Actress. Stunt artist. Lisa Chandler is one of the new-wave artists fusing the two roles in filming into one action-packed job. Chandler takes us behind the filming on her latest flick, S.W.A.T.: Under Siege, discussing her love of stunt work and blending her two passions.
Actress Lisa Chandler. Source: Karolina Turek
“It’s the best of both worlds,” Chandler says of combining her two passions. She’s one of the new group of entertainers morphing acting with stunt work, and it couldn’t come a better time. With box office hits like Atomic Blonde, Chandler is (unintentionally) the brunette counterpart to Charlize Theron (who has gained enormous attention from the press after news broke she was doing most of her own stunt work for the film).
“Previously, my work was done separately.Acting then stunts. Now I’m incorporating the two together into stunt-acting roles whenever I can,” she says. “I love the stunts and fast motion of movement on film as well as driving a scene with dialogue and emotion.When given a chance to perform both I’m in heaven!”
In S.W.A.T.: Under Siege, Chandler plays Phoenix, a tough-as-nails S.W.A.T. officer who stops at nothing to protect her adopted family, her fellow S.W.A.T. team. When we spoke with the actress about her time on set, she couldn’t speak higher of the experience.
“The stunts on this film were a blast to perform. I was running around with an M4 shooting at my stunt buddies; it doesn’t get more fun than that. Because the film itself was shot in a short amount of time, we packed every action day with a ton of stunts. It was a safe environment as well as high dose of adrenaline throughout the day as we were constantly filming fight scenes. The intensity was high for sure when we were shooting the warehouse scenes. I had a few hits to the chest and shoulders, then changing my wardrobe to shoot a[n] action fight scene, then back to bloody war gear wardrobe. There was a lot of moving and shaking on that set! It was awesome!”
Chandler said when it came to wanting the role, it was made easy by her character’s tenacity, and more-so, her name.
Chandler in S.W.A.T.: Under Siege. Source: Sony Pictures / Original Film
“Her name…is pretty kickass! I love that when I asked Tony (Giglio, the project’s director) if she can bust up one of the terrorists, and he let me have at it! I wanted to play her with respect, yet I wanted to have her kick some ass with some hand to hand combat fighting.”
So when it comes to picking between stunt work and acting, Chandler made certain to explain the answer is simply, both!
“If I can do both that is my overall preference,” the Canadian-born actress shares. “I love the acting side of film, yet I love action and movement on camera. I love taking advantage of a character and being able to provide the producers with ‘Hey this character has guts, can I explore a little more of this? What if she did her own stunts?’ So far in my career, I’ve been able to combine slowly the two together and I’m really liking that path. As I do more and more of my own stunts in film, I think that helps the overall picture as they don’t have to cut way certain shots as if I had a stunt double for myself.”
As for upcoming projects you might see her in, Chandler has some secrets up her sleeve, and they’re well worth the wait.
Source: Karolina Turek
“The tail end of last year and this spring I was filming Altered Carbon, which I’m also really excited about,” she explains. “It won’t be released for a littler bit as production just finishing filming. I play seducer, Mary Lou Henchy, and had a lot of fun filming it throughout the months. I can’t say too much about the show but all I’ll say is that viewers will NOT be disappointed or bored!”
When it comes to future projects, whether it shorts, film, or television, Chandler wanted to make sure her fans know she’s up for a good challenge, no matter the budget.
“I love being creative! I love making movies! If you have a script with depth, a solid story, and interesting characters, I’d love to read it! I’m always down to read small budgeted scripts, medium and obviously multi billion dollar scripts,” she says with a wink.
Catch S.W.A.T.: Under Siege onBlu-ray™, DVD, and digital now!
Keep up with Chandler’s upcoming works with her IMDb, and be sure to follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
The Hudsucker 
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