Action scenes for actors: physical preparation and coordination

Action scenes are, along with crying scenes, the ones that scare actors the most when they face them for the first time. And with good reason: they involve precise physical coordination, working with stunt performers, a real risk of injury and the need to hold on to interpretive truth while the body executes a complex choreography. With the right preparation, however, they are also some of the most rewarding experiences in acting work.

This article is a practical guide for actors facing their first action scene or who want to improve their approach to this kind of material.

Physical preparation: the work before the shoot

A well-executed action scene begins weeks —sometimes months— before the first day of shooting. Actors who arrive in good physical shape not only perform better: they are also safer and reduce the number of takes needed, which is crucial in productions with a tight budget.

What kind of training you need

Training for screen action is not the same as athletic or aesthetic training. What you are after is:

• Joint mobility: Shoulders, hips, spine. Most on-set injuries come from movements at the edge of the joint's range without prior preparation.
• Functional strength: Not muscle mass, but the ability to generate force in unconventional positions and under fatigue.
• Anaerobic endurance: Fight scenes are shot in multiple takes. You need the ability to repeat an intense effort again and again without your technique degrading.
• Coordination and proprioception: Yoga, gentle martial arts, contemporary dance or simply training with complex movements hugely improve your ability to execute physical choreography.

Working with the action coordinator

In professional productions, action scenes are designed and supervised by an action coordinator (also called a coordinator of dangerous scenes or, in the English-speaking context, stunt coordinator). Their job is to design the choreography, assess the risks, decide what the actor does and what the stunt performer does, and oversee safety on set.

Your relationship with the action coordinator is fundamental. These are the principles for it to work well:

• Be honest about your abilities. Don't pretend you can do something you can't. The coordinator works with what you have, not with what you imagine you have.
• Learn the choreography slowly. First in slow motion, then at medium speed, then at shooting pace. Don't skip stages.
• Don't improvise. Once the choreography is agreed, don't change anything without checking. What looks like an improvement can create a risk for your scene partner or for the stunt performer.
• Ask for the rehearsals you need. If you don't feel safe, say so. It is never professionally wrong to ask for more rehearsal time for an action sequence.

Acting within the action

The most common mistake actors make in action scenes is forgetting to act. Their focus on physical technique is so high that the character disappears and what's left is someone simply executing movements. The best action actors —from Antonio Banderas in the 90s to the performers in Netflix series today— keep the character's psychology active while the body executes the choreography.

To achieve this, practise these two things during rehearsals:

• Connect the character's objective to every movement. Your character doesn't "throw a punch": they are trying to survive, to protect someone, or to respond to a betrayal. The dramatic verb must stay active even when the body is in full physical effort.
• Work on the emotional transition. Action scenes rarely begin in the action. Arrive at the scene with the character's psychology already activated: the rage, the fear, the desperation. The real adrenaline you generate in the choreography feeds the character's emotion organically.

What to do when stunt performers are involved

In many productions, part of the action will be carried out by a stunt performer (action double) who replaces the actor in the most dangerous shots. This is a normal and professional practice, not a sign of weakness. Even so, your work with the stunt performer matters:

• Share the character's psychology in that moment with them. A good stunt performer adapts their body language to yours.
• Coordinate the transitions: where you end and where they begin, so the edit flows smoothly.
• Watch their work during the shoot and learn: stunt performers have a knowledge of cinematic movement that is tremendously valuable.

Action scenes are a combination of physical craft, technical rigour and interpretive truth. The actors who master them are not necessarily the strongest or the most athletic, but those who have developed the discipline to prepare systematically and the confidence to stay present as actors even when the body is under maximum strain.