Israeli director Guy Nattiv and his wife and producing partner Jaime Ray Newman, who won the Live Action Short Film Oscar last year for “Skin,” have found their next project. They’re partnering with Keshet Studios on “The Stuntwoman,” based on the memoir by Julie Ann Johnson and David Robb. The miniseries is about Johnson’s life as one of the first female stunt coordinators in the 1970s.
“This is Julie’s story as she comes to Hollywood, which is a boys’ town,” Nattiv told Deadline. “She is bringing with her eight women — one is good with horses, one is a biker, one drives fast cars. It was a wolf pack of amazing women who took over Hollywood and tried to make a change. They struggled, there was a huge backlash, they were blacklisted, they were threatened, some were physically hurt.”
Newman suffered a serious injury while working on “Charlie’s Angels” and filed a lawsuit against its producers to secure better safety measures and working conditions. She co-founded the Society of Professional Stuntwomen and lobbied for better pay and against gender discrimination.
“There is a lot of bombastic angles with a lot of fun and energy but it’s also an important story,” said Newman. “We feel it’s high time the story was told.”
