This past July, Emily joined the cast of “Take Shelter,” a psychological thriller about a man, who believes his world is caving in.
“He has these apoloclypic–if you want to call it–preminitions that things are going bad,” said Richard Fike, Emily’s martial arts instructor. “This storm hits and he feels things are happening.”
Emily is the stunt double for Tova Stewart, a young actress playing the daughter of a troubled man.
In Tova’s scene, she was sitting in a truck with her father in the film. And that’s where Emily comes in.
“There’s a zombie in the road and comes, breaks the glass with her arm and pulls me out of the window,” Emily said. “I was screaming, yelling just like the director said. I wasn’t scared. I had a lot of fun doing it.”
Out of 10,000 enteries, Take Shelter was selected as one of 16 films screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Some scenes from the movie were shots on the west side of Cleveland–it’s a part of a growing trend. Many filmmakers are coming to the area because of a new government tax incentive.
Richard was also a stunt double for the lead actor who is also director of Stunt Predators USA, said Ohio’s become an important part of the movie industry.
“The tax incentive? It’s fantastic. It’s providing great incentive for film producers to come here,” he said. “We’ve done probably 65 feature films and television shows.”
On of the stunt group’s biggest films was Unstoppable, a 2010 film starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine.
“We’re not daredevils,” Richard said. “In the stunt community, we’re professionals, We take risks, but they’re calculated.”
As one of the youngest members of Richard’s team, Emily said she’s excited about opportunities like this.
“Definitely, I loved doing it. It was so much fun,” she said. “My favorite part was just being there, watching how a movie will be made. I had a lot of fun.”
Take Shelter will hit theaters later this year. A premiere for the film is planned to take place in Cleveland.