Double Dare is a documentary that follows the stories of two famous American stunt women. The story follows Jeannie Epper Wonder Woman’s stunt woman and Zoë Bell stunt woman for Xena, Warrior Princess.

Zoë Bell grew up on Waiheke Island in Auckland where she became studied competitive gymnastics, Taekwon-Do, dance, high diving, scuba, and track and field activities–everything that would provide her the chops to do something like...Kill Bill. Bell began her career in 1992 when her father treated a stuntman for a head injury and came home with a phone number for her to call. [How about that for an example of how preparation meets opportunity?]

Uma Thurman and Zoë Bell on set of Kill Bill

Jeanne Epper is known as possibly the greatest stunt woman in history. She performed stunts in over 100 feature films and television series and is perhaps best known as Lynda Carter’s double on the Wonder Woman series (see photo below-she’s on the left). Her family lineage traces back to a colonel in Napoleon’s army. The Epper family pioneered stunts in Hollywood tracing back to the old Hollywood classics. Her entire family is in the business. Today she provides mentoring for other younger women in the field (including Zoë Bell as you will see in the short below).

The Qualities of Fearless Women

Zoë and Jeannie have full confidence. They push themselves. They have fun. They don’t complain. They don’t take themselves too seriously. They take rejection well, get up, dust themselves off and keep going. They’re emotionally fluid people who let themselves feel. Their emotional fluidity contributes to their physical grace. They move light on her feet.

I was so inspired by this movie Double Dare partially because I’m an adrenaline junkie. I am addicted to snowboarding and ran a full marathon last year to raise money for cancer. Once I moved to NYC on a whim. My happiest moments are when I’m pushing myself physically, mentally and spiritually and proving to myself I am stronger than I think I am.

I loved Double Dare for two reasons.

1. These two stunt women are now part of a small group of women who are trying to make change by supporting each other in the industry.

2. It’s a wonderful example of mentoring. In any field that is male-dominated it is so important that the older women mentor the younger women–even if there is no financial gain for them.

This movie was moving on so many levels. There are so few examples of women in media who are highlighted for how they push themselves and things they accomplish on their own terms. We need more content like Double Dare that illustrates how successful women get to where they are, and depicts actual real women who have overcome challenges–and how they continue getting back on the horse, literally.