A Question of Sport

Having just had a moderately 'sporty' week; playing tennis* with my boyfriend twice, and swimming with my friend Stevie last night, I begin to wonder which sports are the most valuable for the theatre/film industry.

On my CV, I have listed 'fencing, boxing, archery' as the sports in which I'm proficient. Fencing is always a fairly obvious one to go for as an actor; to name but a few, we all remember The Princess Bride, The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, The Mask of Zorro and Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. Granted, it was mainly the chaps doing the fighting, although I do seem to recall Catherine Zeta-Jones and Knightley both having a go at one point (?), and let's not forget the contributions of the stunt artists. I'm also reminded that fencing as a sport is rather different to 'stage' fencing, but surely having a few parry ripostes under your belt isn't a bad idea for a performer?

Returning to the subject of sport in films being the blokes' domain; when it comes to boxing and archery, we're surely forgetting a few examples...

1) Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby - probably one of the most famous boxing films ever made, even if it did put people off the sport all over the world. I actually started to box after having seen it.

2) Maid Marian in practically every Robin Hood adaptation ever made - I can't be certain that she actually joined in the archery fun in Prince of Thieves, or whether she just famously blew in Robin's ear. All I know is that a stunt like that would have got you in serious trouble at my club. Again, one doesn't actually need to be a great archer to undertake such a role; a perfect shot can be edited in. However, anyone who's even tried arching should be able to identify a poor 'reference' when they see one; if the fingers, string or elbow are in the wrong position, there's no way that gold will have any credibility.

Me bearing my bow at an archery competition in York.

 So, all in all, I don't think I've made a bad choice in my selection of sports to develop as an actor. There's certainly more sword-fighting, fist-fighting and good ol' fashioned warfare on the stage and screen than there is Kendo, canoeing and power-walking. 

 

My friend Kate and I after having beaten Liverpool Uni's team at fencing

* Our first 'game' really can't be described as tennis...more time was spent digging the ball out of bushes and trying not to drop our racquets than actually hitting the ball. The second time we would have at least passed as beginner, as supposed to remedial.