas Switch between Two Stunt Doubles

A Texas Switch doesn’t only take place between a stunt double and an actor. For dangerous or complex stunts, a texas switch occurs between two or more stunt performers. In Aquaman, director James Wan planned an ambitious scene involving Mera (Amber Heard) running across Sicilian rooftops while evading suited-up Atlantean soldiers. During the sequence she runs across the apex of one roof and suddenly pivots 90-degrees on a parapet and then runs in a new direction across the apex of a new roof.

Though the set was not very high off the ground, running across the apex of the roof was tricky, and required two stunt doubles hooked up to wire rigs for safety. The trade-off is that the rigs could only move in a straight line. Thus, one stunt performer ran the length of the first rooftop to the parapet, where the switch to the second stunt double was made behind a chimney. The second stunt double, also attached to a wire rig, then ran along a different rooftop in a new direction.

Additional movie magic by Method Studios made Amber Heard look like the person performing the stunt. Josh Simmonds, the visual effects supervisor at Method Studios explained the process to Befores & Afters:

“As the camera passes out the window in that shot from the interior and picks up on Mera, we track along with her as she dodges exploding masonry from the Atlantean soldier’s volley of shots. In some cases we replaced the stunt double’s face with plate elements of Amber Heard, other times with a full CG face, depending on performance and lighting conditions.

…James Wan was also keen to avoid obscuring Mera as much as possible to not give the game away. So quite a few of the Hydropulse blasts had to be scaled back or timed so as not to lose Mera at any point except when we really needed to. As is often the case finding the sweet spot in performance for the cut point is always the foundation of these kind of effects – even one frame difference can make or break the illusion.”

Can A Texas Switch Be Digitally Augmented? 

While purists say the Texas Switch can only be a sleight of hand, in-camera effect, there are examples of digital augmentation used to make similar effects without having to use some prop to make the switch between actor and stunt double. For example, in Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers punches a granny in the jaw on a train. In the film, the granny isn’t a frail old woman, but a shape-shifting alien called a Skrull. 

Similarly, those filming the sequence didn’t punch a real granny in the jaw either. The actual punch was taken by a stunt performer doubling for actress Marilyn Brett who played the Skrull in its granny disguise. Luma Studios then blended the faces of both actress and stunt performer with computer manipulation to make it look like Brett took the punch. 

“We’d use part of the stunt person’s face that was really punched, and part of the other actress’ face,” Kevin Souls, Luma Studios’ VFX supervisor told SyFy WIRE. “And then we would work to get the mouth open or closed and we would animate parts of the face to get expressions to change subtly.”

The use of VFX went far beyond the punch though. When the granny is sitting calmly in her seat and smiles at Captain Marvel, she is played by Brett, but when she is fighting she is played by a stunt woman who spins around the pole in all manner of acrobatics.

After the stunt woman’s acrobatics were shot, Brett followed similar action beats.

“The granny would then move through the scene slowly in approximately the same sort of movement and position as reference,” Soul added. “We would extract that performance and track it onto the stunt actress’ face in 3D.”

According to Souls, this VFX element is the least complex in the action sequence. But it is also the most memorable part. In fact, the Texas Switch often makes action sequences memorable because it sells the actor as an action star.