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Actress Liu Yifei did 90 per cent of her stunts on the set of Mulan, according to cinematographer Mandy Walker in an interview with Insider.
Appears to be close to actress
Little was made known about her stunt double until recently, when photos of Liu’s stunt double, Liu Yaxi, made it onto social media.
The stunt actor also posted some photos of her in Mulan's costume onto her personal Weibo page on Sep. 14, though those appear to have been deleted as of the time of writing.
Screenshot via Weibo
Here are some of the photos.
Photo via Weibo
Photo via Weibo
Photo via Weibo
Photo via Weibo
Photo via Weibo
Her name appears in the credits as "Mulan Stunt double".
Photo via Weibo
She also appeared in some photos with the actress, where Liu seemed friendly with her.
Photo via Weibo
Screenshot via Weibo
Defended actress' use of stunt doubles
Besides being praised for her looks, several online Chinese media also pointed out that Liu Yaxi once defended Liu Yifei, who was panned for having four different body doubles while filming.
According to a screen shot of a post she made in response to the criticism about Liu Yifei, the stuntwoman clarified that the Mulan actress "wasn't being replaced as an actor".
Screenshot via Weibo
She mentioned that Liu Yifei had three stand-ins for lighting and camera tests, and one stunt double, being Liu Yaxi.
Actresses acting as stand-ins would not appear together on set, and different stand-ins were used depending on time and location.
Liu Yaxi then emphasised that all of the acting scenes were done by Liu Yifei herself, and justified Liu Yifei's use of a stunt double.
Liu Yaxi said: "Martial stunts are dangerous, and will inevitably require the use of a stunt double. If an actor does everything by themselves, it would be too dangerous. Our occupation requires our skills to be used somewhere anyway."
"I feel that [Liu Yifei's] professionalism and serious attitude to her work is something that everyone has seen. I don't know about others, but I've learnt [from her] during the filming of Mulan."
Photo via Weibo
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Top image via Liu Yaxi's Weibo