Tribune News Service

17 November 2003

Stuntwomen draw the stars at AFI Fest.



HOLLYWOOD- Quentin Tarantino, Darryl Hannah, Lucy Lawless and other stars came out for a documentary about Hollywood stuntwomen at the AFI Film Festival Friday night (Nov. 14).

"Double Dare," a film by Amanda Micheli, premiered during the closing weekend of the AFI festival, held at the Arclight and Cineramadome in Hollywood. The movie is an action-packed story about stuntwomen Jeannie Epper and Zoe Bell. Epper refuses to retire at the age of 62 and was the double for Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman in the '70s, while Bell landed the coveted job of doubling for Lucy Lawless as "Xena: Warrior Princess" at the age of 18 years, and recently starred as Uma Thurman's double in the Tarantino film "Kill Bill: Vol. 1."

Along with the stuntwomen themselves, other stars attending included Michelle Rodriguez and Renee O'Connor.

The AFI fest highlights this week have included a sneak peek at the upcoming Jude Law and Nicole Kidman film "Cold Mountain," and a tribute to Omar Sharif and a screening of his latest film "Monsieur Ibrahim." Many filmmakers use this festival to display their movies in hopes that studios will pick up their films for distribution. Saturday's highlights will include a movie that is getting great buzz but hasn't been picked up: By Palestinian director Hanna Latif Elias, the movie "Olive Harvest" is a story about a love triangle and Arabs and Israelis working together - and both segments of the war-torn population also worked on the film.

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