There鈥檚 a scene in Netflix鈥檚 new show, Away, where an astronaut named Ram鈥攐r rather, actor Ray Panthaki鈥攊s deliriously ill, and, in the midst of a hallucination, tries to escape by opening聽 the ship鈥檚 airlock. (As in, the door that leads to outer space and the entire crew鈥檚 certain death.)
His four fellow crew members struggle to restrain him, all while floating around in the zero-gravity spaceship, before he can open the door.
In reality, all five actors performing in the scene were suspended in the air at one time during its filming, constantly moving around in order to hit their marked positions.
The man responsible for making that scene happen seamlessly? Longtime Pemberton local Tyree Trand, who served as Away鈥檚 key stunt rigger.
鈥淚t was quite a complicated scene that took a lot of work to get it right, but yeah, it looked pretty good,鈥� Trand says. 鈥淚 was happy with that.鈥�
The series follows astronaut Emma Green, played by Academy Award-winner Hilary Swank, as she commands an international crew undertaking the first manned expedition to Mars. About 95 per cent of the show was filmed in North Vancouver over a six-month period, with production wrapping up in February of this year.聽
The series was released on the streaming service on Sept. 4, and at press time, was Netflix鈥檚 fourth-most-popular show in Canada.
As Trand explains it, a key stunt rigger is typically in charge of any scenes where characters need to be suspended off the ground. 鈥淪o that might include superheroes jumping through buildings or falling off buildings, or climbing up something or flying, or hovering, or things of that nature,鈥� he says.
Or, say, floating around a spaceship.
鈥淭he zero-gravity work that we did for Away was very challenging, not because it鈥檚 violent or dangerous, but more because the look that we were going for鈥攝ero-gravity鈥攊s very intolerant of any kind of flaws, any kind of slamming or abruptness or stutters in the movement,鈥� he says.
鈥淭here are things you don鈥檛 think about when you鈥檙e in zero-gravity, so if you鈥檙e hanging off wires, your limbs wouldn鈥檛 hang vertically, they would have no weight. There鈥檚 a lot of training that went into the process with the characters before we ever did any filming.鈥�
Trand says the cast and crew went through weeks of 鈥渟pace boot camp鈥濃�攊ncluding consultations with a real-life astronaut on loan from NASA and core-strengthening work that Trand says basically amounted to 鈥渁 couple hours of pilates every day鈥濃�攂efore filming commenced, in order for the actors to learn how to appear weightless and avoid looking limp while hanging in harnesses.
Since it鈥檚 a drama, the stunt work on Away also required a 鈥渄eeper involvement鈥� in the production than some of the quick, high-flying action scenes Trand is typically used to working on, he says.
Usually, 鈥渨e鈥檒l inject the stunt double who does the dangerous bit, often at high speed, because it鈥檚 a stunt. And then the real character gets inserted back into a scene.鈥�
While, in comparison, almost 100 per cent of the stunt work on Away was done by actors, stunt doubles did come in handy while planning out scenes, Trand explains.
鈥淔or the first time in my career, we actually had stunt people learning lines. Because it鈥檚 a drama鈥攊t鈥檚 slow, it鈥檚 not an action show鈥攚e found that the movements were really dictated by the dialogue and the emotions being conveyed during the scene,鈥� he says. 鈥淚n order to get the movements correct, we needed to pretend we were actors and our stunt people would actually need to say things like, 鈥榃ell, after this line I think I would want to go over here.鈥� And so we鈥檇 say 鈥極K, if that feels right let鈥檚 build a rig that takes you from here to there.鈥欌��
Seeing that work come to life on-screen 鈥渋s very rewarding,鈥� Trand adds.
During shooting, Trand manned a crew of four to six riggers at any one time, who he says almost all live in the Sea to Sky. 鈥淎 lot of us have a climbing background,鈥� he says. 鈥淥ur wire systems are very sophisticated and complicated in some cases, so having hands-on experience with ropes, carabiners and wires and anchors and all that stuff has been very useful.鈥�
He adds, 鈥淢ost of the guys I work with are deep into adventure sports, and part of our vocabularies is just ongoing risk management鈥攖hat鈥檚 what we do every day. So, all of us are climbers, mountain bikers, dirt bikers, skiers, whitewater people, paraglider pilots鈥攚e鈥檙e all outdoor nuts who don鈥檛 do offices very well. This has been a way that I鈥檝e been able to earn a real living and do something that鈥檚 enjoyable and creative.鈥�
Prior to transitioning into the film industry full-time, Trand himself dealt with risk management on a daily basis while working as a heli-ski guide and river guide.
Risk management is key in an industry where one accident could destroy the reputation he鈥檚 built over his career, Trand adds. 鈥淭here鈥檚 not a rig that I build that I wouldn鈥檛 put my grandmother on, or my family,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 have to think of it in those terms.鈥�
Trand, who鈥檚 been working in the industry for more than two decades and living in Pemberton for just as long, landed the Away gig through the Sea to Sky-based stunt coordinator he鈥檚 been working with for the last three years, Jeff Aro.
Notable titles Trand鈥檚 worked on include films like Deadpool, The Predator, War for the Planet of the Apes, A Dog鈥檚 Purpose, X-Men: The Last Stand and the Twilight Saga, as well as TV shows like Once Upon a Time, Lucifer, Lost in Space, The Flash and The 100, among many others.
