Interview with Stuntwoman Luci Romberg (Luci Steel) Part 2: Ninja Warrior, Barclaycard Freerun Championships

Zombieland: Smile for the camera!

Related Luci Romberg posts:
* Steel Reels: Stuntwoman Luci Romberg in Action
* Interview with Stuntwoman Luci Romberg Part 1
* Zombieland Photos: Behind the Scenes with Luci Romberg (Set 1)
* Zombieland Photos: Behind the Scenes with Luci Romberg, Abigail Breslin, Woody Harrelson, and a Scary *** Clown (Set 2)
* All posts mentioning Luci

Luci Romberg is a stuntwoman and freerunner, among many other things. She has done stuntwork for the newly released movie that so many people have been eagerly awaiting, Zombieland (as we discussed in part 1). In this part of the interview, Luci discusses her freerunning team, Team Tempest, and the greatest Japanese television game show, Ninja Warrior (Sasuke)! G4 held casting calls over summer to find the next batch of Ninja Warriors to send to Japan. They picked 10 of the best competitors and will premiere the show American Ninja Warrior in December. But wait, that’s not all! Luci mentions the Barclaycard Freerun Championships competition in this interview. She was nice enough to tell me the results of the competition later, but don’t worry, I won’t spoil it for you. You will be able to watch the competition on G4. It will air October 25, 2009.

AFC: What’s the hardest part of the stuntwoman’s job?

Luci: The hardest part is getting a job. That’s the hardest part. You have to stay in shape. You have to stay fit; you have to train because that’s your job. You have to be prepared for when you get that call. But yeah, I would say that the hardest part is getting the job.

AFC: Do you have a specific workout routine?

Luci: I am a professional freerunner as well. I train a lot with my team. We train all the time. I was doing cross fit which was awesome, that’s a work out. And then we do a lot of track workouts. I do cardio, I hike, I run on the beach, I just mix it up and keep it fun and interesting you know. I get tired of running on a treadmill, it’s so boring. I try to keep it fun and fresh and new and train with my friends and that’s what keeps me motivated. My teammates are amazing. I’m a member of Team Tempest Freerunning. We are some of the best freerunners in the world. It’s incredible how much they’ve taught me. We have another freerunning competition (coming up). I will be going to that as well; I have to get ready and prepare for that.

AFC: So what all does a freerunning competition involve?

Luci: Well, I was just in Austria, and there were 20 athletes from all over the world. My teammates and I were the only Americans, and I was the only female. I was the first and only female to ever compete in a national freerunning competition. So basically how it works is that there is a venue and they create a course with big drops and obstacles and things you can slip and vault over. From there you get a one minute run and so you can do whatever you want in that one minute. Then you are judged. There are 4 different judges and there’s five different categories adding up to a total of 100 points. The categories are difficulty, style, flow, creativity, and execution. Then based on the top eight, whoever scored highest gets to go to the finals and they do another minute run. It’s such a new sport that they are still trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t as far as the competitions are concerned. It’s awesome, there was like 3000 people there at the last event. It was fantastic. Hopefully we can get the sport out there even more and get it the recognition that it deserves because it is so awesome. Have you seen much of it?

AFC: I have not.

Luci: It’s a brand new sport, but you can go to our website, www.tempestfreerunning.com, if you’re interested in learning more about it. It’s awesome. It’s so much fun. Basically, there are two things, one is called parkour and the other is called freerunning. Parkour is all about efficient movement. It’s about getting from point A to point B as fast as possible. So if there are obstacles in your way, you can vault over them, climb up a wall, jump from building to building, whatever. And then freerunning is adding style to that. Freerunning is running and flipping off of walls or running and vaulting and flipping. You know freerunning incorporates style and flips. It’s cool because everyone has their own style. There are no real rules. You know, like in gymnastics you have to point your toes everywhere. In freerunning you can do whatever you want to. Whatever you’re feeling at any given moment, you can do what you know, and it works. It’s incredible.

AFC: Are those competitions televised?

Luci: I don’t know if it’s televised or not. I haven’t even seen my own run yet because it just takes them a long time to get it edited. But we have a lot of videos on youtube if you want to check it out. Just type in Luci Steel and you’ll find them.

Red Bull gives Luci wings.

AFC: Now, I believe you are 5’1”. Is that correct?

Luci: Yes.

AFC: Does your height affect your stuntwork any?

Luci: For me, I’m short so it’s easier for me to flip and things like that, but it’s hard because there’s not that many people who are as short as I am. You know you want to be an average height 5’5” or 5’6” in order to double actresses. Most actresses are average height. But there’s still always work for shorter people as well. I had a friend tell me, “Dude if you were 5’4” you would work nonstop.” But it’s fine. Everything is going well for me and I can’t change it so I might as well embrace it and do as much as you can with it.

AFC: Did it make things harder for Ninja Warrior?

Luci: Oh yeah, much harder. I don’t like to make excuses or anything but every obstacle on that course, if you’re taller you have the advantage. Every single obstacle. But that’s okay, you deal with what you’ve got. I could make excuses all day, “oh I’m too short for this,” but the fact is can you do it or not.

AFC: If someone wants to watch a great example of your work, what movie or show would you recommend?

Luci: I would just have them watch my Incredible Egg commercial. Yeah, it’s cool check it out. If you just type in my name, Luci Romberg on Youtube you’ll see it come up and you’ll see me sitting in an egg. You know how they have the Beef: It’s what’s for dinner campaign or got milk? It’s the Incredible Edible Egg. It’s for the national egg board. It’s based on incredible people. It’s me and one other kid that did the commercial. It’s fast and easy, only 17 seconds. You don’t have to sit there for awhile and watch it.

AFC: Do you ever get asked to do things you’re not comfortable with?

Luci: Well, I would never take a job that I wasn’t confident that I could do. If someone called up and said, “How are you on ice skates?” I would be completely honest and say, “It’s definitely not my specialty. If you need me to skate and fall down, I could do that, but as far as tricks go, I can’t do it.” It depends on what they need. As long as you’re completely honest before you take the job then you should be okay.

AFC: Key word here is “honesty.”

Luci: Yeah, it’s crazy. I know this girl who took a swimming job and she can’t swim! Yeah, she has a really bad reputation within the business. That is just a prime example.

AFC: That’s very odd. You’d think that being able to swim would’ve been the number one requirement.

Luci: I know! I mean, if you can’t swim, why would you take a swimming job?

AFC: How well do you get to know the performers you double for?

Luci: Sometimes more than others. I doubled for a woman named Rachel Harris for a pilot they were filming in New York. There were several fight scenes in the pilot and I worked with her a lot. She was awesome. On the flip side, the other day I doubled for Jillian Barberie and she wasn’t there. So I guess it just kind of depends. Unless I need to talk to them, I generally don’t. They’re there to work, and they’re professionals so I try to stay out of their way and vice versa. I just let them know if they need any help or if there’s anything they don’t feel comfortable about to let me know and I’ll help them work it out.

AFC: You have so many skills listed on your resume! How do you keep up with all of them? Or is it like riding a bike, you never really forget.

Luci: Yeah, I mean, we train a lot, but as far as, like, my horse riding goes, I grew up with horses so it’s not something I’ll ever really forget. Same with skiing and snowboarding, ya know. I’ve done it for so long that I’ll remember everything. The thing is that it’s all about practice. I mean, I haven’t done a high fall in a while, so if I got hired to do that I would go out and train the specific set-up that I would be doing. I’d probably go out and scout out the specific location to get an idea about the job.

AFC: So what’s the highest fall you’ve ever done?

Luci: I’ve only done up to forty feet.

AFC: That’s still quite high (laughs).

Luci: Yeah, my friend Nancy, she’s the same height as me and she’s done something like 93 feet or something. It might even be higher than that; something ridiculous. I, myself, don’t really like doing high falls that much. I mean I’ll do them, but there’s things I’d much rather do.

AFC: Speaking of which, are there any of your skills or hobbies that you prefer over others?

Luci: Freerunning is number one, for sure! It’s kind of interesting that there aren’t really other girls who do it, so it kind of motivates me to stay at the top of my game. I mean, if there were other girls who wanted to do it, I’d be definitely willing to teach them. It’s a hard thing, ya know? It’s scary going out to that concrete and hitting the ground hard.

AFC: Well, I for one, am glad that you’re out there representing females.

Luci: Well, I’m doing what I can. (laughs)

Showing the guns on Mount Midoriyama. Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan.

AFC: Okay, I’d like to talk about Ninja Warrior for a little bit. Could you talk a bit about what Ninja Warrior is like?

Luci: It’s awesome. It’s so much fun. What’s so great about Ninja Warrior is that everyone is pulling for everyone. It’s you vs. the course, or it’s Makoto Nagano vs. the course. It’s not you vs. anyone else. So it’s a very friendly atmosphere, everyone wants everyone to do well. I mean in the U.S. there’s so much interpersonal competition, which can cause some hostility, but with Ninja Warrior it’s such a friendly thing. That’s what I enjoy so much about it. But yeah, it’s crazy, I got so nervous. You want to do well and do your best, and you go all the way to Japan. You just want to live up to your potential, which is what can be frustrating if you fall early, you’re like “I’m better than that!”

AFC: That’s probably why it’s so addictive, and keeps everyone coming back.

Luci: Yeah, because you’ll be like “No! I can beat that! I beat that last time! Why the hell did I fall?!?” Yeah, it’s a fantastic show. G4 was great, and the All-Stars were so much fun to talk to. They’re pretty big celebrities in Japan.

AFC: I’d love to meet those guys! I absolutely love Ninja Warrior!

Luci: Yeah, I mean Yamamoto, Nagano, all those guys are just great. It’s hard because they don’t speak English, and I don’t speak Japanese, so we have a translator there the whole time. Overall, I really like Japan. I’d like to spend more time there. Every time I go, it’s just for a few days and then I have to leave.

With Ninja Warrior All-Stars Toshiro Takeda (left) and Shingo Yamamoto (right).

AFC: Did you get to meet any of the other contestants, like the Octopus Guy?

Luci: (laughs) Yeah, Octopus Man. We were signing in last time, and he walked by and David Campbell was like “Hey, what’s up Octopus Man?” and he totally shunned him. But yeah, we’re there hanging out all day long, so you meet some interesting and cool people. The first time I got to meet, I don’t know his last name, Henry, and he won a gold medal in wrestling.

AFC: How long does the whole competition last?

Luci: Depends on how well people do. This last time, I think we got to the course around 8 a.m. and we left at 1 a.m.

AFC: Yeah, and this last time someone made it to the last stage.

Luci: Yeah, that was so great! He was so close! From down where I was, I couldn’t really see just how close he was to the end, but when I saw it on TV I was like, “Oh my gosh, he was almost there!” And he was tiny, too! He’s probably no more than 5’6″ for sure. He might not even be that tall, but man, he was amazing. I think this guy and some others are kind of like some new All-Stars that we’re gonna start seeing. Nagano and Yamamoto and the others have all been around for so long that it makes sense for new All-Stars to emerge.

AFC: So how did it feel to be the only American female to make it as far as you did?

Luci: To be honest, it was a little disappointing because I knew I could do better. It was fantastic that I got to do it and experience it, but I feel like I can do better. It’s ok, though, because I had so much fun doing it! I mean, I’d do that course every day if I could. When you’re there you can’t warm up on it, you can’t even touch it. It was definitely a blast and I’d be glad to go back and do it again.

AFC: So why do you think Ninja Warrior’s so difficult for women?

Luci: I think because it requires so much strength and coordination. The obstacles might look easy on T.V. but on your first time on this thing, you have so much adrenaline and you’re so nervous that it can factor in to you having, say, enough leg strength to make it through some of the obstacles. For most girls, why would they have to train that part of their body? Or train running up walls? I think it’s so different from anything they’ve experienced so far. Which is true for the guys too, but they’re taller and stronger so it’s not as difficult to adjust.

AFC: Yeah, and they have more upper body strength especially, which is important for some of the later Ninja Warrior obstacles.

Luci: Definitely. Not stage 1 so much, but stage 3 is insane in terms of the demands on your upper body strength. The first year I went, I looked at stage 3 and was like, “There’s no way anyone will ever pass this, ever!” And then Nagano made it to the very, very end. It’s unbelievable how strong some of those guys are.

AFC: Have you ever considered doing the female Ninja Warrior competition?

(Kunoichi airs as Women of Ninja Warrior on G4TV.)

Luci: If they invited me, yeah, I’d absolutely do it. You know, it’s funny. I hadn’t ever really heard of Ninja Warrior until my friend Paul from Team Tempest called me up and said, “Hey, there’s this Ninja Warrior competition coming up and they’re looking for people, and we’re gonna make you a submission tape.” Then he showed me Ninja Warrior, and I was like “Ok, that’s cool.” Then when I got it, I was ecstatic. Without him, I wouldn’t have ever made it to Ninja Warrior, and it’s so amazing that I was actually able to do it.

AFC: How did you prep for the competition?

Luci: I just trained kind of the way I always do. I mean, I work as Peter Pan in Disneyland, so swinging around on the ropes kind of keeps your arms in shape. My goal was just to be as strong and as fit as I could be. It was hard for the second run because they didn’t tell me until like two weeks before, and I was like “Oh crap, I’m not ready for this!” I’d been on location in Georgia working and partying so I felt very under prepared. But it was ok, I was really happy to get to go again.

AFC: Are there any plans for you to go back?

Luci: I’d definitely go back if they invited me. I’m not gonna submit a video again, though. There are so many talented people that deserve a chance at going that I kinda feel bad that I went a second time, like I was taking someone else’s spot.

AFC: Well I, for one, hope that they’re smart enough to take you back.

Luci: Yeah. I wanna beat that darn stage 1! Raargh!

AFC: (laughs)

Luci: It’s definitely fun, and I’ve had a lot of great times there in Japan. I mean, I had such a blast hanging out with Olivia, I consider her a friend now. She’s just great to hang out with. She’s hilarious.

AFC: Yeah, she really cracked me up in the last competition when she was jumping up and down for joy after clearing the steps.

Luci: Oh yeah! I don’t think they showed it on T.V. but I was running alongside the course as she was going and I was like “GO OLIVIA GO!” and she’s like “NO, I’M SCARED!” and I’m like “GO!”

AFC: I was so happy that she made it past that, because it seemed like she was fretting about it so much.

Luci: Yeah, she did great! She was doing so, so well. I’m very proud of her.

Going shopping in Japan with G4TV Attack of the Show co-host Olivia Munn.

AFC: So, shifting gears a little bit. What kind of movies do you like to watch?

Luci: Okay, I’m a geek. I like musicals. And I like action, there’s no way around that. I like everything, ya know? I like comedies. I saw The Hangover and that was hilarious. The girl I doubled, Rachel Harris, she was in it and did a great job. I dunno, anything really. I can’t even tell you what my favorite movie is. Between Mrs. Doubtfire or Count of Monte Cristo, it could be anything.

AFC: So is there anyone that you hope to get to work with at some point?

Luci: I would loved to have worked with Jackie Chan.

AFC: Are you working on any projects right now?

Luci: My team and I are getting ready to go to Colorado. There’s a big freerunning jam there, like the biggest one in the country. That’s early in August, and then from there we go to London for the Barclay Freerunning competition, which my two teammates Victor Lopez and Jay Nunez were invited to that. And my other teammate, Paul Darnell, is actually judging it. From there we go to Sweden. It’s weird, for stuntwork you could be doing housework for a couple of days and then you could get a call and be on location for the next couple of months.

Thumbs Up from Luci's pal and Ninja Warrior mentee Olivia Munn.

For more of Luci’s work, see if you can spot in any of these. (Admittedly, that might be difficult to do with the ones where she worked off screen.)

2 Fast 2 Furious * Bratz: The Movie * Changeling * Crossing Jordan * Dancing with the Star * Dead Earth * Dexter * Everybody Hates Chris * Greatest Show Ever * Hannah Montana * Hell Binders * Heroes * Human Giant * In Twilight’s Shadow * Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull * Just Jordan * Kill Your Darlings * Lonely Street * Manure * Medium * Monk * NCIS * Pimp My Ride * Pushing Daisies * Scream Queens * Secret of the Black Box * Snowflake * Suburban Shootout * Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles * The Dead Undead * The Guild * The Unit * Trance * True Blood (pilot) * Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story * Wasting Away * Who Wants to Be A Superhero? * Zoom

External links:
http://www.luciromberg.com/
http://www.tempestfreerunning.com
http://www.stuntwomen.com/home.htm
http://americanparkour.com/