How was this shot of River Tam on the ceiling managed in Serenity?

Question

There's a scene in the Firefly film Serenity where we see River Tam clinging to the ceiling like a giant lizard:

Over on the Outdoors Stack Exchange, there's some discussion, in ChrisH's answer and comments thereon, about how this scene was filmed: whether Summer Glau (who trained as a ballerina) is really clinging to the ceiling or whether there's some camera/editing/prop trickery involved.

Is there any behind-the-scenes info about this?

To me it appears she is actually doing it with no camera tricks.... The space is just wide enough that she can wedge he feet against the walls at a slight angle downward, supporting a lot of her body weight, and hanging on the Sprinkler head? to support her upper body. Its possible she is wearing a harness to hold her to the ceiling, But personally I doubt it. — NJohnny, Dec 10 '21 at 08:08
I was waiting for this question! If it hadn't appeared I was going to ask it tonight. +1. Also well done on finding the 2nd shot, I just wish we had a clip — Chris H, Dec 10 '21 at 16:08
In the Director's commentary on the DVD, either Joss or Summer said the gap was too wide for her. They added the panels on each side of the corridor so that it's narrow enough for her to (just) reach. They're dressed asif they are hiding ducts or other service pipe. — CSM, Dec 10 '21 at 16:09
@Valorum in a bigger version of the top pic there's something on the ceiling between her shoulders, which is why I suspected technical help — Chris H, Dec 10 '21 at 16:09
@ChrisH No worries. Now you can update your Outdoors answer :-) (maybe leave a comment on Alex Hajnal's answer too? there's more to the story than what Alex found) I don't have an account on Outdoors SE, otherwise I would've commented already. — Rand al'Thor, Dec 10 '21 at 16:10
@Randal'Thor I'll certainly add a pointer to this question. ... BTW that's how I've ended up with a few of my many accounts across the network — Chris H, Dec 10 '21 at 16:11
@CSM tilting those panels subtly (for her left foot, the right has a pipe) would help enormously — Chris H, Dec 10 '21 at 16:15
@ChrisH Ask for a clip and ye shall receive :) https://youtu.be/HJpNCQUi3N0?t=25 — kayge, Dec 10 '21 at 23:04
That's not a real sprinkler head. If it had been, River would have been dropped harshly head-first onto the floor, and then been self-waterboarded by a biblical gusher of water. Commercial sprinkler systems have much higher pressure and flow than city drinking water, but the heads are fragile. — Harper - Reinstate Monica, Dec 11 '21 at 22:36

Valorum · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-10T18:51:13.940

68

It would appear that Summer Glau was lifted into position and is able to sustain that pose because she's extremely flexible. She was, however, given additional support from a hook that was attached to the ceiling and tied to a harness.

A technical question on how Summer stayed on the ceiling in Serenity. She stated the walls were built to her measurements and that she hung from a hook from her back.

_{^{Creation Entertainment’s Salute to Firefly & Serenity 2007: Summer Glau & Nathan Fillion Q&A}}

Note also that the hallway width was measured specifically to fit the distance that she can do the splits. In the Director's Commentary, Joss also mentions that they built it slightly wrong and they added a pipe rail and padded the wall to make the gap smaller.

SFO: Was there anything they told you to do and you thought 'no way'?

SG: [Laughs] The split on the ceiling, but we got up there and we did it. When I was up there it didn't hurt. There was a guy who was helping me, and they had to rebuild the hallway three times because they had to measure my legs. If it's off an inch I can't hold my leg up. So I would get in a split and get situated and I stood up there between takes. It was easier than I thought.

_{^{Sci-fi Online - Summer Glau}}

It was, apparently, not fun.

She was asked about how uncomfortable the pose used for the Serenity publicity photo was. This led on to a story about the famous "splits on the ceiling" scene. Her stunt double just couldn't physically hold the position, so Summer herself had to do it for all the test shots and set up and whatnot. Not only did she have to stay up there during multiple takes, but it was too much difficulty to get her down, and so she had to hold the position in between takes while camera angles and so forth were being changed.

_{^{Meeting Summer at Armageddon Expo}}

edited Dec 10 '21 at 18:51

answered Dec 10 '21 at 08:07

Valorum

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Thanks! Now go and drop a comment on Outdoors SE to put their debate to rest :-) – Rand al'Thor Dec 10 '21 at 08:09
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... oh, I just scrolled down the page and saw that someone over there found the same quote as you and put it in an answer. That makes my question a bit redundant, oh well. Good to have the sci-fi info on this site where it belongs at least. – Rand al'Thor Dec 10 '21 at 08:10
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@Randal'Thor - Their quote is, it seems, only half of the story. – Valorum Dec 10 '21 at 08:39
It also doesn't really answer the Outdoors.SE question, so it's liable to be deleted over there IMO. – Rand al'Thor Dec 10 '21 at 08:45
@Randal'Thor outdoors.se can be quite forgiving of tangential answers, but it's better to have the film aspects here (or of course the movies site). As the author of the accepted answer on the outdoors question, I'm not going to suggest the rival answer isn't appropriate as it would feel unsporting – Chris H Dec 10 '21 at 16:24
sustaining the pose isn't the same as holding her own weight. – JCRM Dec 10 '21 at 17:16
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@JCRM - At the very least she needs to sustain the weight of her legs and arms. That's accomplished by holding her feet in place against the walls and holding onto the handle – Valorum Dec 10 '21 at 17:23
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I'd give an extra +1 for Summer Glau if I could. Sometimes an actor goes above and beyond. – Zeiss Ikon Dec 10 '21 at 19:00
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And presumably that sprinkler-head is rather more reinforced than they typically would be - they're not meant to support a human... – Darrel Hoffman Dec 10 '21 at 22:14
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@ZeissIkon - agree 100%. I mean, how often do you read that the stunt double couldn't do the physically-demanding thing that the actor can? – Omegacron Dec 11 '21 at 01:00
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I'm fairly convinced that the Scifi Online interview has a typo. I think it should read "I [stayed] up there between takes". – Valorum Dec 11 '21 at 10:18
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@Omegacron Scott Adkins has broken down some of his scenes into things he did and things his stunt double did. The point for him using a stunt double is that he's not got huge budgets so his shoots are against the clock. If he gets injured doing something like getting thrown into a table, they can't just pause production for a month while he heals, like Jackie Chan or Tom Cruise could. Same for a lot of low-budget action stuff - stunt doubles aren't necessarily there because the leads can't do it, but more from de-risking production. – Graham Dec 11 '21 at 10:24
@Omegacron: Yeah, it's no common! I did hear that Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn routinely learns all the stunt-specialty gags over a weekend and takes over for them. – Daniel R. Collins Dec 11 '21 at 17:37
I'm not saying it wasn't very impressive as it was, but it's a long way from holding the pose to supporting her weight. The only "real" work is holding the left arm up, everything else is mechanics. The right leg is supported by the pipe and the left by the wall; the box section on the wall is there just to make sure the gap is right so there's a slight angle on the leg resulting in gravity on her body pushing the left foot onto the wall so friction holds it up. The "most" impressive similar thing I can do which is similar is a "Death Lay", and I can only hold that for about five seconds. – JCRM Dec 12 '21 at 02:31
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The main "problem" with that pose is maintaining the hip adductor hyperextension – JCRM Dec 12 '21 at 02:32
@Graham I don't think Jackie Chan is a good example - don't forget he's the guy who continued filming with a broken ankle by wearing a sock painted like a shoe over his cast :D – Luaan Dec 13 '21 at 07:47
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@Luaan It still messes with the production schedule though, and that costs money. Producers take out insurance against the leads getting injured (where possible; Jackie Chan famously hasn't been insurable for much of his career, for obvious reasons!) and there are conditions attached to that. – Graham Dec 13 '21 at 16:56
@Graham for production delays and the like, the producers would have to end up self-insuring risks to uninsurable stars, planning the budget and the schedule to account for some risk. Ultimately it's a business decision. Something similar will happen on a smaller scale for less-critical actors, where substituting (with or without reshooting) is more likely to be feasible – Chris H Dec 15 '21 at 13:16
@Graham - no, I understand the various reasons for using stunt doubles, and know that several actors do their own stunts. But I don't think I've EVER heard of an actor doing a stunt themselves because their double physically COULDN'T do it. – Omegacron Dec 16 '21 at 01:09

How was this shot of River Tam on the ceiling managed in Serenity?

1 Answers1