Reading, speaking and language use

Exercise 33. a) Read the article below. Choose Active or Passive.

Stunts and make-up

Stuntmen and stuntwomen (1) ___________ invite / are invited when something is too difficult or too dangerous for the actor to do. Every stunt (2) __________plans / is planned by the director before filming, and must be as safe as possible.

They (3) ___________ wear / are worn the same clothes and make-up as the star, and (4) ___________ film / are filmed so that their faces (5) ____________don’t see / are not seen clearly.

They (6) _____________ are worn / wear special clothes that (7) _____________ don’t catch / are not caught fire if they are to be filmed in a burning building (although often there is more smoke than fire, and the fire (8) ______________controls / is controlled.

Stuntmen often wear padding under their clothes so that they (9) ___________do not hurt themselves / are not hurt themselves when they (10) ____________ fall / are fallen from something like a horse or a moving car.

Guns are not real guns, and knives (11) _______________ usually make / are usually made of rubber so that they will bend when somebody is hit. Stuntmen who (12) ________________fall / are fallen from buildings will fall onto something soft (which you won't see in the final film, of course!). The important thing is that it (13) ___________ looks / is looked real. Some stars (14) ____________do / are done their own stunts, although film companies would prefer that they didn't. The director (15) ______________ doesn't want / isn’t wanted his star to get hurt - it's too expensive for the film'. Mel Gibson (16) _________ did / was done all his own stunts in “Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome” (1985).

The make-up artist can change a nice-looking actor into something very frightening... or a beautiful young actress into an old woman. It (17) ______________ took / was taken eight-and-a half hours each day to change the actress Francesca Annis into a 100-year-old woman in the 1982 film “Krull”.

Rubber masks (18) __________________ make / are made for the actor to wear when it is necessary to make very big changes to their face.

Wigs, beards, moustaches, false eyelashes - all these things (19) ____________ help / are helped to make a “character”. It is even possible to make a man look like a woman as it (20) ____________ did / was done with Dustin Hoffman in Sidney Pollack’s “Tootsie”.

b) Give your own examples of films where stuntmen were used instead of actors, or an actor was changed greatly with the help of make-up or computer generated graphics.

Model:

1. A stuntman was used instead of ________ (actor’s name) in the action scene of the film______(title).

2. ________ (actor’s name) was changed greatly with the help of a rubber mask

computer graphics

make-up

etc.